Private bank sells pension business to UK Sipp provider

While Transact parent company buys financial planning software specialist

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UK self-invested personal pension (Sipp) provider and administrator Dentons has acquired the pension administration and professional trustee company of private bank Brown Shipley.

All 16 staff have joined Dentons with immediate effect.

The acquisition will see Dentons add approximately 1,000 Sipps to its existing book of business, bringing the total to over 7,600 Sipps along with an additional 485 small, self-administered schemes (Ssas), taking the total to over 1300 Ssas arrangements.

It will also take Dentons’ assets under administration to over £6.6bn ($8.9bn, €7.3bn).

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Acquisition plans

Martyn Rose, chairman of Dentons, said: “This acquisition is an important part of our growth strategy. We are delighted to make this announcement and look forward to working closely with Brown Shipley in the future.

“These books of business are a great fit for us, with both firms sharing a similar ethos of high quality service and administration excellence, putting the client at the heart of everything we do.

“I strongly believe that this acquisition, coupled with the knowledge that Dentons grew organically in 2020, and during one of the most difficult years on record, prove beyond doubt that Dentons remains one of the UK’s leading bespoke Sipp and Ssas providers.

“We are committed to growing both organically and by selected acquisition and we continue to look for acquisitions that represent a good strategic fit for us. We look forward to working closely with Brown Shipley as it will continue to provide its banking and investment services to those clients.”

Tech M&A deal

Elsewhere in the advice sector, Transact parent group IntegraFin Holdings has purchased Time4Advice, a specialist software provider for financial planning and wealth management firms.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The deal will help scale Time4Advice, accelerating software development and allowing it to expand its reach. It will also enable Transact to enhance Platform and adviser back office processes.

Time4Advice will remain a separate legal entity and retain its brand.

Co-founders Roland Rawicz-Szczerbo and Mitchell Philpott will both remain with the company and there is no direct impact on the roles of staff at either company.

‘Enhance’ offering

Jonathan Gunby, chief executive at Transact, said: “Transact has a long history of supporting financial advisers. By working closely with Time4Advice we can help accelerate its growth and provide an enhanced service to advisers through process improvement.

“Technological integration will not be exclusive to Time4Advice and we already collaborate with a wide range of service providers to the financial planning sector.”

This deal comes several days after IntegraFin said it would not be making a bid for wrap platform Nucleus.

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