The tower at the end of the driveway is the Luxembourg headquarters of IQ-EQ. (Photo: Maison Moderne/archives)

The tower at the end of the driveway is the Luxembourg headquarters of IQ-EQ. (Photo: Maison Moderne/archives)

On 16 November, Luxembourg-based fund administrator IQ-EQ acquired US hedge fund governance and regulatory compliance firm Greyline Partners, its fourth US acquisition in less than two years.

Global investor services group IQ-EQ is strengthening its presence in the US through a strategic acquisition of Greyline Partners LLC, a leading US provider of governance and regulatory compliance solutions for private equity, venture capital, hedge funds and investors.

“Greyline is a highly successful, fast-growing company that is a perfect business and cultural fit with IQ-EQ's expanding US business”, states IQ-EQ in a press release. Founded in 2016 and led by managing partner Matt Okolita, Greyline employs 56 people across six offices in San Francisco, Dallas, New York, Chicago, Boston and London. It also provides outsourced operations, finance and back and middle office services. GCM Advisory is also part of the package. It is a CFO, finance and accounting outsourcing business launched earlier this year by Greyline.

Five acquisitions in 18 months

This is IQ-EQ's fifth acquisition in total and fourth US acquisition in the last two years, following Blue River Partners in 2020, and Constellation Advisers and Concord Trust in 2021. The Luxembourg-based group financed these deals with the support of Astorg, of which it is a member. The acquisition of Constellation Advisers was primarily aimed at strengthening IQ-EQ's position in outsourced and co-sourced back-office solutions for the US alternative asset industry. Concord has added €1.6bn in assets under administration for IQ-EQ.

In addition, IQ-EQ had also strengthened its footprint in France with the integration in 2020 of Paris-based independent accounting firm Conseil Expertise & Synthèse. CE&S provides accounting, tax and company secretarial services to a range of fund managers, entrepreneurs, companies and high net worth clients. The transaction resulted in the creation of a company with 75 employees in France.

3,700 people in 24 countries

Europe, USA, IQ-EQ is pursuing its ambition to become the world leader in providing services to the financial sector. The group is targeting the US market in particular as the largest and fastest growing fund services and regulatory compliance market in the world.

Announcing the acquisition, Group Executive Chairman Serge Krancenblum said: "I am delighted to welcome the Greyline Partners team to our growing business. We quickly recognised in Greyline Partners a firm that shares our high standards of service and successfully meets the regulatory, operational and governance needs of its clients through dynamic, high quality advice and innovative use of technology. We liked what we saw, and we decided to make it part of our US ambitions. The acquisition of Greyline Partners marks another key step in our US growth strategy and brings with it significant potential to combine our collective expertise for the benefit of our clients and employees, not only in the US, but across the group."

With this new acquisition, IQ-EQ now employs a global workforce of 3,700 people across 24 countries and has assets under administration in excess of $500bn. It works with 15 of the world's top 20 private equity firms and is part of the portfolio of global private equity firm Astorg, which manages more than €13bn in assets and has offices in London, Paris, New York, Frankfurt, Milan and Luxembourg.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.