Wren Sterling Buys Keyte Taunton and Mackenzie Taylor Glasgow 2026

Key Points

• Fast‑growing national financial planning firm Wren Sterling has completed two acquisitions, buying Taunton‑based Keyte Ltd and Glasgow‑based Mackenzie Taylor Asset Management, both for undisclosed amounts.
• The acquisitions add nearly 1,400 clients and close to £500 million in assets under advice to Wren Sterling’s national business.
• Keyte Ltd, a Chartered Financial Planning firm in Taunton, Somerset, brings around £400 million in assets and approximately 1,100 clients.
• Six Financial Planners and five support colleagues from Keyte Ltd will join Wren Sterling and continue to operate from the Taunton office, which will be retained as a regional hub for the West of England.
• Mackenzie Taylor Asset Management, a boutique advisory firm in Glasgow led by David Canning for more than 15 years, brings more than 300 clients and around £86 million in assets.
• Wren Sterling’s CEO James Twining said the deals deepen the firm’s regional presence in the South West and Scotland and reflect its commitment to working with advisers who share its standards.
• The transactions follow Wren Sterling’s recent acquisition of Brunsdon Financial in Gloucester, which added nearly 800 client households and £265 million in assets.
• In 2025 the firm completed its acquisition of Evans Hart, an £900 million AUM business serving 2,450 clients in London and the South East, taking total 2025 acquired assets to £1.8 billion.
• Wren Sterling is privately owned by New York‑based private‑equity firm Lightyear Capital and its management team, and operates from 20 UK offices managing more than £10 billion for clients.

Glasgow (Glasgow Express) March 31, 2026 – Wren Sterling, a privately owned national financial planning business backed by New York‑based private‑equity firm Lightyear Capital, has expanded its footprint in the UK by acquiring two established planning firms: Keyte Ltd in Taunton, Somerset, and Mackenzie Taylor Asset Management in Glasgow, both deals completed for undisclosed sums. The acquisitions bring nearly 1,400 additional clients and around £500 million in assets under advice into Wren Sterling’s national platform, further cementing its position as one of the country’s larger independent financial planning groups.

As reported by Insider Media’s finance desk, Insider Scotland, the move deepens Wren Sterling’s presence in the South West and in Scotland while reinforcing its strategy of integrating high‑quality, adviser‑led businesses into its national network. Chief executive James Twining said the group was “delighted” to welcome both Keyte Ltd and Mackenzie Taylor, stressing that both teams share Wren Sterling’s focus on client‑centric planning and robust governance.

What exactly has Wren Sterling bought?

Wren Sterling has acquired Taunton‑based Keyte Chartered Financial Planners – trading as Keyte Ltd – a firm founded by Robin and Siobhan Keyte more than 25 years ago. According to Insider Media, the Taunton business manages around £400 million in assets and serves approximately 1,100 clients, with six Financial Planners and five support staff joining Wren Sterling.

According to Professional Adviser, Keyte has built a strong reputation in the South West through technical depth and long‑term client relationships, characteristics that align closely with Wren Sterling’s value‑add proposition. The Taunton office will remain open and will operate as a regional hub supporting Wren Sterling’s growth across the West of England, including neighbouring areas such as Bristol and Bath.

On the Scottish side, Wren Sterling has acquired Mackenzie Taylor Asset Management, a boutique advisory firm based in Glasgow and led by David Canning for more than 15 years. As reported by Professional Adviser, the firm specialises in pensions, retirement planning, investments, and corporate advice, serving a loyal base of over 300 clients.

Writing on Wren Sterling’s own news feed, the firm confirmed that both David Canning and colleague Gerald Mackenzie Taylor are joining the group, with the Glasgow office continuing to serve existing clients while integrating into Wren Sterling’s wider Scottish network.

How do these deals strengthen Wren Sterling’s footprint?

Wren Sterling’s chief executive James Twining told Insider Media that the acquisitions “deepen our regional presence in two important parts of the UK” and demonstrate the group’s ongoing commitment to adviser‑led, high‑quality financial planning. He added that the Taunton and Glasgow teams “share our standards and want to give their clients access to a broader, well‑governed planning proposition”, a line repeated in Wren Sterling’s own corporate announcement.

According to Professional Adviser, the Mackenzie Taylor acquisition marks yet another step in Wren Sterling’s strategy to expand its footprint in Scotland, having previously bought Glasgow‑based Active Wealth Management and, more recently, Aberdeen‑based City Financial. That earlier Aberdeen deal, which added more than 6,000 clients and £700 million in assets, “doubled” Wren Sterling’s presence in Scotland, as noted by Business Sale in its 2024 coverage.

The Taunton acquisition, meanwhile, plugs directly into the South West, a region where Wren Sterling has already strengthened its presence through the earlier pickup of Brunsdon Financial in Gloucester. As reported by Business Sale in February 2026, Brunsdon brought nearly 800 client households and £265 million in assets under advice, with eight advisers and nine administrative and compliance colleagues joining the group.

How big is Wren Sterling now after these deals?

