TMF Group and Custom House Global Fund Services are going to separate, creating an independent, stand-alone fund services operation.
The move is part of the acquisition of Custom House by parent company TMF Group, and comes as a response to market changes and increased demand for independent fund administrators in the alternative asset sector.
Terms were signed at the end of 2014 by Custom House CEO Mark Hedderman and director James Osborne, who will purchase TMF Group’s fund services business.
Hedderman said: “The best opportunity for a fund administration business to succeed is to be truly independent. The management of Custom House believes that the fund administration sector is evolving and there is a return to a premium of being a truly independent administrator that has been lost for quite for some time.”
“We want to position ourselves to be part of that rebirth of that concept and this deal allows us to refocus our business to become completely geared toward funds administration services.
The deal includes TMF Group’s fund services operations in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bulgaria, Malta, the Netherlands, Ireland and the US.
The Luxembourg services will remain with TMF Group. The transaction is pending regulatory approval.
“Custom House has been known and respected in the market since 1989 and has served some of the world’s biggest hedge funds, including Bridgewater and Winston,” said Hedderman.
“Like everyone else, we have had to adjust to a changing financial and corporate landscape, but we are a young management team, we are excited to re-launch with the same vigour and spirit that we had 25 years ago and to continue to build toward a position of dominance as the go-to, gold standard for global independent mid-tier administrators.”
