MJ Hudson has acquired Dublin-based funds service provider Bridge Consulting, conditional on regulatory approval from the Central Bank of Ireland.
The acquisition will build on MJ Hudson’s funds operations in London, Luxembourg and Guernsey.
An initial fixed consideration of €2m is payable in cash, with deferred and additional earn-out consideration of up to €10m payable over a two-year period.
The consideration will be comprised of cash and new ordinary shares in MJ Hudson, with the latter representing approximately 20% of the total.
These shares will be allocated to directors, staff and employees of Bridge and will be subject to lock-in arrangements for at least 12 months from the date of issue. The cash consideration will be funded from MJ Hudson´s cash resources.
Founded in 2005, Bridge offers regulatory compliance, domiciliation and risk services and is authorised to provide third-party management services to UCITS and alternative investment fund platforms. It has 27 permanent staff servicing 100 asset managers with over €120bn in assets.
For the 12-month period to September 2020, Bridge is expected to have generated EBITDA of €0.5m on revenues of €4.0m, on the basis of unaudited management accounts. Revenues are expected to grow by more than 30% in the current year.
The vendors of Bridge – Directors David Dillon and Paul McNaughton – will remain in their existing roles. All staff will transition to MJ Hudson and the business will trade under the MJ Hudson brand.
Matthew Hudson (pictured), CEO of MJ Hudson, commented: “The acquisition of Bridge is a milestone for MJ Hudson's manco and regulatory platform offering. We can now offer clients representation in each of the principal UK and European fund centres as Brexit approaches.
"The acquisition also gives us a timely UCITs platform that complements our AIFM platforms in the UK, Luxembourg and Guernsey.”