Ultimus Fund Solutions has agreed to acquire private market fund administrator LeverPoint Management, bringing its total assets under administration to $220 billion.
LeverPoint provides full-service fund administration, accounting, tax and back-office support services to private equity, venture capital and real estate managers.
The joint private market offering will be known as Ultimus LeverPoint Private Fund Solutions following the completion of the transaction. The business line will service $90 billion of private fund assets across 230 clients.
“We’re thrilled to join forces with LeverPoint and look forward to working together to continue to build on our shared reputation for high-quality client service,” said Gary Tenkman, CEO of Ultimus.
“Together, Ultimus and LeverPoint represent a leading independent and integrated fund solutions platform for both registered and alternative fund managers. Ultimus’ leading position is unique in the marketplace and allows it to better service managers of all sizes and asset types.”
Ultimus has been a prolific winner of Global Custodian’s mutual fund administration awards in recent years, scooping three in 2018, out of a potential four.
The acquisition of the New York-headquartered LeverPoint will boost Ultimus’ offering in the fastest growing segment of the fund services market.
In eVestment’s 2019 alternative fund administration survey, respondents were asked to rank growth areas, and private equity and debt were far ahead of hedge funds, fund of hedge funds and liquid alternatives. Meanwhile, when it comes to real assets, BNY Mellon research last year showed that an additional $334 billion investment globally in real estate and $130 billion in infrastructure is set to pour in over the next two years.
As a result of this trend there has been a swathe of acquisitions of private equity and real estate-focused fund administrators. These include Apex buying Ipes, Broadscope and Deutsche Bank’s fund services business, and SGG acquiring Augentius.
Elsewhere, Citco has started a new centre of excellence for private equity investor services in order to support a €50 billion global alternative investment fund.
“My team and I are excited to join Ultimus, which shares LeverPoint’s commitment to client service,” said David MacPhee, CEO of LeverPoint. “I look forward to working with Evan Audette of Ultimus, who will become COO of the combined entity. I’m confident the unified team will continue to provide the differentiated high-quality service we pride ourselves on, while delivering a broader set of capabilities to our combined client base. Additionally, our combined scale will allow us to invest further in technology and service capabilities as we enter this next chapter in our growth.”