Recent acquisitions activity demonstrates attractiveness of Guernsey say Collas Crill

Leading Channel Islands law firm, Collas Crill, has advised local financial services firms and investors in relation to a string of mergers and acquisitions in recent weeks. Lawyers from the firm were involved in the recent acquisitions of fund administration providers, Ardel Fund Services Limited and IPES and the business merger of accountancy firms BDO and PKF.

Collas Crill acted for the JTC Group in its acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Ardel Fund Services Limited, a fund administration provider based in Guernsey. JTC Group is a leading independent provider of private wealth, corporate, employee benefit and fund administration services, with established businesses in Jersey and Luxembourg. This acquisition significantly boosts JTC's numbers in Guernsey and forms part of JTC's broader international expansion plans.

Kate Storey, Senior Associate at Collas Crill commented: "We were delighted to assist JTC Group with this important consolidation of their position in Guernsey. The acquisitive activity we are seeing in the fund administration sector in Guernsey just goes to show the health of the funds industry here."

Collas Crill also advised IPES Guernsey (Holdings) Limited and its shareholders (of which RJD Partners Limited represented the largest proportion) in the sale of IPES for £50 million. IPES is one of Europe's leading providers of fund administration services; it employs 130 members of staff and administers in excess of $50 billion of assets from four European offices (Guernsey, Jersey, London and Luxembourg). Collas Crill provided advice on the regulatory aspects of the sale, negotiation of the transaction documents and assistance with conditions precedent to completion on both sales.

Senior Associate Wayne Atkinson (pictured) said: "We feel purchases on this scale show a huge amount of confidence in the funds industries of Guernsey and Jersey. With regulatory changes in Europe and the US and recession in many countries, fund launches in recent years have been down. This spate of activity demonstrates a belief on the part of the purchasers that fund administration business in Guernsey is going to prove a worthwhile investment. That can only be a positive message for the island and we're happy to have been involved. Similarly the BDO-PKF transaction consolidates two well-known brands here with a view to the future and again that's a good thing for our financial services industry moving forward."