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Sovereign announces MBO of private client trust and corporate services provider Aquitaine and first two follow-on acquisitions

Sovereign Capital Partners, a UK private equity Buy & Build specialist, is delighted has backed the MBO of Aquitaine Group (Aquitaine), a specialist private client trust and corporate services provider. 

In addition, both Federal Trust (Federal) and Summit Trust International SA (Summit) have joined the Group with Sovereign’s support. These successful businesses expand Aquitaine’s range of services and geographical footprint, through a strategy of Buy & Build, to establish a leading multi-jurisdictional private client trust business.
 
Established in 2008 and based in Guernsey, Aquitaine provides private client trust services including estate planning and wealth management structures, together with corporate fiduciary services.  Federal and Summit bring a complementary service offering to the Group, significantly increasing its jurisdictional capabilities and more than doubling its staff.
 
Federal, a long-established service provider also based in Guernsey, further consolidates Aquitaine’s position in the Channel Islands. Headquartered in Geneva with operations in the Cayman Islands, Summit brings greater opportunities for the Group in serving clients who seek a Swiss or Cayman Islands based trustee and corporate service provider.
 
Aquitaine has a very experienced management team led by Adrian Pickering, Co-Founder & CEO. At the time of the MBO, Sovereign augmented the team with the appointment of Andrew Fisher as non-executive chair; Andrew has an excellent track-record in private client services, having been CEO of Coutts & Co and CEO of Towry Group. Derek Vaz, an experienced CFO in the trust and corporate services sector was also appointed.
 
Alex Hay, Partner, Sovereign, says: ‘We are delighted to partner with the Aquitaine management team. The acquisition of Federal increases our presence in Guernsey whilst Summit is an established and well-regarded provider that will enable us to further develop the Group’s service offering to clients, broaden its multi-jurisdictional reach and add scale. We look forward to working with the team as we continue to look for new opportunities to develop the Group in this fragmented market.’
 
Adrian Pickering, Co-founder & CEO, Aquitaine, says: ‘Both Federal and Summit are first class businesses that align well with our own approach to delivering a market leading service and meeting international compliance requirements. We always seek to give our clients the very best service we can and build close and lasting relationships with them and their families; with the addition of Federal and Summit to the Group, we look forward to bringing our clients even greater breadth and depth of service. Sovereign is a very supportive partner that shares our ambitions for the business. With their continued investment and sector expertise, we believe there are real opportunities to develop the Group to meet our broader strategic aims.’

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