Equity Trust to merge with TMF Group in €350 million sale

Doughty Hanson & Company, one of the largest independent private equity firms in Europe, today announced that it is to acquire Equity Trust from Candover.

The business will be merged with Doughty Hanson’s subsidiary TMF Group, which will create one of the world’s largest outsourcers,

Equity Trust is the world's largest fiduciary and trust businesses with more than 1,200 employees across more than 30 jurisdictions, including Guernsey (pictured).  

Employees said they were concerned that services and internal culture could be compromised, however. ‘Definitely a bad time to be working at Equity Trust,’ said one.

Troubled private equity trust Candover announced in August that it was beginning the managed sell-off of its assets as it returns capital to investors.

Persistent market rumours have suggested that Equity Trust was one of the first businesses to be placed on the auction block. The €350 million sale represents a 24% uplift to the valuation of the business at 30 June 2010 and a return of 1.5 times cost.

Mark Corbidge, co-head of private equity at Doughty Hanson, said: ‘The rapid pace of globalisation, combined with growing and increasingly complex regulation, is driving an outsourcing trend amongst organisations that are keen to focus on their core competencies and increasing their transparency and corporate governance.

‘Equity Trust is well placed to take advantage of these trends and to benefit from further sustained growth in demand for its services.’

Frederik van Tuyll, chief executive of Equity Trust, added: ‘A combination with TMF Group would be a logical strategic step that both companies have explored for some time, not least because of the similarities in history, culture and services.

‘We believe that a merger of two companies with administrative excellence and outstanding customer service as their core competencies would create significant opportunities for our global client base and the employees of both firms.’