Wren Sterling is a national firm operating from 20 offices across the UK and advising on more than £10 billion for clients, according to the company’s own corporate materials and analysis by Professional Adviser. The firm is privately owned by Lightyear Capital, a New York‑based private‑equity group, and its management team, following a secondary management‑buyout completed in late 2023.

In 2025, Wren Sterling completed its acquisition of Evans Hart, a London and South East‑based financial advice business with around £900 million in assets under management serving 2,450 clients. As detailed in Wren Sterling’s press release on that transaction, the Evans Hart deal took Wren Sterling’s total 2025 acquired assets to £1.8 billion, with “further deals already contracted” for early 2026.

Since the start of 2026, the group has added the Brunsdon Financial acquisition in Gloucester and, now, the double transaction in Taunton and Glasgow, pushing total recently acquired assets well above the £2‑billion mark and expanding its client base by several thousand households.

Who are the key people involved in the Taunton deal?

Robin and Siobhan Keyte are the founders of Keyte Ltd, a Chartered Financial Planning firm that has operated from Taunton since the late 1990s. As highlighted by Professional Adviser and consumer‑sector publications, Robin Keyte is a nationally recognised figure in retail financial planning, having served on the Financial Conduct Authority’s Smaller Business Practitioner Panel and the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment’s Financial Planning Forum Committee.

He has also appeared regularly in consumer‑facing media, including Which? and BBC Radio 4’s Money Box, as noted in trade coverage by Financial Planning Today. According to Insider Media, Wren Sterling’s chief executive James Twining described Robin Keyte as

“one of the best‑known figures in retail financial planning”,

underscoring why the group views the Taunton acquisition as strategically important.

As reported by Insider Media, the Keyte team that will move into Wren Sterling includes six Financial Planners and five support colleagues, with the Taunton office being retained as a regional hub. One of those advisers, Duncan, joined Keyte Chartered Financial Planners in 2007 and has now transitioned to Wren Sterling as part of the acquisition, according to the firm’s own Taunton office page.

What does the Glasgow‑side acquisition mean for clients?

Mackenzie Taylor Asset Management describes itself online as a specialist firm offering personal and bespoke financial planning, with a strong emphasis on pensions, retirement planning, investments, corporate advice and auto‑enrolment. As reported by Professional Adviser, the firm has built a loyal client base over more than 15 years under the leadership of David Canning, who will now join Wren Sterling along with other key team members.

Writing for Wren Sterling’s news feed, a company spokesperson said:

“David and Gerald are both joining Wren Sterling, and all clients will be formally notified by letter shortly.”

The Glasgow office continues to operate as normal, with phone calls being fielded and forwarded as usual, the firm added.

Professional Adviser has noted that Wren Sterling’s Glasgow‑area presence has been growing steadily via acquisitions such as Active Wealth Management and, more recently, JLS Associates near Perth, which was brokered by Gunner & Co. The Mackenzie Taylor deal adds further depth to that Central Belt and West of Scotland footprint, according to Business Sale’s broader coverage of the group’s Scottish strategy.

How does Wren Sterling finance and structure these deals?

Wren Sterling is owned by Lightyear Capital, a private‑equity firm based in New York, which took a majority stake in the business in 2021 through a management‑buyout backed by Palatine Private Equity. As reported by Palatine Private Equity and Gateley’s legal‑sector coverage, the deal received Financial Conduct Authority approval and was structured as a secondary management‑buyout, with Wren Sterling’s management team retaining a significant shareholding.

In late 2023, Wren Sterling announced the completion of that secondary management‑buyout, noting that the firm had doubled its assets under management to around £4.7 billion since the original Towergate‑sourced buyout in 2015. Since then, the group has continued to deploy capital via acquisitions, including Evans Hart, Brunsdon Financial, and now Keyte Ltd and Mackenzie Taylor, all of which have been announced as completed for undisclosed sums.

How do commentators view Wren Sterling’s growth strategy?

Financial‑services commentators at Insider Media and Business Sale describe Wren Sterling’s approach as a disciplined, “hub‑and‑spoke” model, where the firm acquires profitable, well‑positioned adviser businesses and integrates them into existing regional offices. The double acquisition in Taunton and Glasgow, bringing nearly 1,400 clients and close to £500 million in assets, is seen as a continuation of that playbook rather than a break from it.

At Professional Adviser, senior editor James Connell has written that Wren Sterling’s focus on “adviser‑led, high‑quality” firms differentiates it from capital‑heavy platforms that prioritise scale over culture. That view is echoed by Financial Planning Today, which has highlighted how Wren Sterling’s 2025 “acquisition year” – including Evans Hart and several other deals – has pushed total acquired assets to £1.8 billion and attracted dozens of new advisers into the group.

For clients in Taunton and Glasgow, the immediate message from Wren Sterling is continuity: existing advisers will stay in place, local offices will remain open, and day‑to‑day services will continue as normal, with only back‑office and governance structures gradually aligning with the wider national platform. Whether the group will announce further acquisitions in the coming months has not yet been confirmed, but with “further deals already contracted” for early 2026, as noted in its Evans Hart release, an expansion‑heavy year appears firmly on the cards.