Hedge fund administrator GlobeOp Financial Services, which offers business process outsourcing, financial technology services and analytics to traditional and alternative asset managers, i
Hedge fund administrator GlobeOp Financial Services, which offers business process outsourcing, financial technology services and analytics to traditional and alternative asset managers, is investing USD10.5m in the acquisition and development of a facility at Yorktown Heights in New York state to provide additional office and data centre capacity for future business growth. The acquisition is scheduled to close later this month.
‘Investing for the future is essential,’ says GlobeOp chief executive Hans Hufschmid. ‘We continuously invest globally in people and infrastructure, reflecting steady growth in client trading volumes and demand for diverse product offerings.
‘Acquiring the additional capacity in Yorktown Heights reflects our ongoing review of client service requirements, our business growth strategy, and our operational needs. It is also consistent with GlobeOp’s strategy of balancing future growth with strong profitability.
‘GlobeOp’s technology platform today represents more than 500 man-years of development. As we continue to grow the business, we will need to expand both technology infrastructure and related data services. The Yorktown Heights facility will better enable us to plan strategically and physically accommodate future product and service innovations.’
The 7,400-square metre facility is located in Westchester County, some 40 miles from the location of one of GlobeOp’s two global headquarters offices in Manhattan (the other is in London). In addition to the initial USD5.5m acquisition cost, GlobeOp expects to invest around USD5m in facility infrastructure and equipment improvement, with all expenditure funded from existing cash reserves.
Expected to be operational early next year, the Yorktown Heights facility will not only accommodate future technology infrastructure and service expansion but strengthen the reliability and robustness of existing business systems, since it will source power from a different utility company and power grid from GlobeOp’s Harrison, New York facility.
President and chief operating officer Vernon Barback say the new facility will also help the company to maintain a highly skilled professional workforce and be an employer of choice in the areas in which it operates.
‘Recent expansion of our technology infrastructure and business recovery systems in Harrison has reduced office space for the around 175 client service and IT development professionals based there,’ he says. ‘The Yorktown Heights facility will enable us to relocate a portion of our Harrison employees in 2009 and provide greater flexibility in future recruitment.’
