Aviva said the deal will “significantly enhance its position in the fast-growing UK wealth market” which is expected to grow by circa 7% per year to £2.1 trillion by 2024.

It added that the acquisition will also “accelerate its ability to offer high quality financial advice” to its six million pension and savings customers currently without an existing adviser.

Succession Wealth has approximately 200 planners advising on £9.5bn of assets, delivering advice to 19,000 clients in the UK.

While the deal is subject to approval from the Financial Conduct Authority, it is expected to complete in the second half of 2022.

Succession Wealth will continue to operate as a separate regulated, independent financial advice firm and will continue to use its brand.

Aviva confirms there will be no change for customers.

The estimated 2022 EBITDA for Succession Wealth is expected to be around £24m.

Aviva confirmed the transaction will be funded by cash from its “strong capital position” and is expected to deliver a double digit return on invested capital in the medium term.

The move comes as Aviva proposed a return of capital of £3.75bn to shareholders (on top of an existing £1bn share buy-back scheme), despite suffering a 10% fall in operating profit from £1.8bn in 2020 to £1.63bn in 2021, its annual results revealed.

As at 31 December 2021, total Group assets under management at Aviva Group are £401bn.

Doug Brown, CEO of Aviva UK and Ireland Life, said: “We are excited to partner with the management team at Succession Wealth. They have built a great business over the years, and I am confident that Aviva’s scale, resources, capabilities and shared vision will enable Succession Wealth to further expand its leading client and planner proposition in the UK’s attractive wealth market. This acquisition will broaden our advice offering and will help our existing customers currently without an adviser to better secure their financial future.”

James Stevenson, Group CEO of Succession Wealth, said: “We are delighted to become part of Aviva and to offer our independent financial planning capability to Aviva customers who don’t have an adviser. The demand for the best financial management tools across the entire wealth spectrum has never been greater, and the opportunity to combine Succession Wealth’s holistic financial planning expertise, with the capabilities and customer reach of Aviva is hugely exciting. The Succession Wealth brand and our core independent advice proposition is fundamental in providing ongoing stability and reassurance to our existing clients and our people as we embark on this new journey as part of Aviva.”