London-listed Marwyn Acquisition Company II is to buy administration provider InvestAcc Group, with the aim of building a market-leading administrator for the UK.
MAC II announced to the stock market on Friday that it had entered a binding agreement to acquire InvestAcc Group for £41.5m. After the deal, to be structured as a reverse takeover, the InvestAcc brand will remain.
MAC II is run by Marwyn, a company with a history of establishing acquisition vehicles that then buy and grow technology companies.
In its statement last week, the company said: “MAC II’s strategy is to build the UK’s leading specialist pensions administration business in the public markets with an initial focus on the SIPP [self-invested personal pension] segment, a highly attractive investment opportunity. InvestAcc is the first and key1 step in executing this strategy.”
InvestAcc also serves the small self-administered scheme, or SSAS, market.
Mark Hodges, MAC II’s chair and former chief executive of ReAssure, said: “We have long admired InvestAcc Group, a leading UK personal pension administrator with a loyal and growing customer base.
“With a greater focus on savings, changing demographics and a growing reliance on the family, the pensions administration industry plays an important role in securing financial independence and security for customers over the long term.
“We look forward to investing further in InvestAcc’s proposition and unlocking an ambitious merger and acquisition agenda to build the UK’s leading specialist pensions administrator.”
InvestAcc’s existing staff and leadership team are expected to remain with the company after the acquisition is completed.
MAC II intends to pursue a “buy and build” strategy, it said in its statement, leveraging its existing position in the personal pension market and scalable business model.
It believes the SIPP market alone is a strong growth prospect, with assets and administration expected to grow from £500bn to £750bn in the next five years.
MAC II said it was already in “active discussions” in relation to five potential acquisitions, which could grow its assets to more than £20bn and its customer base to more than 45,000 people by the end of next year.
The acquisition is subject to Financial Conduct Authority approval.
