Equinoxe Alternative Investment Services, a provider of administration services to the hedge fund industry, is to expand its Irish operation with the establishment of a new asset servicing operation in Sligo.
The operation will employ over 50 people over three years, with the potential for further growth as it develops.
Supported by government through IDA Ireland, it will initially locate at The Innovation Centre at the Institute of Technology Sligo.
Equinoxe’s existing Irish operation – Equinoxe AIS Ireland – located in Malahide, County Dublin, is the company’s European headquarters servicing the EMEA markets.
Equinoxe selected Sligo for the growth of its EMEA asset servicing business in order to continue to provide a service to clients in their own time zone, leveraging the talent pool in the financial services sector in Ireland. The Sligo operation is being established as the primary back office servicing arm of Equinoxe EMEA covering all activities, offering growth in addition to Malahide which will be a full service office, but also focus on the sales and marketing activities.
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan (pictured) says: “This is excellent news for Sligo and is a major further endorsement of the North-West Region as a location for International Financial Services operations, which is already ‘home’ to a number of significant players in the IFS industry. Sligo was selected as it meets Equinoxe’s needs in terms of access to suitably qualified staff; easy access to the Dublin office, will allow the company to reduce its overall cost base, and has the academic institution, IT Sligo, which is working with Equinoxe to assist with its growth in the region.”
Stephen Castree, chief executive officer of Equinoxe, says: “Our experience of the start-up and development of our Dublin office, and its success to-date, had a major influence on our decision to locate this further investment in Ireland. The country’s highly respected reputation and track-record of achievements in global financial services was a major consideration in 2007 when we first selected Ireland. These attributes have proven to be valuable in the development of our business and we are again confident that Ireland and in particular Sligo, will see this expansion successfully perform to our stringent targets and contribute significantly to the further growth of our global business.”