How has the increase in private equity investment in the
trust sector in the Channel Islands and beyond impacted the
industry and what will the consequences be, asks Michael Betley of
Trust Corporation International.
The entrepreneurial spirit has much to do with the successful
evolution of the trust sector in Guernsey which has developed
beyond all recognition from its embryonic state in the late 1960s.
It started with the arrival of the first of many international
merchant banks on the island.
External demand created opportunities which spawned the offshore
trust industry and has shaped the sector into what it has become.
One of the more recent catalysts of change has been the increasing
influence of private equity firms (PE) interested in the sector not
for its product set but for its investable qualities. The simple
operating models and stable cash flows are particularly attractive
and easy for PE to exploit.
