NatWest Group is closing in on a £2.5bn takeover of Evelyn Partners, in what would be its biggest corporate acquisition since the bank’s taxpayer bailout in 2008.
NatWest Group is in advanced talks to buy the wealth manager from its private equity owners, Sky News reported on Saturday, after seeing off competition from Barclays in recent days.
An announcement could come as early as next week.
Sources said NatWest is expected to pay between £2.5bn and £3bn for Evelyn, which oversees around £65bn of client assets and provides wealth management and financial planning services across the UK and Ireland.
The deal would mark a major strategic move under NatWest chief executive Paul Thwaite, who has prioritised simplification and growth in higher-return areas such as wealth and affluent banking since taking the helm in 2023.
The potential acquisition is thought to sit naturally alongside NatWest’s Coutts private banking arm and bolster its offering to high-net-worth and mass affluent customers.
Despite the size of the transaction, a price below £3bn is modest relative to NatWest’s near-£52bn market capitalisation, with the bank’s shares up close to 50 per cent over the past year.
Barclays steps back
Barclays had been a strong rival bidder but is understood to have pulled back after NatWest raised its offer in a recent bidding round.
Meanwhile, Royal Bank of Canada had also been linked to the process, though it is unclear whether it submitted a final offer.
Evelyn is owned by private equity firms Permira and Warburg Pincus, which merged Tilney and Smith & Williamson to create the business in 2020.
Its professional services arm was sold to Apax Partners last year.
The sale is being run by advisers at Evercore, against the backdrop of heightened deal activity across the UK wealth management sector as banks and asset managers chase scale and long-term savings growth.
NatWest and Barclays declined to comment.
