Apex Group Ltd, the Bermudian-based global financial services provider, has acquired IP Management Company, a South African unit trust management company.

The company said IPMC was a collaboration between established financial services businesses, which had operated unit trust funds independently for more than 15 years.

These businesses compete and promote their products independently but coexist in a synergistic relationship within IPMC, creating a business with depth of resources and diversification of assets under administration.

It added that the IPMC management team brought extensive experience in collective investment scheme administration, including co-named portfolios and foreign collective investment scheme representation.

The acquisition of IPMC further strengthens Apex Group’s management company offering in the South African market, adding assets under administration of 22 billion rand (approximately $1.15 billion), across more than 40 funds and ten fund managers.

Peter Hughes, the founder and chief executive of Apex Group, said: “It is great to see our expansion across South Africa. IPMC will provide white-labelled, collective investment portfolio administration to third party investment managers.

“The additional scale and resource are needed to continue delivering our cutting-edge solutions to our African and global clients, which navigates the complex regulatory environment and drives even more growth within the region.

“This acquisition will make us one of the largest providers in the marketplace, where we can offer a personalised, single-source solution, which includes the full suite of services required for investment managers to focus on their day to day.”

The acquisition of IPMC was subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions, all of which were satisfied and the deal closed on April 2.