State Street absorbs Mourant fund admin business

Global fund administration group State Street is to acquire Mourant International Finance Administration (MIFA), a smaller European competitor based in Jersey.

The transaction will see State Street take on a private equity client list that includes CVC Capital Partners, Alpha Group, AXA Private Equity, Terra Firma and Mercapital.

In a statement, State Street said it expects the move to make it the largest service provider globally to the alternative asset management industry, with $600 billion of alternatives funds under administration.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Boston-headquartered State Street, which provides fund accounting and administration services, will take over MIFA’s 650 employees and $170 billion in assets under administration in Europe and Asia. Three quarters of this amount is accounted for by private equity funds, with the remainder split between real estate and hedge funds.

“Our primary objective was to get into markets where we didn’t have market share,” said Jack Klinck, global head of State Street’s alternative investment solutions team, in an interview. Up until now the core of State Street’s administration activity has centred on the US.

Following completion of the transaction – expected in the first quarter of 2010 – MIFA will be rebranded State Street.

MIFA is currently owned by the partners of Jersey-based law firm Mourant du Feu & Jeune, who, following the transaction, will continue as a separate entity focused solely on law.