Isio is buying Trafalgar House Pensions Administration for an undisclosed sum, saying it hopes to strengthen its admin offering and expand the range of schemes it can support. The acquisition is expected to close at the end of August.   

Isio said the deal is part of its long-term growth strategy. In 2022, Isio bought Premier Pensions Management, followed by the acquisition of Deloitte UK's pensions business in 2023 and buyout specialists K3 Advisory in 2024.  

The firm that spun out from KPMG UK in 2020 now employs more than 1,400 employees in 10 offices. It has been majority-owned by private equity house Aquiline since original backer Exponent Private Equity sold its stake in 2024. Aquiline’s other UK investments include Smart Pension and Wealth at Work.  

"This acquisition marks the next major step in Isio’s evolution," said Isio's incoming chief executive, Dan Thomas. 

The deal shows the firm's commitment to the core part of its business, said Thomas, stressing that Isio also continues to invest "heavily" in its broader diversification strategies across wealth and employee benefits. 

"By combining THPA’s exceptional reputation in handling larger, typically more complex schemes combined with Isio’s existing national footprint and multi-disciplinary capabilities, we are uniquely positioned to define what the future of pensions administration looks like,” he said.   

Isio's head of pensions administration Kevin Howard added: "THPA is a business we have admired for some time. It has built an excellent reputation for delivering high-quality administration services and, importantly, shares our ethos of supporting the person behind the transaction."

Garry Wake, managing director at THPA, said the new partnership provides the company with the scale and institutional backing to accelerate investment in technology and bring a broader range of services to the market. 

"I am incredibly excited about the future opportunities this creates for our talented teams to collaborate, innovate, and define what the administration service of the future looks like,” he said.  

THPA grew out of the in-house team for Trafalgar House Pension Trust. The trust carries pension liabilities for the defunct conglomerate Trafalgar House, which left most of the DB deficit behind in 2006 in one of the first regulated apportionment arrangements. The Pensions Regulator's decision to allow this arrangement has repeatedly been criticised by independent adviser John Ralfe. The pension trust has been operating without sponsor-backing since the RAA.

The acquisition of THPA means the trust will now become an Isio client. 

Raj Mody, who chairs Trafalgar House Trustees, 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.”