Navan-based Utmost to add €3bn to assets under management

Wealth manager Utmost plans to add €3 billion to its assets under management over the next 18 months, two-thirds of which will come from its recently acquired Irish business, Utmost PanEurope.

The Irish-focused wealth manager intends to grow its new business assets to €30 billion by end of 2019 with about €2 billion of growth coming from its Navan and Dublin offices, Paul Gillett, Utmost PanEurope chief executive, told The Irish Times.

It comes as the company invests €1 million in a new Dublin facility to combine its existing three businesses, including Harcourt Life, and move staff from Aegon Ireland from which it recently bought a €3 billion offshore bond portfolio.

The company has grown its employee numbers from 40 three years ago to 250 people this year. About €17 billion of current assets under management relate to the Irish business while the additional €10 billion is based in the Isle of Man.

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Utmost is a subsidiary of UK-based Life Company Consolidation Group (LCCG) which last year acquired Generali PanEurope for an initial consideration of €230 million.

Employee benefits

In addition to offering life insurance solutions for high and ultra-high net worth individuals, the company also offers employee benefits including life cover and is the second biggest operator in that regard in the Republic. With 25,000 wealth policyholders and 250,000 Irish residents availing of the company's employee benefits, the company is second only to Irish Life for products in employee benefits.

In terms of its wealth insurance business, the company is the biggest in Ireland while the group entity, which includes the Isle of Man company, is the biggest in Europe.

LCCG was incorporated in 2013 by industry veteran Paul Thompson to collect unwanted life insurance businesses, or closed books. The Oaktree Capital backed company has since bought live books, including the acquisition last year from Italian insurer Generali.

Utmost Wealth Solutions – the wealth business arm headquartered in Navan – operates in six countries in Europe, and also has exposure to the Asian market.

It’s understood its backers intend to grow the assets under management to about €50 billion at which time a public flotation is likely to be targeted.