"The two businesses have complementary areas of expertise and common beliefs about the importance of independence and only serving the adviser market."
The Nucleus board and Sanlam, Nucleus' largest shareholder, have both voted in favour of the deal, which is still subject to approval by the FCA and is expected to complete in the second quarter of 2021.
Following the Acquisition, James Hay intends to merge the operations of Nucleus with the James Hay Group to create a financial planning and retirement-focused adviser platform with around £45 billion of assets.
The James Hay Group has a 40-year track record of providing retirement solutions to larger financial adviser firms, while Nucleus offers an adviser-led, financial planning and investment platform for small to medium-sized adviser firms.
David Ferguson, CEO of Nucleus, said: "Since we launched in 2006 we've always put the customer centre stage and while that has made us a little bit different it's carried us to £17.4 billion in AUA and to a point where the sentiment of our users and our people has never been better. Becoming part of this enlarged group gives us a key role in a much bigger story where we can create a leading independent platform of scale with a high tech, high touch proposition and philosophy. I think the combination of our people's talents and the size of the opportunity can see us carefully navigate the roadmap to deliver on this collective medium-term goal. I look forward to getting to know our new colleagues and moulding a group culture that is centred on doing the right thing and building a market-defining product that really delivers for advisers and their clients."
Richard Rowney, CEO of the James Hay Group, commented: "We are excited to be announcing the acquisition of Nucleus, which on completion will create a leading, independent, adviser platform, with c£45 billion of AUA. The two businesses have complementary areas of expertise and common beliefs about the importance of independence and only serving the adviser market.
"We admire much about Nucleus and the skills within its team, and look forward to working with them to better serve the growing needs of advisers. By joining forces, we can combine Nucleus' reputation for great digital user-experience and James Hay's pension specialism, creating greater strength and a platform with the scale to invest and deliver real value for advisers and their clients."
