Troubled wealth manager WH Ireland has sold its Henley Financial Planning team to Verso Wealth Management for up to £500,000 and will close its Henley office.

In a stock market announcement today the company said the sale was, “in line with its stated focus on achieving sustainable profitability through the further streamlining of its central functions and costs.”

The Henley team was established in 2008 and the deal will allow Verso to market its services to certain clients of WH Ireland’s loss-making Henley office, which works out at around £152m of WH Ireland’s AUM. 

Some of WH Ireland's Henley Financial Planning team have already joined Verso, including advisers Roland Jones, Stephen Johnston and Gerald Key. The team will continue to be based in Henley-on-Thames, working closely with Simon Redgrove and Alan Mathewson to expand Verso’s presence across the region.

Verso said the deal is "the next step in its evolution." After completing and integrating seven acquisitions, it said it was poised for the next phase of its growth, targeting £5bn in AUM by 2027. It will achieve that through a mix of organic growth, further business acquisitions and strategic team hires, it said.

In return for the arrangements, WH Ireland will receive cash payments linked to any revenue generated from their clients that transfer to and use Verso's services by 20 June. The firms agreed that the maximum aggregate amount payable by Verso under the arrangement is £500,000.

WH Ireland will also be surrendering its Henley office lease by the end of May to reduce its cost base and focus its wealth management operations in London, Manchester and Poole. The firm said any cash generated through the terms of the deal will be added to its working capital.

WH Ireland had unsuccessfully tried to sell its loss-making wealth management arm last year.

It then said it would focus on the operation and development of the wealth management arm and assess “opportunities” as they arise after selling its capital markets division to Zeus Capital to help stabilise its finances.

In December it said it had trimmed losses as it tried to turn around the business.

The firm saw a major board shake-up in November 2023. That followed a £5m rescue deal thrashed out in the summer of 2023 which saved the company. In August WH Ireland shareholders had backed the fund-raising move to help stabilise finances at the firm. WH Ireland warned that it was in danger of being wound up if the deal had not gone ahead.

As part of the cost-cutting deal, chief executive Phillip Wale took a 30% pay cut in return for share options. Other senior executives, including head of wealth management Michael Bishop, also agreed to take pay cuts.

In the previous months the company cut its workforce by 45 to 111 as it strived to cut costs. The firm's discussions with the FCA about its financial position could have resulted in the company being wound up if the summer 2023 share placing was unsuccessful. In the event it was successful.