News
Permira and Warburg Pincus agree to sell Evelyn Partners to NatWest Feb 9, 2026
9 February 2026
Permira, Warburg Pincus and Evelyn Partners are pleased to announce they have successfully reached an agreement with NatWest Group plc for it to acquire Evelyn Partners for a £2.7 billion enterprise value. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to complete in the summer of 2026.
Evelyn Partners is a leading UK wealth manager with more than 180 years of heritage and is entrusted with £69 billion of Assets Under Management and Administration (“AUMA”) by its clients. Evelyn Partners offers an integrated wealth management proposition spanning financial planning, discretionary investment management and, through Bestinvest, an award-winning direct-to-consumer platform and coaching service for self-directed investors. With its diverse service proposition, strength in both financial planning and investment management and office network across 21 locations, Evelyn Partners provides a scalable offering across the UK wealth market supported by a modern technology platform.
Funds advised by Permira originally invested in Bestinvest in 2014 and through a small number of highly selective, transformational combinations, most notably Tilney, Towry and Smith & Williamson, created and integrated the combined group now known as Evelyn Partners. Under the Permira fund’s majority ownership, assets under management increased from ~£5 billion to £69 billion. Warburg Pincus became a minority investor in the company upon the acquisition of Smith & Williamson in 2020.
By combining Evelyn Partners’ £69 billion of AUMA with the £59 billion AUMA of NatWest Group’s existing Private Banking and Wealth Management (PBWM) business, which includes Coutts, NatWest Group will oversee more than £127 billion of AUMA and total Customer Assets and Liabilities (“CAL”) of £188 billion.
Paul Geddes, Chief Executive Officer of Evelyn Partners, said:
“We are delighted to be joining NatWest Group which will be a great new home for Evelyn Partners. We each have a long-standing history of providing high quality wealth management services. Together, our shared vision is to be the UK’s leading Private Banking and Wealth Management business, providing unparalleled financial advice and investment management to our clients as well as a broader range of capabilities. We are hugely excited by the opportunity which this transaction presents, providing us with greater scale and resources, for the benefit of our clients and colleagues.
NatWest has been deeply committed to the UK wealth management sector for many years with a sizeable presence through Coutts. Today’s announcement is a sign of its growth ambitions in a world where increasing financial complexity and fast-moving markets are driving the need for both expert advice and investment management. Like Evelyn Partners, NatWest has a similar client-centric culture, and we are excited about the opportunities ahead as part of the wider NatWest Private Banking and Wealth Management team.
As we look ahead to a new stage in our journey, we would also like to thank Permira and Warburg Pincus for their strong partnership over many years.“
Paul Thwaite, Chief Executive of NatWest, said:
“Bringing together these two leading businesses creates a unique opportunity to provide financial planning, savings and investment services to more families and people across the UK. We look forward to welcoming our new clients and working with our colleagues at Evelyn Partners to transform the service our 20 million customers across the Group can expect from us.
At a time when the benefits of saving and investing are increasingly part of the national conversation, we can help customers to make more of their money through a broader range of services, as well as helping to drive growth and investment across the economy.
This transaction creates the UK’s leading Private Banking and Wealth Management business, delivering the scale and capabilities needed to succeed in a market with significant growth potential. It accelerates delivery of NatWest Group’s strategy and positions us to realise our longer-term ambitions.
This represents a strategically and financially compelling use of capital, enhancing income diversification and strengthening returns in a high growth segment, to deliver sustainable long term value creation.”
Chris Pell, Managing Director of Permira, said:
“When we invested in 2014, we believed UK wealth management would increasingly reward scale, advice-led models and institutional investment standards. Over more than a decade, Evelyn Partners has been built deliberately around that conviction. The investment exemplifies our approach to long-term value creation: patient ownership, close partnership with management and continuous investment in people, technology and platform capabilities. Today’s agreement with NatWest is a strong endorsement of the quality of the platform, the client proposition, Paul’s leadership and all the highly talented employees at Evelyn Partners.”
Peter Deming, Managing Director and Partner of Warburg Pincus, said:
“We are excited for Evelyn’s clients, employees and leadership as the business joins an exceptionally strong long-term home in the NatWest Group. This successful ownership transition reflects the outstanding effort of all stakeholders in establishing Evelyn as the preeminent UK wealth manager through the integration of multiple firms into a cohesive, well-performing institution.”
Evercore Partners International LLP and Goldman Sachs International are acting as financial advisers to the Evelyn Partners group. Linklaters LLP are acting as legal advisers to Permira and Warburg Pincus. Macfarlanes LLP are acting as legal advisers to the Evelyn Partners group.
Press contacts
Evelyn Partners
Jason Hollands
+44 (0)7768 661382
Permira
Nina Gilbert / James Williams – media@permira.com
Headland Consultancy – permira@headlandconsultancy.com
Warburg Pincus
Alice Gibb
+44 (0)7827 309 320
About Evelyn Partners
We are a leading wealth management group, created by the merger of Tilney and Smith & Williamson in 2020. With £68.6 billion of assets under management (as at 31 December 2025) we are one the largest UK wealth managers. Our purpose is ‘to place the power of good advice into more hands’.
We have a network of offices across 21 towns and cities across the UK, the Republic of Ireland and the Channel Islands, supporting private clients, charities, family trusts and providing investment solutions to financial intermediaries. Our clients include entrepreneurs, C-suite senior managers and partners of professional firms.
Our expertise includes both award-winning financial planning and investment management, enabling us to offer clients a truly holistic dual expert Total Wealth management Service. Through Bestinvest, we also provide an award-winning online investment platform and coaching service for self-directed investors.
For further information please visit: www.evelyn.com
About Permira
Permira is a global investment firm that backs successful businesses with growth ambitions. Founded in 1985, the firm advises funds across two core asset classes, private equity and credit, with total committed capital of more than €85bn.
The Permira private equity funds make both long-term Buyout and Growth Equity investments in four key sectors: Services, Technology, Consumer and Healthcare.
Permira is one of the world’s most active investors in the Services sector, having deployed over €13 billion to partner with more than 50 companies globally. Announced, current and previous investments from the Permira funds in the sector include Alter Domus, Carne Group, Evelyn Partners, JTC, Acuity Analytics, Octus, Tricor and Kroll.
Permira employs over 500 people in 15 offices across Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. For more information, visit www.permira.com.
About Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus LLC is the pioneer of global growth investing. A private partnership since 1966, the firm has the flexibility and experience to focus on helping investors and management teams achieve enduring success across market cycles. Today, the firm has more than $100 billion in assets under management, and more than 215 companies in its active portfolio, diversified across stages, sectors, and geographies. Warburg Pincus has invested in more than 1,100 companies across its private equity, real estate, and capital solutions strategies.
The firm is headquartered in New York with more than 15 offices globally. For more information, please visit www.warburgpincus.com or follow us on LinkedIn.