One sells a trust company; the other plans to buy IFAs in English northwest. Cyprus-based, Delaware-incorporated Premier Wealth Management has signed a memorandum of understanding to sell Switzerland-based Master Trust to M1 Lux, a Frankfurt-listed company that is also based in Cyprus.

The deal stands to increase M1 Lux's assets under management by more than 500%.

"Master Trust [is] one of the iconic brands in the international arena with $1 billion under management, and they are fully licensed in the heavily regulated jurisdiction of Switzerland," says M1 Lux's CEO Gary Potter. "To add a Swiss license to our growing stable of regulatory approvals only increases the attractiveness of our company for further acquisitions."

M1 Lux provides an array of wealth-management services -- including private banking, trust formation and high-end residential real-estate brokerage and investment advice -- through subsidiaries in the U.K., Gibraltar and Cyprus. The firm plans to buy additional firms in markets it identifies as "not yet dominated by any single formidable competitor."

Packages

Meanwhile another Premier Wealth Management, this one in the U.K., plans to acquire independent financial advisories in stomping grounds in the northwestern part of England.

Premier is based in Southport, a town on the Irish Sea coast between Blackpool and Liverpool.

"We are in this market from an extremely strong base and are offering the best multiples and packages in the marketplace," says Premier's managing director Adrian Shandley. "We are keen to make strategic alliances and acquisitions of quality financial services firms of any size in the North West of England."

Kent, U.K.-based insurance giant Towergate Partnership recently unveiled plans to acquire regionally-prominent financial-planning and advisory firms in the U.K. -FWR

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