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Professional trustee firms Punter Southall Governance Services and 20-20 Trustees are joining forces in a merger of equals, creating the 120-strong private company Vidett Ltd, as the trustee market is continuing to consolidate.
The merger is currently being announced to clients and advisers and will take effect on Tuesday.
The two firms are roughly equally sized, each having about 60 staff and, according to one source, £9m of turnover, with complementary secondary businesses. They now have a combined 475 clients, making it one of the largest – or possibly the largest – firm by clients. Client pension funds have a combined £142bn assets and 2.5m scheme members.
Vidett will be jointly led by Naomi L’Estrange, the former managing director of 20-20, and Wayne Phelan, former chief executive of PSGS, with support from a senior leadership team from across the two businesses.
L'Estrange and Phelan said they both independently concluded their businesses were complementary and that combining them would help accelerate the growth plans of the firms.
“20-20 and PSGS had different attributes but similar ambition and cultures, based on collaborative teamwork, sharing knowledge to drive progress for our clients and embracing innovation. As both firms have always been committed to delivering the best client service, this will be a key measure of Vidett’s success in the future,” they said.
“Importantly, these are clear messages to both our clients and the professional advisers we work with about the seriousness of our offering and commitment to the market and the cohesion of Vidett.”
This is the second trustee firm merger this month, after ITS and Ross Trustees announced they were joining forces at the start of February. In 2021, PTL was bought by Zedra, acorporate services, active wealth and fund solutions provider based in Switzerland, which had already acquired Inside Pensions and proceeded to buy AAA Trustee Ltd and Trustee Matters Ltd.
20-20 Trustees was acquired by Broadstone Group in 2017; the move away from Broadstone will remove some conflicts for the trustee outfit, as it leaves administration services behind.
PSGS was formed when the former PS Independent Trustees merged with HR Trustees, which was previously owned by XPS Pensions Group.
