State Street is expanding its global fund administration and alternative servicing capabilities with an agreement to acquire Mourant International Finance Administration in a cash transaction.
Pending regulatory approvals and other closing conditions, the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2010.
State Street expects the transaction to be slightly accretive to 2010 earnings, excluding one-time costs.
Headquartered in Jersey in the Channel Islands with approximately USD170bn in assets under administration and approximately 650 employees in locations including Dublin, Singapore and New York, MIFA is a provider of fund administration services, particularly for alternative investments, such as private equity, real estate and hedge funds.
The combined State Street and MIFA businesses will rank number one in alternative asset servicing globally; number one in private equity servicing globally; number one in real estate asset servicing globally; and number two in hedge fund servicing globally, based on industry survey data.
With the acquisition, State Street will also expand its reach in Europe and Asia and broaden its capabilities for servicing investors’ growing real estate administration requirements.
“As alternative asset classes have become more mainstream, our institutional customers plan to continue to expand their use of this asset class,” says Jay Hooley (pictured), president and chief operating officer of State Street. “This acquisition will bring a wider and more comprehensive product offering to our existing and new customers and further develop our servicing footprint in Europe and Asia where expanded capabilities, including enhanced real estate servicing, better enables us to offer customers a full breadth of solutions for all of their business needs.”
“Today’s announcement will allow MIFA to advance its position in the alternative administration segment of the global fund administration business, broaden its service capabilities and expand to even more markets than before through State Street’s global footprint,” adds Nicola Palios, chief executive officer of Mourant.
State Street has significantly grown its capabilities in the alternative asset servicing segment of the global fund administration market over the last seven years. In 2002, the company acquired International Fund Services, a provider of hedge fund administration services, and in 2007 it acquired Investors Financial Services and Palmeri Fund Administrators.
“MIFA’s team of professionals will augment our existing alternative and private equity operations,” says Jack Klinck, executive vice president and global head of State Street’s Alternative Investment Solutions team. “As a result, State Street is well-positioned to continue to grow its position in the increasingly important alternative asset segment.”
