Barclays Explores Evelyn Partners Deal in Push into Affluent Clients

Barclays PLC BCS is considering a potential takeover of Evelyn Partners, one of Britain's largest wealth managers, with a bid expected as early as this week. This was first reported by Reuters on Friday, citing four people familiar with the matter.

For Barclays, a formal bid would need to be submitted by Dec. 10, the deadline set by Evelyn Partners’ private equity owners, Permira and Warburg Pincus, for non-binding offers. The sale process, launched earlier this year, is expected to value Evelyn at more than £2.5 billion ($3.3 billion), based on prior Reuters reporting.

The process has attracted other major global contenders, including NatWest Group PLC NWG, Royal Bank of Canada RY and Lloyds Banking Group PLC LYG, exploring potential bids.
 
The sources noted that interest from Barclays, NatWest, Royal Bank of Canada and Lloyds does not guarantee that bids will be submitted or that a transaction will materialize.

Rationale Behind Barclays’ Move

Last year, Sasha Wiggins, CEO of Barclays Private Bank and Wealth Management, stated that the bank intends to accelerate growth in its Private Banking and Wealth Management segment by increasing its headcount and hiring up to 100 advisers.

The company identified roughly 4 million Barclays UK customers who have assets worth £250,000 to £3 million for investment and therefore can avail high-value wealth management services.

“The UK is a large market with client investable assets totaling some £3.5 trillion ($4.45 trillion), split across digital investing, affluent and private banking segments,” Wiggins added.

This move is in sync with Barclays’ push to expand its wealth management franchise in the mass-affluent segment, a tier below ultra-rich clients, a segment U.K. banks are prioritizing to lift fee-based revenues amid structural pressure on lending income.

Barclays Private Bank and Wealth Management segment reported total income of £1.03 billion ($1.38 billion) for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2025, reflecting 7.7% growth from the prior year quarter. Attributable profit was £256 million ($341.1 million), up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis, over the same time frame.

BCS’ Zacks Rank & Price Performance

Over the past six months, shares of Barclays have gained 28.1% compared with the industry’s growth of 20.5%.

Currently, BCS carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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