Vistra, the Geneva-based international trust and corporate services provider with roots and offices in London and Jersey, has sold a majority stake to IK Investment Partners, a Scandinavian private equity firm.
A group of outside investors was also involved in the acquisition, including Reggeborgh Groep, a Rijssen, Netherlands-based family office.
Vistra chief executive Bart Deconinck said the reason for the sale was to enable his company – which has expanded to 200 people from two in only three years – to continue to grow. “Our objective is to be among the world’s top five fiduciary [trust] businesses in the next three years,” he said.
Currently Vistra has 13 offices in 12 countries. In 2008 it acquired ACSA, a corporate services provider in Cyprus, and earlier this year it opened offices in Hong Kong and Dublin.
Vistra caters for large international corporations, high net worth individuals and institutional investors. It dates back to 1982, when it formed the wealth management part of Chiltern, a London tax specialist, evolving in 2006 into Vistra following a buy-in by the former top management team of Fortis Intertrust.
