Actuarial consultancy firm announces acquisition

Dublin-based actuarial consultancy firm Life Strategies announced today that management and staff have acquired the company from UK-based Vertex Financial Services Holdings (formerly Marlborough Stirling) for a cash payment of €2.7m.

The executive directors are taking a majority stake, with other staff also acquiring shares directly and through the approved staff profit-sharing scheme.

The deal marks a return to Irish ownership for the firm, which was acquired in 2000 during the dot com boom by Marlborough Stirling, a UK software and outsourcing company. Since the acquisition by Marlborough Stirling, Life Strategies has continued to grow steadily with revenues rising by an average of 16% p.a. from €1.81m in 2000 to €3.80m in 2005.

Chairman of Life Strategies, Colm Fagan said: "All staff have had an opportunity to participate in the acquisition…The new ownership structure copperfastens our independent status and should help in recruiting additional quality people in the future as we look to build on a very solid business."

Life Strategies will continue to have a relationship with Vertex Financial Services Holdings following the deal. The two companies have entered into a consultancy services agreement, with Vertex becoming the latest in a line of blue-chip clients for Life Strategies.