Aberforth Partners has taken a significant stake in Brooks Macdonald after the wealth firm announced its intention to leave the AIM market.

According to a regulatory filing last week, Aberforth had acquired a 5.44% stake in Brooks as of 15 January. The holding in the £250m firm is worth just under £14m. 

The position sits alongside Aberforth’s existing 2.3% position in Brooks’ rival Quilter.  

The 5% ownership threshold was crossed on the same day that Brooks announced plans to transfer its listing from AIM to the main market, saying the switch was designed to ‘enhance the group’s corporate profile’.

The move is expected to go through between 4 and 31 March 2025, subject to regulatory approval. 

‘As we said this week when we announced the board’s intention to transition Brooks Macdonald from AIM to the main market, this move will extend the opportunity to own its ordinary shares to a broader group of investors, such as Aberforth Partners in this case,’ Brooks said in a statement sent to Citywire Wealth Manager.

Aberforth runs a suite of UK small-cap-focused strategies, including the £145m UK Smaller Companies fund. 

According to Morningstar, the fund has fared relatively well, returning 10.1% over the last three calendar years during a difficult period for UK small caps. The benchmark has lost 10% over the same timeframe, with the peer group average loss standing at 18.6%. 

Aberforth is probably best known for running the £1.2bn Aberforth Smaller Companies (ASL ) investment trust.

The purchase puts Aberforth among the biggest holders of Brooks shares.

Liontrust is the largest investor by some distance, owning around 20% of Brooks through a number of funds. These include the Liontrust Special Situations and Liontrust UK Smaller Companies funds, which own 8.8% and 7.3%, respectively. 

Other big backers of Brooks include the WM Gresham House UK Multi-cap Income fund, which owns just under 7%, and the MI Chelverton UK Equity Growth , which controls 3.4%.