Presenting Global Custodian’s Fund Services One to Watch nominees

An in-depth look at the shortlist of one of Global Custodian’s most talked about Editors’ Choice awards, the Fund Services One to Watch.

By Editors

The return of the Fund Services One to Watch sees a group of rising administrators compete for the honour which has highlighted the likes of Intertrust Group, TMF, Vistra, Sanne, Mainstream, PEF Fund Services and IQ-EQ in the past. This year, the shortlist consists of 4Pines Fund Services, Crestbridge, Ocorian and Sudrania Fund Services.

4Pines Fund Services

The newest player among our four nominees, the developments within 4Pines Fund Services over the past year have been almost as intriguing as the story that inspired the name of the administrator.

The private capital specialist has spent the last couple of years building up a team and the technology it requires to support the vision of its CEO Mike Trinkaus, who had previously sold Carta Fund Services to Alter Domus in January 2017.

Within its hires this year have been two C-level additions to bolster its ranks as 4Pines ventures into its first years of operation.

In January 2021, 4Pines appointed, Celeste Barone, an experienced private capital and asset management executive as its new president and chief client officer. Adding 25 years’ experience in managing the financial operations of multi-billion-dollar private capital and asset managers, the firm gained some more on-the-ground private capital experience. 

February saw the addition of Paul Filanowski from AllVue Systems as director of business development and then in March, it added Michael Gull, formerly of MUFG Investor Services as chief revenue officer. Previously, he led business development at Virtus Partners, Wells Fargo Securities, UBS Global Asset Management and SEI.

Trinkaus has been particular about building out its top ranks with the addition of experience and has also honed its technology capabilities through a partnership with AllVue.

The opportunity within the private capital space is clear, according to the 4Pines chief: “About 50-55% of the market is outsourced right now,” he said to Global Custodian earlier this year. “So there’s plenty of runway out there to build organically. Consolidation is also good for us, because this space is dominated by large players and if you’re a smaller firm out there then you’re probably not getting what you need to in order to evolve your own back office, even if you’re outsourced you’re piecing together different parts of your organisation. Most of these firms aren’t going to be able to help you to go down that path in the way that we’re hoping to do.” 

Crestbridge

Acquisitions, personnel additions and new locations have defined Crestbridge’s year, and it’s been a busy one for the private equity and real estate fund administrator which looks set to make a significant impact in this space in the years to come.

The year began with the acquisition of New Jersey based Ovation Fund Services, a provider of fund administration, accounting and reporting services to US domestic private equity and real estate funds.

In March, Crestbridge opened a new Dublin office, before gaining approval months later from the Central Bank of Ireland (CIB) to further enhance its Irish platform and significantly broaden its service capabilities for fund managers.

The additions of staff have come thick and fast throughout the year as Crestbridge has shown its ability to attract talent, including hires from competitors. In January, the administrator hired a new group head for private equity services from Intertrust, which was followed by a new director of management, company operations in Luxembourg; head of fund services for Ireland and Luxembourg; governance services director; head of client operations and many more in what is clearly a major period of growth.

This summer, Crestbridge confirmed Dean Hodcroft’s appointment as its new chief executive. Widely respected as one of the leading names in European real estate consulting, he joined from real estate investment firm, Cale Street Partners.

With new additions and locations in New Jersey and Ireland, Crestbridge is set to become an interesting player to watch in the fund services space in the future.

Ocorian

Ocorian has established itself as one of the fastest up-and-coming fund administrators, where it provides bespoke technology-led services to private equity, venture capital, real estate, and infrastructure-focused fund managers.  

The organisation has grabbed the headline of late by adding two of JP Morgan’s fund services executives in recent months. Garrett Breen joined the firm in September as head of global funds, based in Dublin, to lead the transformation of its alternatives funds business.

Breen joined from JP Morgan where he previously led the hedge fund services business for over five years.

He linked up with Mike Hughes, JP Morgan’s former head of global custody, who joined the firm in June to a newly created role as global head of services lines, overseeing product development and sales, a major catch for Ocorian.

In addition, the firm promoted Charlotte Cruickshank as global head of fund onboarding and solutions in August, while in June it recruited Hugo Smyth from Deutsche Bank as head of capital markets business development for the UK and Europe. Ocorian also hired Megan Faust Kauffmann, the former head of alternative investment services for Luxembourg at BNY Mellon, in April to its fund services team.

With an all-star cast, Ocorian has been talk of the town over the past year and has already been the recipient of industry awards in recent years across the asset classes it services.

Sudrania Fund Services

Much like its counterparts in this category, Sudrania Fund Services, has been acquiring, hiring and expanding with new offices and locations recently.

The provider appeared on many people’s radar following its purchase of Triple Leo Consulting – a Philadelphia-based fund administrator that specialises in crypto and digital assets fund administration – at the start of the year. Since then, Sudrania has also bolstered its team headcount to over 600 team members – almost doubling its staff throughout the year.

In January a triple hire included the addition of Chris Meader – founder of the North American Fund Administration Association (NAFAA) – as senior vice president of client service, alongside Harsha Patwardhan, and Shalin Madan.

The summer then saw a swathe of additions, including George Shinn, Kimberley Vercoe, Abhishek Sharma, Justin Kam, Ashish Malhotra, Kavita Bansal and Sushil Jain.

The rapid growth has seen Sudrania expand its client base to 550 through those that leverage its proprietary platform for hedge funds, cryptocurrency funds, SPVs, mutual funds, private equity funds, impact funds, commodity pools and mortgage funds.

Over the past year the fund services provider has also added offices in Canada and Singapore.

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