Activist Elliott increases stake in UK wealth manager Brewin Dolphin

LONDON (Reuters) -Elliott has pushed its stake above 5% in Brewin Dolphin, a British wealth manager which is under offer from Royal Bank of Canada, the activist investor said on Friday.

Elliott’s stake reached 5.2% as of May 12, it said in a regulatory filing. Elliott declared a 2.42% stake earlier this week.

Brewin Dolphin’s shares have jumped 61% to 512 pence a share since RBC made its 515-pence offer in March, valuing the firm at 1.6 billion pounds ($1.95 billion).

Brewin this week reported a 2.3% rise in first-half adjusted profit before tax and said the RBC takeover was expected to complete by the end of the third quarter.

Elliott may be anticipating a counter-offer for Brewin, two banking industry sources said, with one adding that the wealth manager still looked undervalued at the current offer price.

Elliott, which also has stakes in energy firm SSE, drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline and homebuilder Taylor Wimpey, declined to comment.

Wealth managers and investment platforms are in demand in Britain as retail investment grows.

JPMorgan bought digital wealth manager Nutmeg in June 2021 and asset manager abrdn bought interactive investor in Dec 2021.

($1 = 0.8189 pounds)

(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn, Editing by Louise Heavens)