• Case Studies

Here are some case study examples of businesses we have worked with in the past.

Miton

Miton was a multi asset fund management business, in debt to a bank.

Graham Hooper, Gervais Williams and Ian Dighe identified an opportunity to add single strategy funds to the existing multi asset funds.

We established a 5 point plan :

1. Raise capital from existing and new shareholders to pay off the bank & get control of the business

2. Launch Gervais Williams income fund as first single strategy fund

3. Recruit two key roles – Head of UK Sales and Head of Marketing. We were fishing in a small pond as we identified five [only] people who we thought capable of delivering the sales we needed, and six to give us the new and improved marketing skillset we needed.

4. Create a PR plan so the market was clear about our strategy and, initially, Gervais’ investment process. In 24 months, we went from nothing to nearly 100 mentions/month in the press.

5. Recruit new single strategy fund managers and fund management teams.

This resulted in taking the FUM from c£1bn to almost £5bn by the end of 2018.

Midas Capital Partners

Midas was set up as a spin off from the Merseyside Pension Fund. By their own volition, the managers didn’t understand the retail funds market and asked Graham Hooper to help grow the business. FUM at that time was £50m in 2 funds and a small segregated mandate.

Midas were probably the first ‘hybrid’ multi asset funds [incorporating direct shareholdings with funds under one umbrella] and had a compelling proposition. The problem was that no-one had heard of them or understood the significance of the proposition.

To grow the business, the two key twin objectives were to :

1. Get people to understand the proposition and;

2. To establish distribution into the adviser market.

Firstly, we set out with the aim of on getting key trade journalists to understand and talk about this new way of managing money.

Secondly, we used our personal contacts with the key platforms to derive plans whereby – not only Midas – but clearly illustrated how the platforms would benefit as well.

The result was that, initially through the support of Fidelity, Skandia [as was] & Cofunds, the funds launched successfully and ultimately grew to over £3bn.

Just Retirement

When John Pyburn joined Just Retirement as Sales Director it was a market leader. This was achieved from a narrow distribution base which would need to be widened if the business was to achieve it’s growth plans and, ultimately, IPO.

This was achieved through a restructure of the Distribution Division and developing a plan to take the business into new market segments

Within 12 months the market share of the underperforming sectors increased, on average,  from 5% to 15% .

Total business turnover grew over a 3 year period from £632m to £1.3b and we achieved a valuation at IPO of £1.2b

Chase de Vere

Following the acquisition of Chase de Vere by German owned & DAX listed AWD, Graham Hooper was invited back to help integrate and grow the businesses.

Chase de Vere had suffered in the previous years as the culture of the business had fundamentally changed.

Key for the confidence of the business was to reinvigorate the business’ advice credentials and open up new markets.

We set out a plan to :

1. Deal with more accountants and solicitors;

2. Re-establish the firms’ credibility with the national press;

3. Encourage more advisers to become CFP qualified;

4. Establish a B2B strategy.

The fourth element subsequently led to advice partnerships with organisations such as the British Medical Association [BMA], the BBC and Astra Zeneca.

This resulted in better outcomes for clients, higher quality advisers, reaffirmation of the advisers’ confidence and culture, and provided a sound platform for future growth.

Charles Stanley Direct

  • Part of team that developed CSD platform
  • Responsible for client communications and marketing
  • Constructed online/offline strategy
  • Developed client proposition

SSgA

  • Appointed to lead SSgA’s move into Asset Gatherer space
  • Built strategy, infrastructure & implemented
  • Became Scottish Widows’ passive manager of choice with monthly inflows of £60m
  • Appointed passive manager of choice for Architas (AXA)

Best Invest / Towry

  • Worked for 3i on acquisition of Bestinvest
  • Identified opportunity to develop own in-house platform
  • Established team to design, construct   and deliver
  • Decided on SEI v FNZ

All My Plans

  • Changed model from D2C to B2B2C
  • Brought in Strategic Partner
  • Merged with Runpath to broaden proposition
  • Sale to Experian

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