Silverfleet sells Ipes to Genstar's Apex Group

Kenny Wastell
07 June 2018

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Silverfleet Capital has agreed to sell fund administration business Ipes to Genstar Capital portfolio company Apex Group.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed, though an industry insider told Unquote that the deal gave the company an enterprise value in the region of £150m. It is also understood that Ipes was marketed based on an EBITDA figure in the region of £10m.

The deal has generated a 3.8x return for Silverfleet following a five-year holding period, equivalent to an IRR of 30%. The transaction is an exit for Silverfleet Capital Partners Fund, a 2007-vintage vehicle that held its final close in April 2009 on €665m.

It is understood that the auction process took around two months and exclusively comprised trade bidders – although a number of them had private equity backing.

Ipes has grown organically under both Silverfleet's tenure and that of its previous owner RJD Partners. It has invested in its proprietary technology platforms Capital Tracker and ID Register, and looked to capitalise on the trend of PE firms outsourcing administration services due to increasingly complex regulatory requirements such as AIFMD, Fatca and CRS.

According to a statement issued by the vendor, the business has enjoyed a compound annual growth rate of 13% across the last 10 years. It has also more than doubled its headcount and the number of clients it serves.

The bolt-on of Ipes is the fourth acquisition made by Apex since Genstar acquired the company in 2017. It comes five months after the group acquired MM Warburg & Co's asset management and servicing business in Luxembourg. It had also previously acquired Equinoxe Alternative Investment Services and Deutsche Bank's alternative fund services business.

The latest deal is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to complete by the end of Q3 2018.

Previous funding
RJD acquired Ipes for £25m in 2008, investing via the RJD Partners II fund and fully underwriting the deal at the time. The GP refinanced the company shortly afterwards, with a new £10m senior debt facility provided by Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets.

Silverfleet then acquired the company for £50m in April 2013, with Lloyds Bank and HSBC providing a debt package to support the transaction.

Company
Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Guernsey, Ipes is a provider of fund administration and outsourcing services mainly catering to the private equity industry. The company has $165bn in assets under administration. It has a headcount of 265 across five European offices and a clientbase of 195.

People
Silverfleet Capital – Mark Piasecki (partner).
Ipes – Chris Merry (CEO).

Advisers
Vendor – Rothschild (corporate finance); PwC (financial due diligence, tax); Duff & Phelps (legal); Travers Smith (legal).
Acquirer – Macquarie Capital (corporate finance); Willkie Farr & Gallagher (legal).