Shore Capital to buy Stockdale Securities for up to £8.9m

Shore Capital has agreed to buy Stockdale Securities for up to £8.9m in a deal that will create London's fourth largest corporate broking and advisory business.

The stockbroker will pay an initial consideration of £4.9m and a maximum deferred consideration of up to £4m, both in cash.

Shore Capital said the deal represents "a compelling strategic fit" and the combination will enhance the existing operations of its Capital Markets division by expanding the corporate client base, adding a specialist investment funds capability to the business and by augmenting the existing corporate advisory and broking, research, sales and trading expertise.

Stockdale serves an institutional and corporate client base offering corporate advisory and corporate broking, equity research, sales and trading services to institutional investors, with a focus on small and mid-cap companies and listed investment funds. Its corporate broking and advisory team acts for 53 corporate clients and it has dealing relationships with around 200 institutions.

In its most recent published accounts for the year to 30 September 2018, Stockdale reported income of £11.4m and pre-tax profit of £1.5m, with net assets as at 30 September 2018 of £5.7m.

Shore Capital's co-chief executive Simon Fine said: "We are delighted to welcome the Stockdale team to Shore Capital. The combination of our complementary businesses adds scale, expertise and diversity to Shore Capital, demonstrating our commitment to serving the needs of our combined institutional and corporate clients."

Stockdale's chairman, Mark Brown, said: "Shore Capital and Stockdale share a like-minded, commercial approach which we believe will be an excellent fit, with the scale of the combined business enabling it to grow and benefit from the opportunities that lie ahead."