EPM, which has over 6,000 customers, formally entered insolvency proceedings in June.
EPM administers around 5,000 Sipps and has assets under administration of around £630m ($834m, €751m).
In June, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that it was looking to sell the firm’s book of business to another Sipp operator in a bid to provide “continuity of service to EPM’s clients”.
Decent book
Curtis Banks’ chief executive, Rupert Curtis, told International Adviser that the company has done its due dilligence and is “satisfied that it is a decent book of business and we are happy to proceed with buying it on that basis”.
The business will be administered by Suffolk Life Pension, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Curtis Banks that was acquired earlier this year from Legal & General for £45m.
The deal takes Suffolk Life to 30,000 Sipps and assets under administration of nearly £10bn.
Commitment to Sipp growth
Suffolk Life managing director, Will Self, said: “This acquisition, coming shortly after Suffolk Life joined the Curtis Banks group, delivers a statement of the group’s commitment to grow our position in the independent Sipp market, and demonstrates our capability to support advisers and investors in sections of the market that many other Sipp operators have retreated from.
“Joining the Curtis Banks group was important to realise the potential in the Suffolk Life business, and the acquisition of EPM shows how we can support the group’s strategic growth ambitions.
“It is a good quality book of Sipps, and Suffolk Life remains comfortably capitalised following the acquisition,” he said.
