Self-invested personal pension provider Mattioli Woods will launch a structured products fund this year.
Ian Mattioli, chief executive of Mattioli Woods, told FTAdviser the company currently operates £111m of retail structured products.
At present these are individual plans but the new fund will be designed to operate as a collective.
Mr Mattioli said there would be lower costs, greater liquidity and more structured management through a fund for the firm’s structured products customers.
He added: “It will be available for other investment groups to invest in.”
In terms of assets under management, he said the fund would start at £30m to £50m and over a three to five-year period aim to reach £350m to £500m.
But he said the fund’s existence is subject to regulatory approval, which is pending.
Mr Mattioli said there would be an in-house manager looking after the fund and a team of people will oversee it, in a similar structure to the Custodian Reit the firm already operates.
His comments came as Mattioli Woods reported it would buy Sipp provider MC Trustees for a total of up to £2.2m.
MC Trustees provides pension administration and trustee services to more than 1,500 self-invested personal pension and small self-administered scheme clients with more than £400m of assets under administration.
Mattioli Woods will retain MC Trustees management team following the purchase, which is expected to enhance earnings during the first full year of ownership.
In addition to the acquisition of MC Trustees, Mattioli Woods has reached an agreement in principle, subject to contract, to acquire MC Malta for a total consideration of up to £0.6m.
Mattioli Woods also published its results for the year ended 31 May 2016 which showed earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation were up 25.7 per cent to £9.3m against 2015’s £7.4m.
Earlier this month, self-invested personal pension provider Curtis Banks Group ruled out any purchasing “distressed Sipp books”.
When asked whether Curtis Banks was on the hunt for more Sipp books to buy, Gregory Kingston, head of communications at Suffolk Life, said: “The group is only interested in taking books of quality, not distressed books.”
Nathan Imlach, finance director and company secretary of Mattioli Woods told FTAdviser: “Curtis Banks have just acquired European Pensions Management, maybe they are saying having done one we are not going to do any more.”
He added: “We wouldn’t rule it [purchasing distressed Sipp businesses] out if we got a call from the FCA saying ‘are you able to assist’?”
Justin King, chartered wealth manager and chartered financial planner at Dorset-based MFP Wealth Management, said: “It sounds like an interesting development but I need to understand much more about the mechanics and the benefit to clients.”
ruth.gillbe@ft.com
