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Following a year of significant growth for Enhance Group, the investment monitoring and advisory boutique is ending 2024 with a brand-new ownership structure.
On Monday 9 December, Enhance completed the buyout of the Financial Services Opportunities Investment Fund Limited (FSOIFL), its longstanding private equity partner, in a deal that saw staff purchase an additional c20% of issued share capital.
A broad cross-section of the Enhance team now owns c80% of the business, reinforcing its owner-managed culture and independence.
As part of this deal, the capital structure of Enhance has been simplified to create one class of ordinary shares with equal dividend and voting rights, aligning all investors in Enhance, said Tom Wiseman, CEO.
“We have always prided ourselves on being an independent, owner-managed business but my ambition, since becoming CEO of Enhance in 2017, has been to increase staff equity participation.
“This is a significant milestone for our business. It is a deal without leverage where all staff investors are stumping up cash from their personal reserves to participate in the next phase of Enhance's journey. This is as humbling as it is exciting for me, and Enhance's board of directors, and I hope will be very positive news for our clients as it clearly demonstrates the long-term commitment of our team to the business.
“We say a fond farewell to FSOIFL and the Ravenscroft team, who have been patient and supportive local investors in Enhance since 2016. Their stewardship has allowed Enhance to grow and evolve at pace. FSOIFL secured a profitable exit from their stake in our business and are equally delighted to be part of a staff-led transaction that keeps the ownership of Enhance in the Channel Islands.”
The UAP Group, a Guernsey-based investment company with complementary interests in financial services businesses, acquired the balance and will take a seat on Enhance’s group board. UAP is also chaired by Lyndon Trott, Enhance’s longstanding Chairman and Guernsey’s Chief Minister, and is owner-managed by senior industry stalwarts Rob Shipman (Group CEO) and James Floyd (Commercial Director).
Commenting on the deal, Mr Trott said: “On behalf of Enhance and UAP, I could not be more pleased to conclude this transaction. Both businesses have a culture of independence and owner management and there is considerable scope to deploy Enhance’s cutting-edge Mosaic technology and Monitoring and Consultancy services into UAP’s growing financial services portfolio.”
James Floyd, UAP’s Commercial Director and incoming NED at Enhance, added: “Rob Shipman and I have known the team at Enhance for almost a decade and have worked successfully together in various guises. We believe that Enhance’s approach to delivering fiduciary-focused investment governance services to professional advisers and their clients is best-in-class, with broad application in the global pension sector.”
Pictured top: Tom Wiseman.
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