Apex Group has completed the acquisition and integration of fund administrator Custom House expanding the firm’s reach into new locations such as Beijing, Chicago and Geneva.
Other new offices include Rotterdam, Shenzhen and Sofia, in which the deal brings $24 billion of additional assets, hailing from 500 funds and spanning across 200 managers, to Apex.
The agreement was announced in August last year, alongside the news that Custom House’s chief executive officer, Mark Hedderman, had decided to step down to explore new opportunities.
Apex today confirmed that Custom House’s CFO Helen Breen and COO David Barry will remain onboard.
“We are really happy with the seamless transition of the Custom House business into the Apex Group,” said Breen.
“The teams have integrated very smoothly and our clients have retained the same attention and service levels we have always been proud to deliver. This is a new chapter for the Apex Group and we are extremely excited to be part of it”.
Apex has acquired multiple businesses since gaining new private equity backing in January 2017, including Equinoxe Alternative Investment Services, Deutsche Bank’s Alternative Fund Services business, MM Warburg Asset Servicing, Ipes and LRI Group.
In August last year, Global Custodian spoke to Christopher Mulhern, global head of acquisition integrations to discuss the process of integrating multiple businesses and cultures into one united entity.
“From a strategic point of view, it’s not just about asset accumulation and rising up the table,” Mulhern explained at the time. “The Deutsche Bank deal brought more private equity expertise, Warburg brought banking, depository, custody capabilities. Each acquisition has contributed in some shape or form to the product offering we have and our scope as a global brand. The end goal and ultimate vision, post-integration, is to end up with a much more broad financial services company with scale.”