We’re pleased to announce the acquisition of Agama Group, a market-leading independent regulatory compliance firm based in France and Luxembourg. This transaction gives us our first regulatory compliance presence in the region and marks a significant milestone in our longer-term strategy to establish IQ-EQ as a regulatory compliance leader in continental Europe as well as the UK, the U.S. and Asia.
Agama Group provides essential regulatory compliance, internal control and operations support to asset managers and funds across private equity, real estate and other asset classes. Established in 2013, the firm is now made up of four business units, totalling 50+ professionals across offices in Paris and Luxembourg:
- Agama Conseil – France – ongoing support for internal control functions within asset managers
- Agama Services – France – formation, authorisation and approvals for new asset managers
- Agama Advisors – Luxembourg – RC, directorship and compliance services for Luxembourg funds
- BELT Solutions – France – RegTech SaaS solution supporting compliance officers within asset managers
As well as expanding IQ-EQ’s regulatory compliance offering into continental Europe, the acquisition of Agama significantly builds upon our already-extensive suite of services for fund and asset managers operating in France, including fund administration, outsourced CFO, valuation, risk management and third-party AIFM services. Through this acquisition, we’ll be uniquely positioned as a one-stop shop for asset managers in France. In Luxembourg, Agama’s fast growing business fits perfectly with our existing services and regulatory strategy in the region.
Commenting on the acquisition, Mark Pesco, our Group Chief Executive Officer, said:
“Continental Europe is ripe with commercial opportunity and represents an important strategic growth region for us. This acquisition not only speaks to that opportunity but cements our position as the leading provider of regulatory compliance services globally, adding to our established expert teams in the UK, the U.S. and Asia.
“Agama stands out as the clear market leader for regulatory compliance services in France, with a very strong reputation and brand recognition, as well as having a fast-growing business in Luxembourg that fits strategically with our existing business. So we’re truly thrilled to be welcoming them into the IQ-EQ fold and look forward to seeing all that we can achieve together.”
Diana Senanayake, Regional CEO for Continental Europe at IQ-EQ, added:
“This is an incredibly exciting transaction for us; it adds a strong new string to our regional bow and we see excellent collaboration potential between our teams that will benefit our business and our clients. What’s more, Agama’s proprietary SaaS, BELT, is emerging as the leading RegTech solution for asset managers in France and there is considerable scope to develop this further in the region.
“Together, we’ll be working hard to maximise the significant potential our newly combined business has to offer as we strive to take both our continental European offering and our global regulatory compliance offering to the next level.”
Philippe Levrel and Louis-Grégoire Logre will continue to lead Agama as Managing Directors and will join the senior leadership team of IQ-EQ France, reporting directly to Bertrand D’Anselme, CEO of IQ-EQ France. Jean-Bernard Quillon will continue to lead Agama Advisors in Luxembourg as Managing Director, with a reporting line into IQ-EQ’s senior leadership in Luxembourg.
From today, Agama will go to market as ‘Agama IQ-EQ’ prior to a full rebrand to IQ-EQ once the businesses have been successfully integrated.
This acquisition notably follows our acquisitions of ComplianceAsia and Lymon Pte in 2023, which immediately positioned IQ-EQ as the market-leading independent regulatory compliance business in Asia and worldwide.
