Addleshaw Goddard has advised on the c. £145m takeover offer by James Hay Holdings for AIM quoted Nucleus Financial Group, an investment platform provider.

AG advised Fenchurch Advisory Partners, the financial adviser to the James Hay Group. The takeover, which was announced this week, is conditional on, amongst other things, the approval of Nucleus' shareholders and the sanction of the High Court. 

The AG team was led by Corporate Partner, Giles Distin, and included Andy Fordham and James Washington (Finance & Projects) and Vinay Rawal (Corporate).

James Hay was one of the first SIPP providers in the UK and is a specialist platform provider for retirement wealth planning. The James Hay Group is indirectly owned by certain Epiris (private equity) funds and certain members of the James Hay Group management.

Award-winning online wrap platform, Nucleus, was built and launched in 2006 by a group of seven financial adviser firms. Nucleus allows customers to combine all of their investments into a single manageable online account. Nucleus' shares have been quoted on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange since 2018. 

Giles Distin said: "We're delighted to have advised Fenchurch Advisory Partners on James Hay's takeover offer for Nucleus. The second half of 2020 was busy in relation to UK public M&A transactions. 2021 has started strongly and continues the trend, with 'UK PLC' remaining attractive to a variety of acquirers, domestic and foreign, including, in particular, private equity."