The Cardiff office of Brewin Dolphin has further expanded the funds it manages on behalf of charities by taking on the portfolio of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.
The FTSE 250 investment management firm that celebrates its 250th anniversary this year has been appointed to run the investment portfolio of the Cardiff-based College worth £1m.
This latest addition to Brewin Dolphin’s client base boosts the funds it oversees on behalf of charities in Wales to more than £100m from a standing start seven years ago.
The charity fund management team in Cardiff, which is headed up by David Myrddin-Evans who has specialised in managing charity funds for over a decade, boasts other well known Welsh charities including Tenovus, St John Cymru Wales and Christ College Brecon.
David Myrddin-Evans, head of Brewin Dolphin Cardiff, said: “We are delighted that the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama has chosen to move their funds to our service here in Cardiff. As the National Conservatoire of Wales, it is an exceptional and highly respected organisation within the performing arts sector. With world class facilities, we hope that the service we provide will help keep up the College’s fantastic work in increasing national and international recognition for Cardiff as a home of world-class artistic training.”
The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, the National Conservatoire of Wales, and part of the Glamorgan Group, competes alongside an international peer group of conservatoires and specialist arts colleges for the best students globally, enabling students to enter and influence the world of music, theatre and related professions. Last June the College opened its £22.5 million new performance and rehearsal spaces. The world-class facilities include The Richard Burton Theatre, The Linbury Gallery, a café bar, rehearsal studios, and The Dora Stoutzker Hall.
Hilary Boulding, Principal of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, said, “The College is really pleased that Brewin Dolphin are now managing our investment portfolio. We have very ambitious plans to grow the endowment over the next five to ten years so that we can fund many more scholarships and ensure that the most talented students can study here whatever their financial background. We will be launching our new endowment appeal in 2013.”
The contract win marks the end of a very successful milestone year for Brewin Dolphin which saw the First Minister open its new Cardiff headquarters in January; the funds it manages increase to £600m and the start of new sponsorship agreements with the Cardiff Blues and Wales Millennium Centre.
David Myrddin-Evans continued: “This has been a big year for the Cardiff office and a milestone year for the firm in celebrating our 250th anniversary. We have had a fantastic year and I’d like to thank my talented team and our loyal clients for their continued support. We look forward to 2013 and the new opportunities that present themselves.”
Brewin Dolphin’s origins can be traced back to 1762 when the stockbroking firm John Dawes (one of the founders of the London Stock Exchange) was established. Since then they have had several name changes and have gone on to become one of the country’s largest independently-owned investment management companies, managing over £25 billion of client funds across 40 offices.