The global investor services firm IQ-EQ is entering the U.S. private wealth market by signing a deal to acquire Concord Trust Co., a company with $1.9 billion in assets under management.
The strategic acquisition is part of IQ-EQ's growing U.S. operations and follows its purchase of the alternative asset service provider Blue River Partners last June and Constellation Advisers, an investment management consultancy, in January.
Concord focuses on open-architecture, high-end professional independent trustee services and related administration and compliance services. It was founded in 2011 by Christopher "Chip" Martin, its president. Andrew Powell serves as Concord's chief operating officer. Concord is based in South Dakota and also has offices in New Hampshire.
The transaction remains subject to regulatory approval from the South Dakota Division of Banking, said IQ-EQ, which is based in Luxembourg and owned by Astorg, a private equity firm with more than 10 billion euros (about $11.9 billion) in AUM. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Following the completion of the acquisition and the merger of the two companies, IQ-EQ will have a global workforce of more than 3,400 people, including 331 U.S.-based employees and global assets under administration of more than $500 billion, it said.
The purchase will provide IQ-EQ with a "well-established entry point to promote" its global private wealth business to the U.S. market, it said. The acquisition will also give IQ-EQ "access to the well-established advantages of New Hampshire's and South Dakota's progressive and robust trust, regulatory and tax laws along with a strong judicial framework and access to local talent and good relative geographic proximity to key hubs in the U.S.," it said.
