Fulcrum Group, a global administrator for hedge funds and the alternative asset management industry, backed by global private equity firm, 3i, and Butterfield Fund Services (BFS), a provider of administration services for investment and pension funds and part of The Bank of N. T. Butterfield & Son Limited (Butterfield), have announced, subject to regulatory and governmental approvals, an agreement to merge the two businesses to create Butterfield Fulcrum Group (BFG).
Headquartered in Bermuda, BFG will have approximately 400 employees in 10 locations across 9 countries. The firm will have close to $100 billion in assets under administration from nearly 1,000 hedge funds, fund of funds, private equity and institutional investment management clients.
Butterfield will retain a substantial equity stake and 3i, an existing shareholder in Fulcrum Group, will own a majority interest in Butterfield Fulcrum Group.
“This is an enormous win-win for both companies that will leverage sales and operational capabilities of Fulcrum Group, and the tremendous customer relationships and global reputation of Butterfield Bank Group,” says Akshaya Bhargava, CEO of Fulcrum Group. “Our vision is to create the best fund administration company in the world.”
“We believe that the merger of these two highly successful businesses will result in significant business growth, more services for fund administration customers and career opportunities for employees,” says Alan Thompson, president and CEO of Butterfield. “In BFG, Butterfield and Fulcrum are creating a company that will have a powerful presence in fund administration globally.”
Bhargava will become the CEO of BFG and Jill Considine, current chairman of the Fulcrum Group, will be the chairman of the BFG board. Thompson and Graham Brooks, executive vice president, international, at Butterfield will also join the BFG board, along with other representatives from Fulcrum and 3i.
“This merger brings together two highly complementary fund administrators to offer a full-service platform of significant scale that has a business model and operational structure to achieve industry leadership,” Considine says. “BFG will be able to leverage the market reputation of one of the world’s premier banks, a very efficient operating platform and a highly talented and motivated management team.”