NatWest has agreed to buy Evelyn Partners for £2.7bn, the bank’s largest purchase since its 2008 bailout. The deal brings about 2,400 Evelyn Partners employees under NatWest’s wing. Evelyn Partners, one of the UK’s biggest wealth managers, controls nearly £69bn of client assets. It offers financial planning and wealth management across the UK and Ireland. This acquisition beats rival Barclays, which was also interested, as reported by Sky News. Evelyn Partners was for sale after its private equity owners Permira and Warburg Pincus put it on the market last summer. The group had sold its professional services business to Apax Partners last year. Evelyn Partners started in 1836 as Thomas Tilney’s brokerage. It merged with Smith & Williamson in 2019 and rebranded three years later. NatWest’s chief executive, Paul Thwaite, took charge in 2024. He emphasized growth in wealth management and private banking, calling this deal a “unique opportunity to provide financial planning, savings and investment services to more families and people across the UK.” NatWest returned to full private ownership last May, after a £45bn taxpayer bailout in 2008 when it was Royal Bank of Scotland. The bailout cost taxpayers £10bn overall. Paul Geddes, CEO of Evelyn Partners since 2023, once worked for RBS for 15 years. NatWest will announce its full-year results on Friday and is giving £750m to shareholders through a share buy-back. Despite the deal news, NatWest shares fell over 5% in early Monday trading, hitting one of the biggest drops on the FTSE 100.