The trend of IFAs being acquired by aggregator groups to deal with the impact of rising regulatory costs and other pressures continues.

Attivo, the UK chartered financial planning and wealth management group, has acquired a further four independent financial advisor businesses in 2015, taking its total number of acquisitions this year to five. It is on track to reach 12 by the year-end, it said yesterday.

The latest acquisitions are Porter DeVere, based in Hertfordshire, which has 130 active clients; Lifetime Financial Partnership, based in North London, with over 180 active clients; Morgan Fitzgerald, which is in Worcester; and Pearson Financial Services, which is based in Bracknell, with more than 180 active clients.

At a time of rising regulatory pressures, there has been a trend of IFAs selling up and joining larger groups in recent years.  

“Attivo has taken the opportunity presented by a generation of IFAs seeking retirement from the industry and has worked with these firms to take over their clients and their financial planning requirements. It’s estimated between five to ten thousand advisors are at retirement age and we offer a respectful route for someone to retire,” Attivo's chief executive, Stephen Harper, said.

Attivo was founded in 1998; it has subsidiary businesses specialising in investment, pensions, wealth management and financial planning. The group has more than £500 million ($787.9 million) funds under management, administration and advice with a three-year plan to increase this figure to £2 billion.