Phoenix to acquire Mobius Life from Souter, Manfield

Kenny Wastell
01 May 2019

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Phoenix Equity Partners has agreed to acquire a majority stake in UK-headquartered investment management business Mobius Life from Souter Investments and Manfield Partners.

Phoenix is investing alongside Mobius's management team with capital drawn from Phoenix Equity Partners 2016. The fund invests in companies with enterprise values of £30-150m.

Following the deal, Mobius will look to further increase its assets under administration, which have increased fivefold in the last five years, according to a statement. It will aim to do so in part by expanding its range of services.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

Previous funding
Souter and Manfield acquired a majority stake in Mobius via a 2013 management buyout from Alexander Forbes.

Company
Founded in 1996, Mobius is an institutional fund manager and provider of administration services to UK pension schemes. The firm has around £17bn in assets under administration.

People
Phoenix Equity Partners – Sandy Muirhead (partner).
Souter Investments – Andy Macfie (managing director).
Mobius Life – Adrian Swales (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – Addleshaw Goddard (legal); Deloitte (corporate finance); Houlihan Lokey (corporate finance).
Vendor – Dentons (legal); Imas Corporate Finance (corporate finance).