Bath financial services firm Fidelius has appointed Jim Grant as chief executive officer to lead a major growth strategy.
Jim, who sold Chartwell Group in 2010, has made a major investment into the business and plans to reshape and grow the business’ proposition, significantly raising its profile.
He intends to recruit key people specifically in wealth management, and his knowledge of the business coupled with his ability to attract investors will be key to the growth of the company.
Jim said: “About four years ago I identified Fidelius as an ambitious business that would make a great investment. I even met managing director Alan Philips with a view to acquiring the business for Chartwell, but it was not the right time.
“After the sale of Chartwell, we reopened discussions and realised we have different but very complementary strengths. Alan has an excellent track record and considerable experience in employee benefit consultancy, while my area of expertise is more weighted towards wealth management.
“We intend to develop the employee benefits consultancy into the best in the South West, and extend its geographic reach – a strategy we have already embarked on with the recent purchase of specialist employee benefits company Future Solutions Financial Group. At the same time we will grow Fidelius’ Wealth Management arm through aggressive acquisition and investor funding.”
Mr Phillips, who co-founded Fidelius, added: “As a business we are growing quickly and with Jim Grant’s appointment to the Board we are introducing a management structure which will help us sustain this pace of growth while shaping the overall proposition of the business. Jim brings the knowledge about how to grow and build the profile of Fidelius with the right clients in the right markets, and is able to bring key people to the business to enable this to happen.”
Mr Grant was an original founder of Cavendish Grant in 2000. Under his direction, the company bought Chartwell in 2005 and rebranded in 2007. As well as establishing its own fund, Cavendish Grant OEIC, Grant oversaw the launch of Chartwell Healthcare in 2008. Grant remained CEO of Chartwell until its merger with Close Asset Management in 2010.
Fidelius was founded by Mr Phillips and Ian Fox in 1999 and has enjoyed exponential growth as well as growth by acquisition; the company acquired the Haven Partnership in September 2010. Today it has offices in Bath, Cheltenham, Exeter and London employing 80 people business wide.
