The acquired business is being rebranded as Vistra,the company said.
The move marks Vistra’s first into mainland China, according to John Ashwood, managing director of Vistra Hong Kong, who said it would be “a foundation from which we can build our China office network”.
Vistra did not name the company it was acquiring, but said it had been established in 2004, and that it would “retain its strong professional team” following the changeover. It is thought that the office may have been the Guangzhou arm of the international accounting firm BDO.
According to Vistra, the business currently specialises in providing immigration authentication services, supporting applications for investment immigration visas under EB-5 to the US.
Ashwood said the full range of corporate and trust services now provided by Vistra’s Hong Kong office soon would be made available in the new office to that market’s local and international client base.
In addition, “we will soon be adding complementary services to the Guangzhou operation to cater for our China-related inbound and outbound client activities, as well as introducing other stand-alone services", Ashwood said.
Located in Southern China and formerly known to Westerners as Canton, Guangzhou is variously described as China’s fourth or fifth largest city. It is located on the Pearl River, about 120km (75mi) from Hong Kong.
As reported by International Adviser previously, Vistra has made a number of acquisitions recently, including a 50% stake in Centrapriv Zurich, an established independent fiduciary company, and Malta-based International Beneficiary Services. Thus far this year it has also opened offices in Frankfurt, Dubai, and Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second-largest city.
Vistra chief executive Bart Deconinck has said that Vistra is seeking to become one of the world’s “top five” five fiduciary businesses.
In 2009, Vistra, which has roots and offices in London and Jersey, revealed it had sold a majority stake to IK Investment Partners, a Scandinavian private equity firm, as part of its growth strategy.
The Guangzhou acquisition gives Vistra a presence in 21 cities in 19 countries.
Vistra caters to large international corporations, high net worth individuals and institutional investors. It dates back to 1982, when it formed the wealth management part of Chiltern, a London tax specialist, before a 2006 buy-in by Deconinck and several colleagues from MeesPierson.
