ILS fund servicer Centaur to become part of Waystone

Centaur Group, the owner of Centaur Fund Services, a fund administration and service provider including to the insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund market, is joining Waystone, a leading institutional provider of services to the asset management industry.

The Centaur Group, which provides fund administration and fiduciary services and is headquartered in Ireland, will become part of Waystone Group, in a deal expected to significantly broaden Waystone’s service offering to asset managers and their investors.

The companies said this represents the first time a third-party management company is integrating a fund administrator to complement its service offering, over the more established route of fund administrators adding management company services.

The Centaur acquisition, or combination as it has been termed, sees Waystone expanding its reach in both firms home market of Ireland and also growing its North American operation.

Centaur has been providing a range of fund administration, accounting and fiduciary services to the insurance-linked securities (ILS), catastrophe bond and reinsurance-linked fund marketplace for some years now.

With a base in Bermuda, where Centaur administers ILS funds and reinsurance-linked investment strategies for a number of leading market players, the company under Waystone will be hoping to broaden its activities in the sector.

Ronan Daly, Founding Partner at Centaur commented on the news, “As we look at the next phase of our growth, joining together with Waystone is the logical option, being an Irish headquartered global financial services firm, client centric and with an institutional fund manager book. The Centaur team is delighted to be joining Waystone on their growth trajectory and look forward to being able to provide fund administration services to Waystone clients, whilst still providing our existing clients with the same quality and focus as they have come to expect from us.”

Derek Delaney, Global CEO of Waystone added, “For Waystone, this deal represents a major achievement, as with Centaur we are gaining a highly-experienced senior management team with similar culture and values and we will also gain additional global locations including New Jersey, Bermuda and Canada. We are quietly proud that, as with KB Associates, Centaur has chosen to join the emergence of the only truly international Irish financial services firm.