The financial services sector poses unique challenges for clients particularly given the fast changing regulatory environment. Executing M&A in a dynamic regulatory context requires contemporary hands on experience through actually being involved in the most recent transactions.
We are sector experts and provide advice across all financial services sub-sectors including asset and wealth management, life and non-life insurance, banks and building societies, speciality finance and capital markets. Our industry expertise is the foundation of our business. We have built deep trusted relationships with all key market participants in financial services. This provides us with senior level access and authoritative insight into industry developments at an early stage.
We have successfully executed sell-side mandates for some of the leading financial institutions divesting business units, assets or their entire company. We are experts in preparing and positioning businesses for a sale and articulating the transaction rationale to potential acquirers. We have a track record of achieving sector high watermarks on sell-side mandates and are able to leverage our expertise to operate at the heart of any process.
We have earned a reputation as a trusted adviser to leading institutions on buy-side assignments in relation to public or private acquisitions. We provide robust, analytical and innovative advice to clients on strategically important and transformational transactions. We evaluate potential acquisition targets, initiate discussions, provide industry specific context, recommend financial and structuring alternatives and assist in negotiations.
We are well qualified to assist clients on complex merger transactions with complete discretion and no conflicts of interest and have advised on a number of significant mergers where delicate people issues and complicated valuation parameters require intense negotiation.
Our team has extensive experience of advising listed businesses regarding unsolicited approaches and dealing with activist shareholders. Our senior bankers provide expert market insight and work with companies to formulate their equity story so that it can be effectively communicated to investors and accurately reflected in the share price as part of a coherent strategy for dealing with unsolicited interest and / or activist shareholders.
We have carried out a number of strategic reviews for business units, portfolio companies and entire organisations. We provide expert perspectives in relation to potential disposals, organic and inorganic growth opportunities and on-going changes in industry dynamics across the full spectrum of financial services sub-sectors.
We are accustomed to providing discreet, expert and thoughtful advice on valuation exercises and fairness opinions. We have provided independent valuations and fairness opinions relating to management incentivisation schemes, management buy-outs, related party transactions, spin-offs and disposals as well as traditional M&A transactions. The increased scrutiny by board members, regulators and other stakeholders involved in transactions makes our independent advice a valuable component for any board deliberation and endorsement process.
We regularly provide debt and equity capital markets advice alongside our core M&A advice. We act as an independent adviser and provide objective advice. We are experienced in running dual-track processes, advising on IPOs and structuring M&A transactions that require sophisticated debt and equity capital markets instruments.
Fenchurch is pleased to have advised Legal & General on the sale of Cofunds to Aegon for £140m. Cofunds is the largest investment platform in the UK with £77bn AUA. The sale includes the Investor Portfolio Service which provides platform services to a number of building societies including Nationwide.
L&G concluded that Cofunds requires a significant upgrade in technology to exploit its leadership position in the UK platform market and this was best achieved under Aegon's ownership as a specialist wealth platform provider.
For Aegon UK this transaction completes its strategic transformation from traditional life insurance to platform business and follows L&G’s acquisition of a £2.9bn back book annuity portfolio from Aegon in May 2016.
Mark Gregory, Legal & General Group Chief Finance Officer commented: “We were impressed by Fenchurch’s commitment to this engagement. Their deep sector relationships, intimate knowledge of the UK platform sector and first class M&A execution skills were important factors in successfully delivering this transaction.”