ZEDRA Group and Corsair Capital Announce Close of Transaction

ZEDRA Group, the global specialist in Corporate, Fund and ‘Active-Wealth’ services, and Corsair Capital, one of the leading private equity firms focused on the financial and business services industries, have announced the successful close of Corsair Capital’s majority investment in ZEDRA Group.

The transaction, which was first announced on November 28, 2018, has now been approved by all relevant regulatory authorities.

Bart Deconinck has been announced as Group Executive Chairman, bringing extensive industry experience to his new role. Deconinck was previously the CEO of Intertrust, an administrative services provider, and was a founder of Vistra, a corporate service provider. Deconinck co-founded ZEDRA Group (ZEDRA) four years ago.

Ivo Hemelraad has been named as Group Chief Executive Officer. He was previously Director, Corporate Funds & Legal for ZEDRA Group. Hemelraad began his career with MeesPierson Trust and Private Banking Company, subsequently having moved to Singapore to work as a Commercial Director for East Asia for the Amicorp Group, moving back to Europe in 2009 to work for Vistra’s Luxembourg office, before joining ZEDRA Group in 2016.

According to the press release, ZEDRA delivers tailored high quality diversified active-wealth solutions to its clients, which include high net worth individuals and their families, as well as medium to large sized companies, asset managers and their investors. ZEDRA’s full range of services is designed to preserve and protect the real value of clients’ assets and support them in unlocking growth and expansion.

Raja Hadji-Touma and Derrick Estes, Managing Directors, Corsair Capital said, “ZEDRA is a unique firm with unparalleled capabilities, and we are pleased to have closed this exciting investment. We look forward to partnering with an ambitious management team, led by Bart Deconinck, with a proven track record of building leading companies in the sector. We believe our investment and financial services expertise, along with the unmatched global network we bring to bear, will help support continued rapid growth at ZEDRA.”

Over the last 12 months, ZEDRA has made a number of important acquisitions, creating an expanded platform with over 570 staff in a 16-office network covering 13 jurisdictions across Asia, Oceania, the Americas and Europe.

As the Company continues to integrate these acquisitions, ZEDRA is even better placed to continue creating and delivering bespoke trust, corporate and fund services solutions for clients including high-net-worth individuals and their families, international corporations, institutional investors and entrepreneurs.

Bart Deconinck, Group Executive Chairman, added, “Today marks the start of the next stage of ZEDRA’s ambitious growth plans. Powered by a combination of the resources and expertise of Corsair, together with ZEDRA’s considerable experience in the sector, we are looking forward to a period of rapid growth and expansion of the range of services we offer to our clients. The major acquisitions we have made over the past year expand our footprint across Switzerland, the Nordic countries, Cayman and offshore UK jurisdictions, bringing additional clients and staff into the ZEDRA family.”

Ivo Hemelraad commented: “We are delighted to have completed this transaction and to begin our partnership with Corsair Capital. Their commitment and support to ZEDRA’ S growth as well as to our people are an exciting step for ZEDRA to further enhance our offering and position in the industry.”

Hubbis recently spoke to Wendy Sim, Managing Director and Head of Singapore, ZEDRA about the expansion of ZEDRA Singapore’s scope of work, and the firm’s expansion of their global range of services to private wealth clients in both Singapore and the region.

“We are a service provider for people with active wealth, and by that we mean business families and private clients with both financial assets and with active investments in real estate, cross border businesses, private equity, and so forth. That is where ZEDRA aims to make its core difference, in areas which are complex and where sophisticated solutions are required.”

We also spoke with Deconinck in April of 2019, in which Deconinck spoke about ZEDRA’s offerings, expansion plans for Asia, why the firm’s suite of services is ideally suited for the world he sees ahead and why he is passionate about causes from helping young musicians to promoting human rights, as well as speaking about his multi-faceted working life, during which he enjoyed being a DJ with his own radio show and in 2018 became a panellist on the Belgian edition of ‘The Dragon’s Den’.

“Our commitment to delivering bespoke solutions to our clients is at the forefront of what we do, and our mission is to  seamlessly anticipate the evolving needs of our clients’ businesses and wealth by expanding and strengthening services we can offer, so our clients are free to focus on their ambitions and do more of what they like.”