The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Alliance Trust Savings sold in £40 million deal
Dundee HQ also sold but wider trust vows to remain in the city
Alliance Trust has offloaded its lossmaking savings business in a £40 million deal that also includes its Dundee headquarters.
Around 300 city-based Alliance Trust Savings (ATS) staff will switch to Interactive Investor (ii) assuming regulators rubber-stamp the proposed transaction.
A spokesperson for ii said there were no planned redundancies, with the new owner’s intention being to invest in the landmark West Marketgait site.
ATS is Alliance Trust’s last remaining trading subsidiary of Alliance Trust after it sold off its investments arm ATI two years ago.
The wider trust will continue to operate as normal and has vowed to maintain offices in Dundee for the handful of senior staff which it will continue to employ.
However, the group has yet to identify new offices in the city.
The new owner of ATS is majorityowned by JC Flowers and currently has £90m of net assets, with assets under administration of £20 billion and more than 300,000 customer relationships.
On deal completion, those figures will jump to circa £35bn of assets under management and 400,000 customers.
Interactive Investor chief executive Richard Wilson said: “This is another important step in our ambition to build the UK’S best investment platform.
“The acquisition brings together the country’s two largest fixed price providers, adding significant scale to ii, and reinforcing our ability to deliver excellent choice, value and service to all our customers.”
ATS, which represents 1.3% of the trust’s portfolio, had a fair value of £38m at June 30 this year and its Dundee HQ was valued at £4.9m.
Lord Smith of Kelvin, who has overseen a radical reshaping of the trust in his time as chairman, said ii was the right vehicle for ATS to grow with.
“The board is pleased to announce the sale of ATS to Interactive Investor,” Lord Smith said.
“The two businesses are highly complementary and ATS customers, many of whom are Alliance Trust shareholders, will benefit from Interactive Investor’s similar flat-fee structure, as well as its increased scale and focus. A key consideration for the board was a commitment to maintaining ATS’ presence in Scotland.
“We are therefore very pleased that ii plans to invest in ATS’ Dundee operating centre.”
Shares in Alliance Trust closed up 3p at 730p last night.