Two leading SIPP providers join forces to take advantage of growing pensions market.

12 October 2005

Alliance Trust Savings (ATS), a financial services company that is among the top ten providers of self-invested personal pensions (SIPP) in the UK market, has acquired Wolanski & Co. Trustees Limited (WACT), in a deal that creates a top five SIPP provider.

The deal brings together two of the most experienced companies in the rapidly expanding SIPP market, uniting their complementary skills. Demand for SIPPs is expected to grow sharply after next April when new rules will lift restrictions on who can hold a SIPP and greatly expand the range of assets people are allowed to hold in these pensions.

ATS has acquired all of WACT’s SIPP and SSAS (Small Self-administered Scheme) administration business, and approximately 50 people who work for the London-based company will now form part of ATS’s staff. The deal makes ATS one of the largest SIPP providers in the UK by number of members.

Alan Harden, Chief Executive of Alliance Trusts, said, “By taking the combined strengths of both companies we have an excellent fit of two different yet complementary companies. We look forward to building on the strong combination of the excellent customer service, administrative expertise and focus on fair value of ATS, with WACT’s reputation for quality, sophisticated relationship with professional advisers and specialist property skills.”

“This deal is a first step towards our aim of becoming the country’s foremost SIPP provider. Joining forces allows us to increase the depth of our expertise, the breadth of services we can offer and the channels through which you can acquire them. We are delighted that Hyman Wolanski, a founder of WACT and one of the country’s leading experts on SIPPs, has agreed to become a senior member of our team,” Harden said.

While ATS is known for its simple, transaction-based plans, WACT receives most of its SIPP business through professional advisers and one in ten of the SIPPs it has opened this year contain commercial property, in which it specialises.

Hyman Wolanski, Managing Director of Wolanski & Co. Trustees Limited, is to become a director of ATS and will direct the future development of its pensions business. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and a graduate of the London School of Economics. He has also represented the Association of Consulting Actuaries on the Government’s Consultation Panel on Scheme Funding.

Hyman Wolanski said, “Our companies see the opportunity to grow far faster and better if they can grow together. Like ATS, we are convinced that we have an exemplary product but we knew that we would have to invest substantially in technology to take full advantage of the enormous opportunities ahead. This deal allows us the best of all worlds because we can go on giving our professional advisers and SIPP and SSAS members the quality service they have come to expect, while enhancing the combined offer for the long term.”

Wolanski & Co. Trustees Limited has become part of ATS but will continue to operate its own SIPP and SSAS schemes, and its scheme members will enjoy the same terms and conditions as now. ATS, which is based in Dundee, will keep the London offices of Wolanski, and there will be no job losses. No relocation is planned.

The actuarial and consulting business, Wolanski & Co is outside of this transaction and will continue to operate unchanged as a separate firm.