Blackstone to acquire Intertrust

Private Equity giant Blackstone Group has agreed to acquire Intertrust, the international company and trust administration group, for a reported €675m from Waterland Private Equity Investments.

Fiduciary businesses have long been a favourite with PE houses, largely because of their stable client base and annuity revenue streams but also because the fragmentation of the industry allows for a buy-and-build strategy to be effectively employed as fiduciary businesses undergo a period of rapid consolidation.  Past transactions have included Doughty Hanson’s acquisitions of TMF and Equity Trust, IK Investment Partners acquisition of the Offshore Incorporations Group and Vistra, CBPE’s acquisition of Jersey Trust Company, and RJD’s acquisition of Ipes.  However, the purchase of Intertrust has been agreed at a time when there are unprecedented levels of pressure being put on the activities of multi-national firms such as Google, Amazon and Starbucks, which structure their activities through locations such as Luxembourg and Netherlands.  As such, the acquisition is effectively a bet on the resilience of those locations to weather the current storms.