CBPE Capital (“CBPE”) is pleased to announce the acquisition of Xafinity Consulting (‘Xafinity’) from the Equiniti Group. The transaction remains subject to certain conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to close during the first quarter of 2013. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
With over 350 employees operating from six regional UK offices, Xafinity provides a range of actuarial, pensions, healthcare and other employee benefits consulting and administration services predominantly to the trustees and sponsors of corporate pension schemes. Xafinity provides services to over 450 pension schemes with some 200,000 members and undertakes full pension administration services for over 115,000 scheme members. In addition, Xafinity has a rapidly growing presence in SSAS and SIPP administration services.
Xafinity is very well placed to capitalise on the continued evolution in the UK employee benefits sector and the pensions sector in particular, where a slow decline in the number of underlying defined benefit schemes (which are or have been closed to new entrants) is more than offset by the need for greater levels of advisory services as trustees and sponsors continue to meet the challenge of managing assets and liabilities. The growing importance of regulation has also placed increased demands on trustees and sponsors who require a higher level of advice and support services from an independent adviser such as Xafinity.
The acquisition of Xafinity is perfectly in line with CBPE’s highly selective investment criteria: it is a business of scale with a strong track record of revenue and profit growth, combined with a strong management team and long term client base. CBPE will work with the management team of Xafinity, led by Robert Birmingham, to drive growth through providing a comprehensive range of pension-related services to its client base.
Ian Moore, Investment Director at CBPE said: “Xafinity is a very strong business which we are confident will flourish under independent ownership. This is an industry with attractive fundamentals where the need for high quality advice on the part of pension trustees who need to meet ever more stringent regulatory standards is becoming increasingly important. We look forward to working closely with the management team to invest in and grow the business both organically and by acquisition.”
Robert Birmingham, CEO of Xafinity Consulting said: “This is a great outcome for Xafinity, our staff and most importantly, our clients. This will be the first time in Xafinity Consulting’s corporate history that it will be a truly independent operation. We will be able to focus entirely on our markets, further enhancing our product offerings and providing an even better service to our client base. We were very impressed with the CBPE team during the sale process. It is clear they understand theopportunity an independent Xafinity presents and look forward to working with them as we seek to further grow our market share.”
