Charlie Eppinger, Cofunds’ chairman, has stepped down with immediate effect following Legal & General’s completed acquisition of the platform.
Mr Eppinger, who has been with the platform for more than a decade and was understood to be the driving force behind Legal & General’s purchase of the platform, is retiring from the Cofunds board.
This is the latest in a series of high-profile departures. Martin Davis, chief executive, Stephen Mohan, operations director, and Verona Smith, marketing director, all quit this month.
In March, Legal & General Group acquired the 75 per cent share capital of Cofunds Holdings Ltd, which it did not already own, for a cash consideration of £131m.
The transaction was announced on the 26 March 2013, and was financed out of Legal & General’s existing cash resources. The acquisition valued Cofunds at £175m.
Mark Gregory, chief executive of savings for Legal & General, said: “We’re thrilled that everyone involved has worked so hard to ensure a smooth transition.
“As ownership changes to Legal & General, I’d like to publicly thank Charlie Eppinger for his 10 years of association with Cofunds.
“He has guided the platform from its early days to the highly successful, market leading business it is today.
“He’ll be missed but he can retire from the Cofunds board safe in the knowledge that Chris Last and the team at Cofunds will take the platform on to even bigger and better things. We thank Charlie and wish him all the best.”
Chris Last, chief executive of Cofunds Business Unit, added: “We’ve a strong and experienced executive team in place which is single minded in its focus on the job in hand, namely supporting the Retail Distribution Review and platform needs of Cofunds’ clients.
“I’m particularly pleased to be taking the helm of a company with such an abundance of talent and expertise as it means we can harness that talent for the benefit of all our clients. We’ve ambitious plans for the platform and this is an exciting time to be putting those plans in place.”
