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Peter Hughes , CEO and founder , Apex Group
landscape now dominated by a handful of players with close to – or more than – one trillion dollars in assets under administration , and many of the mid-tier players snapped up , Apex seems intent on moving forward with its combined units which now hold nearly $ 3 trillion in assets across administration ( AUA ), depositary , custody and under management .
The pace of growth has been unprecedented in the administration world , and Apex ’ s strategy has often come under criticism from competitors for relentlessly amassing assets over the relatively short period . Hitting back at suggestions that Apex has been simply buying AUA , Hughes explained : “ It ’ s the total opposite play of buying assets , we ’ re buying complimentary products and solutions which enhance the experience each client gets . “ I ’ m looking at what our product set should be and then I ’ m talking to the people who have the right business and fit in with the ultimate product set we ’ re trying to create . I speak with them founder-to-founder saying ‘ I think your business is a great fit in our product set because it ’ s so complimentary to have ’. So we ’ re buying businesses in a very disciplined way .” The Sanne deal is certainly a significant one . It adds 2,500 people into the Apex Group through six new locations in Denmark , Japan , Serbia , South Africa , Spain and Sweden . Apex Group now operates from over 80 offices in more than 40 markets worldwide , with over 10,000 employees . Sanne specialises in the fast-growing private markets space , where the opportunities for service providers are ample . Sanne services the closed-ended private equity , private debt , capital markets , loan agency , and real assets markets , bolstering Apex ’ s offering while expanding its geographic footprint even further . While you can never rule Apex and Hughes out of further acquisitions , it does appear the megadeals could be running dry as the firm reaches the scale it set out to achieve under Genstar . Hughes now seems set on ensuring Apex has the breadth of services that the biggest asset managers in 2022 require . “ We know the largest asset managers want to buy as much product as they can from one credible vendor and our focus is being that one credible vendor , but applying that in the geography where they want the service ,” he said . “ We want to be that trusted partner where people think of outsourcing part of their business – which isn ’ t outsourcing or legal – and they pick Apex because we are in the right place , with the right technology , the right people who care about the service and can even raise assets for them , that ’ s how I ’ m thinking . To be a true partner rather than a sales provider with people having confidence with our model .”
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