Professional Partners Administration has reached an agreement to sell its authorised corporate director (ACD) operation, Fund Partners, to independent Luxembourg-based fund management company FundRock Management Company.
Subject to regulatory approval and final contract details, the two parties hope the agreement will be signed and sealed within the next two to three months.
Professional Partners chairman Paul Wilcox says: “We acquired Fund Partners from IFDS a few years ago, where it operated more or less as a service company for fund managers using their administration services.
“We have worked hard on turning it into the UK’s leading independent ACD firm and, in many ways, following our success, it has outgrown our specialist group of companies and would now benefit from the support of a larger more international player to continue its upward trajectory.”
Fund Partners, based in the City of London, has approximately GBP6 billion in assets under management and is aiming to continue on its growth path.
Revel Wood (pictured), CEO of FundRock, says: “We have a long heritage dating back over 80 years in the UK, during the years under RBS Fund Services. Post separation from RBS, the impending Brexit project has highlighted the need for servicing the whole of the evolving European landscape, and this is a fantastic opportunity for us, once again, to have a substantial presence in the UK.
“Bearing in mind Fund Partners’ London office, together with its full complement of highly skilled staff, will remain in situ, there will be minimal disruption and maximum benefit for all concerned. By combining our heritage with this UK and Luxembourg expertise we will now be able to bring best market practices to all of our clients around the globe.”
Ian Hobday, joint CEO of Fund Partners, says: “As a result of this collaboration, Fund Partners will in future be able to offer domestic and international clients access to funds based in the UK, Luxembourg and Ireland, whether standalone funds or feeders into their primary UK offerings, overseen by the Fund Partners team.”
“For FundRock as a whole we will now be able to offer our clients a substantial, well-capitalised solution with deep and broad expertise in all the major European fund jurisdictions, packaged into a robust offering with strong connectivity, post Brexit,” says Wood.
