Fund-Technology.com

Custom House and Equity Fund Services join forces

Posted: 06 May 2008

Custom House Global Fund Services, the Dublin-based fund administrator, announced the proposed merger of their operations.

The merger of the two businesses, which is subject to regulatory approval, will be effected through a new holding company, Equity Fund Services (Holdings) Limited, domiciled in Malta. With over 260 employees operating in all major centres: Ireland, United States of America, Singapore, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, Guernsey and Hong Kong, the new entity will be a truly global player within the industry.

Dermot Butler, Chairman of Custom House and Deputy Chairman of AIMA (the Alternative Investment Management Association), will continue to be Chairman of the merged businesses, while the Managing Director will be David Blair, who is presently the Managing Director of Custom House.

"The principals of both companies believe that, to adapt an old cliché, the value of the combined businesses will be greater than the sum of the two parts," said Mr. Blair. "The combined businesses, which will operate under Custom House, will have assets under administration of close to $50bn." Blair, who expects to break through the $55bn barrier before the end of the year, said "Administering over $50bn will put us in a new league".

Dermot Butler, who founded Custom House in 1989 said, "Over the past five years, we have witnessed the acquisition of many independent hedge fund administrators. The enlarged Custom House will provide even better services to our clients and strive to meet the aspirations and ambitions of the combined staff. Mr. Butler also pointed out that the other main characteristics of the large fund administration companies, is their reluctance to take on hedge funds with assets of less than $200m. "As at least 70% of all hedge funds have assets of $200m or less, this has opened up the market to us. While both of our companies have clients with net assets of $1 billion or more, the $50m to $300m hedge fund market is a very profitable source of business. With $50bn under administration, we will be in pole position to service those clients on a worldwide basis."

Click here for more information on Ireland

Back to news