Apex acquires Mainspring

Apex Group has acquired fund administration and accountancy firm Mainspring.

Founded in 2010, Mainspring services small and medium-sized fund managers and became an FCA-authorised custodian in 2013. It provides accounting and administration for VC fund managers with LP funds and a custody business for managed account investments such as EIS funds.

The acquisition sees Apex’s offering expand to international private markets custody and the administration of separately managed accounts and VC funds. Additionally, it will add 70 employees across two UK offices and £9.7bn in assets under administration to the group.

“The strategic acquisition of Mainspring adds depth to our service offering for UK venture capital funds, as well as strengthening our existing custody offering for private assets,” said Peter Hughes, founder and CEO of Apex Group. “As private equity and venture capital continue to become more accessible to a wider pool of investors, including wealth management clients, we are continuously evolving our single-source solution to offer the administration, custody and reporting services in order to be the best possible partner for our clients.”

“We are excited to be joining Apex Group and are confident it will enable us to provide our clients with the services needed to expand into new jurisdictions and achieve their full potential,” added founder and CEO of Mainspring, Stephen Geddes. “Apex Group’s powerful single-source solution, offered globally and delivered locally by experienced teams, is underpinned by robust technology infrastructure, which will create new efficiencies for our clients and support their long-term growth.”

For the transaction, Mainspring was advised by Paddock Consultancy on the financial, and Burges Salmon on the legal side. Apex Group engaged Simmons and Simmons as legal advisors.

The acquisition follows Apex’s recent addition of Sanne, which The Drawdown reported on.