Microgen Financial Systems and Touchstone Wealth Management have merged their operations to become the leading provider of technology to the Trust and Corporate Services market and to enable the combined company to provide the global coverage, scale and innovation to meet the requirements of a rapidly evolving market. The merger is subject to competition authority clearance, which is expected to take between three and five weeks and the name of the new entity will be decided and announced in due course.
Demand for global coverage, increased regulatory oversight, changing fee models and cost pressure have driven both significant growth and consolidation within the Trust and Corporate Services industry. This merger aims to accelerate the innovation needed to deliver products that give customers the ability to adapt to rapidly changing market dynamics with best in class technology that the rapidly changing Trust and Corporate Services market will demand.
Keith Hale, former CEO of fund administration platform Multifonds, is joining as Executive Chairman to run the combined group and work with both management teams on the combined strategy, oversee integration as well as drive business development.
“I’m very excited to join the merged group of Touchstone and Microgen. The Fiduciary, Trust and Corporate Services market is now going through a similar change I have seen before in the mutual fund administration market. The need for innovative, resilient and modern technology will be increasingly critical to the successful service providers in this market. I look forward to working with both the teams to create a world-class technology company”, said Keith Hale, Executive Chairman of the combined group.
Microgen and Touchstone will continue to operate as two separate divisions with investment and product development continuing in their core products, NavOne and 5Series. Their combined workforce is comprised of 150 people in offices spread across the world, from Jersey to Guernsey, to Cyprus, Singapore, Australia, and the UK.
Robert Browning, Chief Executive Officer of Microgen, commented: “I am delighted about the latest development in the evolution of Microgen and would like to thank our investors at Silverfleet for supporting us in growing the business. I look forward to the merger with Touchstone and combining with their technology expertise to drive our shared future ambition.”
Peter Le Brocq, Managing Director of Touchstone Wealth Management, added: “I am thrilled about the prospects of the merger as it will give us the necessary scale needed to better service our clients. Together, we will have the structure and processes to drive immense innovation for our clients globally.
In June 2019, Microgen was demerged from Aptitude Software PLC. Silverfleet Capital, a leading pan-European private equity firm, invested in the firm around that time and continues to support the business during this merger.
