Sipp provider Dentons acquires rival Sippchoice
Dentons Pension Management Limited, one of the UK’s larger providers and administrators of SIPPs, has acquired Sippchoice, a London-based SIPP provider for an undisclosed sum.
The deal will see Surrey-based Dentons add approximately 1,400 SIPPs to its business bringing its total number of SIPPs to over 6,000 plus 800 SSAS clients. The acquisition will boost Dentons’ assets under administration to over £4billion.
Ian Stewart, joint managing director of Dentons, said Sippchoice was a “like-minded” company and the deal was a good fit.
He said: “Where other providers have reduced their exposure to the full SIPP market, we have continued our commitment to this and the SSAS market.
“Our detailed due diligence has confirmed that Sippchoice is a like-minded company that shares our commitment to providing a high quality professional and personal service to our clients and advisers. Sippchoice is of a size that can be easily integrated into our current business without affecting the service that both they and we currently provide.
"We have made no secret that we would look at all opportunities to grow the business but when acquiring it has to be the right business or SIPP book. Sippchoice is a great fit for us with both firms sharing a similar ethos of placing the clients’ interests at the centre of everything we do.”
Hyman Wolanski, managing director of Sippchoice said: “For a host of reasons – the main one being the age of the shareholders – we have come to the view that the best way to take the business forward is to combine with a larger established SIPP operator. So, whilst I will be very sorry to say goodbye to our SIPP, I am very reassured that we will be leaving it in the best possible hands.”
Dentons says it continues to receive strong support in the self-invested pension marketplace and for the calendar year just ended, 39% of all new SIPPs were transfers from other SIPP providers while 43% of new SIPPs were established to acquire a direct interest in commercial property. It says it has also seen good support from advisers on new and transferred SSAS business.
Dentons is independently owned with over 90 staff.