Isio has acquired administration specialist Trafalgar House Pensions Administration (THPA) as the service provider continues to grow its offering across multiple areas.
In a statement, Isio said the acquisition would “add further scale, expertise and operational capability” to its existing administration service and strengthen its ability to support complex projects as well as day-to-day activity.
THPA will join Isio’s existing administration function, which is led by Kevin Howard. He said Isio had “admired” Trafalgar House “for some time”.
Dan Thomas, who is set to take over as Isio’s chief executive officer on 1 September, said pensions administration was “foundational” to Isio’s business model.
“While we continue to invest heavily in our broader diversification strategies across wealth and employee benefits, this transaction demonstrates Isio’s ongoing commitment to the core part of our business,” he said. “This milestone not only expands our operational capabilities but significantly enhances the value, technology, and specialist services we can provide to clients and their members across the entire industry.”
Howard said the deal “increases our scale, strengthens our capabilities and enables us to support a broader range of pension schemes across the market”.
Garry Wake, managing director at THPA, added that by joining Isio, his firm stood to gain from “the scale and robust institutional backing required to accelerate our investment in technology, bringing a broader, more multidisciplinary range of services to the market while continuing to provide the depth of expertise and quality of service that clients and their members rely on”.
Isio is backed by private equity firm Aquiline, which acquired a majority stake in the firm two years ago. It spun out from KPMG in 2020 and has acquired several businesses since then, growing its provision to cover administration, benefits and investment consulting, and actuarial advice, as well as wealth management services.
Trafalgar House, meanwhile, has its roots in the large listed conglomerate of the same name, which was founded in the 1960s and was acquired by Norwegian firm Kvaerner in the 1990s.
The administration business was borne out of the company’s defined benefit pension fund, which is still operational. The admin team will continue to look after the Trafalgar House Pension Trust under the Isio brand.
Raj Mody, chair of Trafalgar House Trustees Limited, which runs the scheme, said: “We are grateful for the solid and consistent service which THPA has provided members of the Trafalgar House Pension Trust over many years. We wish the team well as they join Isio and look forward to our relationship with Isio as the scheme’s continuing administrator.”
