Ulster Bank has purchased the largest private client stockbroker in Northern Ireland, Cunningham Coates.
Ulster Bank already owns NCB Stockbrokers in the Republic and says the purchase is a "logical development" of that alliance.
Cunningham Coates employs 63 people with 11 of them holding shares in the company. As of April it had net assets of £1.6 million sterling with a turnover of between £3 million and £4 million and pre-tax profits of approximately £632,000. On this basis the likely purchase price is between £5 million and £7 million.
While the company, established in 1843, does have some institutional business in Northern Ireland, it is mainly a private client broker, holding a share of around 65 per cent of that market in the North.
Among the services it provides are execution-only stockbroking, nominee-account stockbroking, discretionary funds management and personal equity plans.
Mr Ronnie Kells, former group chief executive of Ulster Bank, will now become chairman of Cunningham Coates.
Mr Josias Cunningham, current chairman of Cunningham Coates, said: "This change will be of real benefit to our clients and to our staff and I have every confidence for the future of the company under the new ownership".
