Clarke Willmott has sold its investment management business in a deal worth up to £6m.

The southwest law firm has sold the Taunton-based business to AIM-listed wealth management group Brooks Macdonald Group.

The deal will see the Clarke Willmott team's eight staff – comprising five investment managers and three support staff – move over to Brooks Macdonald from 31 October.

The business, which manages around £120m of discretionary client assets, will be integrated into Brooks Macdonald Asset Management (BMAM), where it will give BMAM its sixth office.

BMAM will make an initial payment of £1.56m for the team, but the total consideration could be up to £6m, with the total value based on up to 3.25% of the relevant funds under management.

Clarke Willmott chief executive Stephen Rosser (pictured) said: "The availability of high quality investment advice for clients of Clarke Willmott is an important part of our overall strategy and our investment management team has provided excellent client service over many years.

"We're delighted to have identified Brooks Macdonald to continue the development of the investment service to our existing clients and we very much look forward to working with them on an ongoing basis."

Clarke Willmott, which posted revenues of £36.5m for the 2010-11 financial year against profits per equity partner of £116,000, has more than 70 partners and 400 staff across offices in Bristol, Taunton, Birmingham, London, Southampton and Manchester.

Earlier this year the firm signed a six-figure deal to take control of a Taunton-based HR consultancy business that will work alongside Clarke Willmott's lawyers providing HR advice backed by employment law knowledge.