Jersey-headquartered fund services provider Aztec Group has established a US presence by opening its first office outside of Europe.
The new office located in Philadelphia will specialise in the provision of fund and corporate accounting and administration services to the private equity, venture capital, infrastructure, real estate and private debt sectors.
Senior director and longstanding employee of the Group, Mike Wood, will head up the new office. Over the last 15 years, Wood has been based in the Jersey office where he led a significant portfolio of global private equity and venture capital clients.
Wood will be responsible for driving the development of Aztec Group’s US presence alongside Lynne Westbrook, an American national. Westbrook recently acted as European lead at JP Morgan’s fund administration division and has more that 20 years’ experience in-house with US fund managers.
Aztec Group serves over 250 alternative investment clients and administers more that $530 billion in assets across seven offices spanning Guernsey, Jersey, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the UK and the US.
“Many of our clients, and intermediaries who we work with closely, are based in the US or have significant operations in the region. Establishing an office in Philadelphia, a city with deep roots in financial services and in close proximity to other major financial hubs, was the next clear strategic move for the Group as we continue to grow,” said Edward Moore, chief executive officer of Aztec Group.
“We decided to send long-standing Aztec people to take this first step on our journey to expand internationally, combining decades of experience in the alternative investments industry with the local knowledge and expertise of our US experts. This organic, client-driven growth has always been at the heart of our strategy; preserving the values and ethos of our business while maintaining the partnership-based approach our clients have come to know and expect.”