Mobius Life sold to Phoenix Equity Partners
Souter Investments - the asset management vehicle of Stagecoach founder Brian Souter - has sold Mobius Life to Phoenix Equity Partners.
Phoenix will take its stake in the institutional platform provider alongside the firm's current management team, led by Mobius Life chief executive Adrian Swales.
The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Mobius Life was originally acquired in a management buyout backed by Souter Investments and Manfield Partners in 2014. Since acquisition the business has grown assets under administration from around £3bn to £17bn, and it now provides services to more than 550 institutional clients including pension scheme trustees, consultants and advisers, asset managers, and life insurance companies.
The firm says the investment will help further develop its proposition for clients and advisers.
Commenting on the deal, Swales said: "We are grateful to Souter for their support in helping us develop a robust and scalable platform solution that offers our pension scheme customers and their advisers clear benefits and the best outcomes. The investment by Phoenix sets us up for our next exciting phase of growth and demonstrates confidence in our business, senior management and wider team to continue our track record of outstanding performance."
Phoenix Equity Partners partner Sandy Muirhead added: "Mobius Life has built an outstanding and unique position in the pensions market and, with the investment that we intend to make in its operational and distribution infrastructure, we see a clear opportunity for Mobius Life to increase its penetration of the institutional pension market and broaden its product offering whilst maintaining its best in class service levels."
Mobius Life - the only UK institutional platform which is not owned by an asset manager, investment consultant or large corporate - provides investment administration services, via a UK life insurance structure, to UK defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes to help them implement their investment strategies and meet their investment objectives.
It services its customers primarily through a technology platform, which assists scheme trustees, and the consultants that advise them, to select and acquire, manage, value and trade a wide range of assets efficiently and accurately.
Souter Investments and Manfield Partners are being advised by Dentons and IMAS.
Phoenix Equity Partners is being advised by Addleshaw Goddard, Deloitte and Houlihan Lokey.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approval by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority.
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