GillenMarkets, the advisory firm founded by investments veteran Rory Gillen, has agreed to be bought by the Irish unit of London-listed wealth manager Quilter for an undisclosed sum.
Mr Gillen (65), a co-founder of former stockbroking firm Merrion Capital, set up GillenMarkets 15 years ago. It currently advises about 500 families in over €600 million of assets, according to a statement from Quilter Cheviot announcing the deal.
As part of the acquisition, the firm’s founder, five investment advisers and their support team will join Quilter’s Irish unit, Quilter Cheviot Europe (QCE). Mr Gillen declined to comment on the financial terms of the deal, which has a three-year earn-out period, when contacted by The Irish Times.
The latest set of accounts for the registered company behind GillenMarkets, ILTB Ltd, said it made a €835,390 pretax profit on €3.23 million of revenues in its financial year to March 2024. It is understood the revenues rose to nearly €4 million in its most recent fiscal year.
The financial statement showed Mr Gillen owns almost 73 per cent of the stock with the remainder held by Brian Delaney, a non-executive director, and former head of private clients at Goodbody Stockbrokers.
“GillenMarkets is a business that we have known and admired for many years and represents a fantastic fit for QCE,” said Andrew Fahy, chief executive of Quilter Cheviot Europe. “This acquisition will really help to build on QCE’s scale and reach in the Irish market. Our ambition is to be the wealth manager of choice in Ireland and this is another milestone on that journey.”
Quilter oversees £119.6 billion (€140.5 billion) in customer investments. The GillenMarkets deal remains subject to regulatory clearance.
Merrion Capital was bought by Cantor Fitzgerald Ireland in 2018.
