BISYS has received regulatory approval to complete the acquisition of Hemisphere. The purchase of Hemisphere – which claims to be the largest hedge fund administrator in Europe, and the third biggest in the world – takes BISYS into hedge fund administration for the first time. The ambitious outsourcing provider is banking on predictions that the hedge fund industry will grow at a compound rate of 23 percent from $500 billion in assets today to $1.7 trillion by 2008.
“The hedge fund industry represents a strategic and significant growth opportunity for BISYS, and acquiring Hemisphere positions BISYS as a market leader in this segment of the financial services industry,” says Lynn Mangum, chairman and chief executive officer of BISYS. “We expect to aggressively grow this platform, which is currently supporting some of the largest global asset managers, through direct sales to new clients and cross sales to our respective client bases. Complementing BISYS’ existing mutual fund administration capabilities with Hemisphere’s service offerings will generate the broadest array of fund services currently available from a single provider.”
Among the services Hemisphere provides to hedge funds are fund administration, record keeping, regulatory and tax services, and corporate secretary and director services. Hemisphere currently services funds with approximately $50 billion in assets under management from service centers in Bermuda, Boston, and Dublin, Ireland. Its clients are global in scope and represent many of the industry’s largest investment managers.
This acquisition of Hemisphere by BISYS was announced on March 7.