Financial services giant buys Dublin-based Percana

29 Jun 2010

Dublin-headquartered outsourcing services and software provider to the global life and pensions industry Percana – which employs 250 people in the city – has been acquired by International Financial Data Services (IFDS).

IFDS is a financial services outsourcing joint venture between State Street Corporation and DST Systems Inc. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Percana manages a wide range of life and pensions products throughout the full policy life cycle via an integrated front- middle- and back-office solution.

IFDS acquired an initial interest in Percana in September 2008 in recognition of its outstanding technology, strong existing client base and successful growth record. This is evident in Percana’s signing of major new client Pearl Group in January 2010.

“The purchase of Percana represents the next phase in IFDS’ growth plans,” explained Paul O’Neil, chief executive of IFDS.

“We are committed to expanding our product scope and market reach throughout our existing investor record keeping and transfer agency solutions hand-in-hand with increasing our presence in the life assurance and pensions market.

“The life assurance market is a key growth area for IFDS, and the purchase of Percana brings an established and robust technology platform which is endorsed by a respected selection of leading institutions in the market.  We look forward to capitalising on the significant opportunities this acquisition affords.”

What Percana-IFDS integration will do

The integration of Percana into IFDS creates a new outsourced administration and servicing solution for the European and offshore life assurance and pensions industry.

The combination of IFDS’ award-winning client servicing capabilities, with advanced workflow and support technologies, integrated with the best of breed technology platform from Percana creates a significant new option for both existing and new customers.

The IFDS group of companies provides integrated and customer-focused administration solutions for a wide range of financial and wrapper products for multiple international and offshore investment, insurance, life and pension, and wealth management organisations.

The group, in conjunction with State Street, supports financial institutions, distributors, platforms, advisers and investors in Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Singapore, Switzerland and the UK.

“We are excited to become part of the IFDS group of companies, whose scale and international presence will enable us to achieve our ambitious growth targets whilst offering our clients an enhanced full-service offering,” said Paul O’Kane, executive chairman of Percana.

“The acquisition demonstrates the confidence IFDS has in our business model, technology and people, and we look forward to building our offering as the leading life and pensions outsourcing provider both domestically and internationally,” O’Kane added.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com