Rathbone Brothers, the UK private client investment manager, announced that it has increased its offer to acquire the private client stockbr...

Rathbone Brothers, the UK private client investment manager, announced that it has increased its offer to acquire the private client stockbroker Rensburg. The South African financial services firm Investec is also keen to acquire Rensburg.

Rathbone’s chairman told the UK media yesterday he was “confident of the cultural fit, likely cost savings and he low implementation risk of the merger” as the firm increased its offer from 610 pence per share to 656 pence.

But, according to reports in the UK media, sources close to Rensburg said the Leeds-based firm had rejected the offer. Rensburg apparently still wants to merge with Investec's wealth management arm in a deal that would leave Investec with 64 per cent of the merged businesses.