Estera-Ocorian merger plans announced
PLANS for a ‘transformational’ merger of two corporate and fund administration companies with offices in Guernsey and Jersey have been unveiled.
The Estera-Ocorian tie-up has been announced after Inflexion Private Equity revealed that it was supporting the acquisition of Estera from Bridgepoint. Following completion of the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, Estera will be merged with Inflexion’s existing portfolio company Ocorian to form a global corporate service and fund administration leader of significant scale.
Estera has offices in Guernsey and Jersey. Its new state-of-the-art Guernsey centre recently opened, bringing together the company’s 100-strong local workforce under one roof. Ocorian employs dozens of people in its Channel Islands business, which is based in Jersey. Significantly, there is little overlap between the companies making it a complementary deal.
'The combination of Ocorian and Estera is truly transformational, creating a global, market leading business of significant scale and we look forward to partnering with both teams to accelerate the growth of the joint business,' said Inflexion managing partner Simon Turner.
Estera chief executive Farah Ballands said it was an exciting next step for the business and everyone who worked for it. 'We are delighted that we will be combining with Ocorian, which with Inflexion’s support, will help us develop and grow the business even further. We look forward to implementing an ambitious joint growth plan,' she said.
Describing it as a 'landmark' transaction, Ocorian chief executive Stuart Layzell, Ocorian said the combined business would offer an enhanced service to clients. 'The whole team looks forward to working with the team at Estera to take the enlarged business forward.’
The combined business will operate from 18 jurisdictions, including Bermuda, Cayman, Guernsey, Ireland, Jersey, Luxembourg and Mauritius. It will employ more than 1,250 professionals globally serving more than 8,000 clients across the corporate service, fund administration and private client sector.
Offering a suite of services to clients with multi-jurisdictional needs, the plans in particular envisage Ocorian clients benefiting from Estera's established North American presence - Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and Cayman - while Estera clients will be able to leverage Ocorian's strong links to the Middle East and Africa.
