Towry set for stock market listing by Easter

Towry will be listed on the London Stock Exchange by next spring, Wealth Manager understands, drawing a curtain on the firm’s long-running bid to get a successful initial public offering (IPO) off the ground.

The wealth management firm is currently privately owned and its principal shareholders are its employees and Palamon Capital Partners, a European private equity firm.

Since the middle of 2010 it has been known that Towry was keen to list. A source close to the organisation told Wealth Manager that over the past year Towry’s IPO plans have shifted up a gear, and should result in a UK stock exchange listing by Easter.

Towry, which is headed by chief executive Andrew Fisher, offers independent, fee based wealth advice and independent investment management to private individuals with more than £100,000 of investible assets.

It announced record results in April with revenues up 45% to £79.4 million and discretionary assets up 44% to £4.2 billion year on year. 

The firm’s profit before tax, depreciation and demortisation had also increased significantly, and rose by 50% to £6.4 million.

However, it has had a turbulent year being fined £494,000 in September for providing misleading information to the FSA and client money breaches.

Towry is also embroiled in a long running court battle with Raymond James and seven former Edward Jones advisers over client solicitation.

Towry told Wealth Manager that it had not made a final decision regarding the timescale of its IPO. 'Towry would only proceed with an IPO when the company is ready and when stock market conditions are favourable,' Towry said.