Merchant House scoops 120 Clarkson Hill IFAs; share issue raises £345K

Merchant House has taken on 120 ex-Clarkson Hill advisers and raised £345,000 in a share issue to help fund the growth of the business.

The Group today issued 207,518,797 new ordinary shares of 0.01p each at 0.16625p per share. The placing yielded £345,000 gross of expenses.

Merchant House says the funds have been raised to support the growth and development of its financial planning arm, Merchant House Financial Services (MHFS).

Of the 120 former Clarkson Hill advisers, 32 have gained FSA approval to operate in MHFS. The company says it expects the rest to be treated by the regulator in a way consistent with the first group.

In a statement this morning the company says it has successfully integrated the acquired assets of Clarkson Hill Group with MHFS.

Clarkson Hill was acquired by Merchant House on 23 December, after the firm announced on December 17 2010 it had gone into administration.

MHFS now represents £541m in assets under supervision and in excess of 30,000 clients.

Merchant House Group through its subsidiary Merchant Capital, also represents £350m of clients' assets in structured products and $50m under management within its absolute return UCITS division.

Christopher Day, chief executive of Merchant House Group, says: " The successful placing puts us on a sound financial footing to support our consolidation and growth strategies and drive the business forward."

MHFS is an appointed representative of Tenet Connect Ltd.