Independent Governance Group, a retirement trustee and governance services firm, acquired Edinburgh-based IC Select, a provider of oversight and selection services to pension funds.
IC Select monitors investment consultants and outsourced CIOs in the U.K. The brand name will be retained to reflect the specialist offer and established reputation, a news release said. Peter Dorward, managing director, will continue to lead IC Select. Roger Brown, IC Select founder, remains with the business under IGG. "Given the complementary service offerings, no people changes are anticipated as a result of this acquisition," a spokesperson for IGG said.
The deal adds complementary skills to IGG, which provides trustee services to corporations, such as acting as professional corporate sole trustee, chair of trustees and co-trustees. The firm has more than 170 staff and works with more than 374 pension funds with a combined £350 billion ($439 billion) in assets.
"A key part of any professional trustee's role is the ability to effectively monitor their schemes' investment performance," said Andrew Bradshaw, CEO of IGG, in the news release. "IC Select will enhance our ability to select and monitor investment consultants and fiduciary managers."
Dorward added that joining IGG "gives us a unique platform to accelerate our growth strategy as part of a business with a clear vision, a first-class team and strong momentum behind it."
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, the spokesperson said.
IGG acquired creative communications and employee engagement agency like minds in May, and purchased Clarity Trustees in February. IGG itself was founded last year following the merger of two professional trustee firms — Independent Trustee Services and Ross Trustees.
Private equity investor LDC, part of Lloyds Banking Group, provided funding for the creation of IGG.
