Punter Southall Group (PSG) has acquired the employee benefit and private client financial planning business of Blacktower Financial Advisers.

The transaction with the Surrey-based IFA sees the group’s number of private clients increase by nearly 20% to almost 5,000.

Blacktower’s New Malden-based staff will join their new colleagues at Punter Southall Group’s office in nearby Guildford.

John Hamilton-Hunt, Punter Southall Financial Management managing director, said: “Both companies share the same professional, personal approach which seeks to foster long-term client relationships and positive outcomes. Add to this the fresh thinking and innovation from our investment teams across the group and we can better serve the objectives and expectations of our clients.”

Blacktower’s Managing Director, Chris Bruce, added: “This is an exciting development for us. Our client relationships will continue to strengthen because they will be able to access a broader and deeper range of personal and corporate planning services as part of a like-minded but larger organisation.”

PSG took a minority stake in the Argentis Financial Group in March to form a strategic partnership and aid its commercial expansion. The group also merged and floated its institutional investment arm, P-Solve, in June to form River and Mercantile Group plc.