The board of Rathbones has announced that exclusive merger discussions with Smith & Williamson have been terminated.
Rathbones said in a statement it has been unable to conclude a transaction that is in the best interests of Rathbones’ shareholders.
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Philip Howell, Rathbones’ chief executive, said: “We continue to believe that our proposition was both a compelling strategic and value creation opportunity for all Smith & Williamson’s stakeholders.
“The potential combination was intended to accelerate Rathbones’ existing strategy, but ultimately we were unable to agree terms that offered our shareholders an appropriate balance of risk and reward. Rathbones remains confident in its strategy and will continue to look for growth opportunities in the sector and assess them with discipline.”
Rathbones has incurred a non-underlying charge of approximately £5m in 2017 for expenses associated with the prospective transaction, of which £1.8m was reported within other expenses in our interim statement for the six months ended 30 June 2017.
