Towergate acquires John Charcol

Towergate Financial, the financial advisory business of the Towergate Partnership, has bought beleaguered mortgage broker John Charcol.

Towergate says the acquisition will be a key element of its growth strategy to establish a mortgage broking proposition which will complement its private client and corporate solutions businesses.

Under the terms of the deal, all John Charcol staff and directors will be moving to Towergate Financial.

John Garfield, chief executive officer of John Charcol, will work closely with Towergate Financial chief executive officer Ian Darby to grow the business.

Garfield says: "Joining forces with the team at Towergate Financial will provide our business and people excellent opportunities to work with Towergate's businesses to our mutual benefit and to thrive in what is a very exciting time for the mortgage market."

Towergate Financial is part of the Towergate Partnership. Its business consists of a number of specialist underwriting agencies and regional brokers providing a wide range of niche and general insurance products to individuals and businesses.

Peter Cullum, executive chairman of Towergate, says: "This is another great acquisition for Towergate which fits our strategy of brand leadership in our specialist fields."

"John Charcol is undoubtedly the leading brand in the high net worth space and is a business which has built a strong reputation for expertise and arranging mortgages for wealthy individuals. The combination of these two businesses will form an unrivalled capability in the specialist high net worth market."

Over, the last two years, John Charcol has restructured its business in response to various financial problems.

In January 2008, it put itself up for sale for £50m but no buyers were forthcoming. Its directors were forced to pump in a total of £3.7m in funding in 2008 and in May that year, it cut 69 of its 276 staff and closed its offices in Manchester, Birmingham and Guildford.

On Friday, John Charcol was revealed to have set up a new company called John Charcol 2010, which was registered on the Companies House website this month. 

Towergate were unavailable for comment on how John Charcol 2010 will impact on its new acquisition.