Walkers recently advised in relation to the acquisition of Custom House, a leading global hedge fund administrator, the acquisition of Ipes, a private equity fund administration business and the acquisition of the Corporate and Private Client Services (“CPCS”) and Throgmorton businesses of Link Group’s Asset Services division, a multi-jurisdiction corporate and private client services business.

The deals were led by Jersey Partner Jonathan Heaney (Corporate), Guernsey Group Partner Matt Sanders (Corporate) and Dublin Partners Noeleen Ruddy (Finance) and Brendan O’Brien (Corporate) and fielded a team of 15 lawyers across the three offices. These transactions showcased the depth of Walkers’ seamless multi-jurisdictional offering with regards to complex cross-border leveraged M&A deals.

Wilkie Farr Gallagher’s London and New York offices acting as lead deal counsel.

Originally established in Bermuda, the Apex Group has 2600 staff across over 40 offices globally: including offices in both Guernsey and Jersey. The acquisitions increase Apex’s assets under administration to over $600 billion and significantly enhance its breadth of service offering in both the fund and corporate administration markets globally and on a local scale across the Channel Islands and Ireland.

Peter Hughes, Founder & Chief Executive Officer Apex Group commented:-

“The close of the Custom House, Ipes deals and most recently the acquisition of CPCS and Throgmorton mark an exciting milestone for the Apex Group. The addition of these entities signifies an inflection point for the business, moving us from one of the world’s largest fund administrators into the wider financial services market as a global provider delivering end-to-end solutions to funds, corporations and private clients. The CPCS, Throgmorton and Ipes teams are comprised of extremely well respected and experienced personnel that will complement our expertise across other service capabilities to complete our global financial services offering.”

Walkers’ Group Partner Matt Sanders said:-

“We were delighted to assist on these acquisitions. Working with our teams in Jersey and Ireland, alongside the Willkie teams, and on a challenging timescale, is something that we very much enjoy. We believe that an excellent result has been achieved for our clients. It is another example of Walkers’ active role in assisting on M&A deals involving the consolidation of trust, fund and corporate administration businesses in the Channel Islands. Walkers is ideally placed to assist on these types of deals, particularly as these businesses often have a presence in both of the Channel Islands and in Ireland, and Walkers is the only law firm to have offices in all of these jurisdictions. We look forward to continuing to assist in this market, and congratulate Apex on their acquisitions.”