Inflexion to merge Bridgepoint-backed Estera with Ocorian

Kenny Wastell
19 July 2019

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Inflexion Private Equity has agreed to acquire Estera, a provider of corporate, fiduciary, fund administration and trust services, from Bridgepoint in order to merge it with existing portfolio company Ocorian.

Financial details of the transaction remain undisclosed, though Unquote sister publication Mergermarket recently reported that the transaction was expected to attract bids in the region of £500-600m.

Unquote understands the GP more than doubled its investment. Bridgepoint declined to comment on the returns generated from the transaction.

Inflexion also declined to comment on how the transaction was structured, though an investor told Unquote that Inflexion Buyout Fund IV did not make any form of exit and that the transaction involved new equity from both it and Inflexion Buyout Fund V.

The deal will bring to an end a four-year holding period for Bridgepoint, which is invested in the company via €4bn vehicle Bridgepoint Europe V.

Under the vendor's tenure, Estera undertook an acquisitive international growth strategy, most recently bolting on Luxembourg-based Allegro in September 2018, and invested in product development and marketing activity.

The consolidated group will have a headcount of around 1,250 and operations in 18 jurisdictions, including Bermuda, Cayman, Guernsey, Ireland, Jersey, Luxembourg and Mauritius. According to a statement, Ocorian will benefit from Estera's North American presence, while Estera will benefit from Ocorian's presence in the Middle East and Africa.

The transaction comes almost three years after Inflexion carved out Ocorian from Bedell Cristin. The business has since undertaken an acquisitive growth strategy, with the $100m bolt-on of Mauritius-headquartered Abax Holding in February 2018 marking its fourth acquisition in a particularly active six-month period.

According to Mergermarket, Estera drew interest from a number of private equity and private-equity-backed suitors. Names reported to have shown interest include US-based GTCR, CVC-owned TMF Group and Genstar Capital-backed Apex Fund Services.

Inflexion has a track record in the fund administration services space, having exited Sanne Group via a £232m IPO in 2015.

The latest deal is subject to regulatory approval.

Previous funding
Bridgepoint acquired Estera (then the fiduciary and administration business of Appleby Global) in a deal understood to have been worth £240m in 2015.

Company
Founded in 2015, Jersey-headquartered Estera is a provider of corporate, fiduciary, fund administration and trust services.

People
Bridgepoint – William Paul (partner).
Estera – Farah Ballands (CEO).
Ocorian – Stuart Layzell (CEO).