By: Ann-Marie Corvi , Reporter, International Adviser

Prestige Fund Management, a Cayman Islands-based investment manager, has acquired a ‘significant’ minority stake in Methexis Holdings, the parent of Methexis Capital Advisors LLP.

Prestige is affiliated with Prestige Asset Management, a UK-based, Financial Conduct Authority-regulated fund administration and marketing boutique, specialising in international alternative investment strategies.

According to Craig Reeves, director and founder of PFM, the acquisition of the undisclosed share of Methexis Holdings is intended to “increase scale and pool resources to win bigger, more institutional bits of business” for his company.

“It’s all about scale these days – pooling resources as new regulations come in,” Reeves added.

“The move will enable us to exploit the many opportunities for the provision of credit and finance, to the benefit of our investors.”

Methexis Capital Advisors, which employs approximately ten people and is based in London, will retain its own identity and build on its own brand, according to a statement outlining the details of the acquisition. Prestige – which employs between 60 and 70 people on varying contracts – will now be represented on both Methexis  boards.

Founded three and a half years ago, Methexis Capital Advisors is involved in the provision of short-term capital to small and medium-sized UK companies, typically in the form of factored invoices and invoice receivable finance.

Among the company’s executives are individuals whose previous experience is said to include stints at such institutions as Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, Mitsubishi, Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia Securities. Methexis Capital says its largely institutional client base is comprised of banks, other asset managers and, increasingly, hedge funds and larger institutional investors.

Other PFM affiliated companies meanwhile, in addition to Prestige Asset Management, include Prestige Capital Management, a Malta-based, Malta Financial Services  Authority-regulated investment management firm; and Prestige Asset Distribution Ltd, a British Virgin Islands-based fund distributor.

Dominique Kateb, partner and founder of Methexis Capital Advisors, noted that banks are expected to “continue to struggle” as post-financial crisis delveraging unwinds, and as they cope with the need to increase their Basel III capital adequacy requirements. As a result, “access to credit for all but a few will remain a challenge”, he said.

“Our evolving business is to fill some of that gap and, at the same time, to develop the personal relationships with borrowers that have again become a key financial driver, after years of the outsourced call-centre mentality.”

Methexis Holdings Ltd is based in the Isle of Man.

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http://www.international-adviser.com/news/prestige-acquires-stake-in-methexis-holdings