James Hay has sold its closed book of small self-administered schemes to fellow provider Westbridge Ssas.
The Ssas book of almost 1,000 schemes was sold for an undisclosed sum.
According to James Hay, 48 members of staff based in its Bristol office will transfer across when the deal completes, which is expected to be later this month.
The Ssas book has been soft closed for some time, with the last scheme taken on in 2018.
Since then, James Hay has strengthened its focus on self-invested personal pension platform business.
Richard Rowney, chief executive officer at James Hay, said: “Westbridge Ssas’s specialism makes them a good long-term owner of our Ssas business, and we’re particularly pleased they value the skills and experience of our colleagues that are transferring over.
“The sale keeps us focused on our core aim of creating a financial planning and retirement focused adviser platform, with the scale to enable greater investment in technology, products and service to meet the needs of advisers and their clients.”
Nathan Bridgeman, director at Westbridge, added: “We’re pleased to be taking on the SSAS schemes currently managed by James Hay, and especially welcome our new colleagues to the team.
“Combining our ambition, with their specialist skills and experience in this complex area of retirement provision, will enable us to develop the book and improve the experience of both the members and their intermediaries.”
In October last year, Obsidian Ssas rebranded to WestBridge Ssas following a restructure of the business.
WestBridge Group is made up of three subsidiaries - Westbridge Ssas, Westbridge Tax and Westbridge Trustees Ltd.
The shake up of the business comes after the provider saw a “substantial increase” in switches to Ssas, experiencing a 20 per cent increase in June 2020 alone.
amy.austin@ft.com
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