Rowanmoor Group has sold its unregulated Ssas book to Westbridge Group for an undisclosed amount, while its regulated client book has been sold to Alltrust Services.
According to an internal communication sent to Rowanmoor employees, seen by FTAdviser, Rowanmoor has agreed terms and exchanged contracts for the sale of all of its unregulated business to Westbridge Group.
As part of the deal, for an as-yet undisclosed sum, Westbridge will acquire all of the Rowanmoor Executive Pensions Limited (REPL) staff currently involved in Ssas administration and will continue to operate from the Bolton and Salisbury offices until the second half of 2024.
The deal is expected to complete at the end of January.
This is the second major acquisition by WestBridge and follows the purchase of the James Hay Ssas book in March 2021.
The acquisition will see Westbridge add more than 3,500 Ssas to its existing book of 1,000 schemes.
Tom Moore, chairperson of Westbridge Group, said: “We have made no secret that we are acquisitive for the right books of business and have shown how we can successfully integrate them into the WestBridge Group.
"This is another exciting opportunity for us to bring together the combined expertise of Ssas professionals from both firms to create a hub of SSAS excellence. We look forward to welcoming the team to the WestBridge Group and getting to know them all."
Westbridge Group have also announced that the acquisition will see them rebrand the enlarged business in Q1 2023.
When commenting on the Ssas market regarding Hartley Ssas - another Ssas book up for sale - Nathan Bridgeman of SeaBridge Ssas, a specialist Ssas professional trustee and scheme administrator, said: “We are entering into a period of unprecedented consolidation in the Ssas profession. Hartley Ssas is one of many distressed Ssas administrators up for sale right now.
"There are many others that require huge investment in resource and technical staff to reconcile and backfill much neglected legacy Ssas books.
"The key to getting this right is technology and having the right bespoke Ssas back office systems that are pension dashboard ready and digital giving transparency and advisers not only a full up to date view of the ongoing reporting and regulatory needs but also the wants for a Ssas member in the 21st century to add value and give them a great client experience. To this end advisers and clients are taking advantage of our free Ssas review.”
Separately, the administrators of Rowanmoor have agreed the sale of Rowanmoor Personal Pensions Limited’s self-invested personal pension and family pension trust business to Alltrust services, a boutique Sipp and Ssas provider.
Completion of this deal is expected in February when all of the staff engaged in Sipp/family pension trusts administration will move to Warner House.
Adam Stephens, lead administrator, said: “We are pleased to confirm that contracts have been exchanged for the sale of RPPL’s Sipp and FPT business to Alltrust, which we anticipate will complete in early 2023 and should provide continuity of service to RPPL’s clients.
