UK – Credit Suisse’s Winterthur subsidiary has sold its pensions administration arm Personal Pension Management Ltd. to outsourcing firm Capita Group for an undisclosed sum.

As part of the deal Capita will provide Winterthur Life UK with third party self-invested personal pensions administration services “in a contract estimated to generate revenues of 120 million pounds (178 million euros) over 10 years”. Four hundred staff will transfer to Capita.

Salisbury-based PPML is the second-largest SIPP administrator and has net assets of 2.9 million pounds. It delivers services for more than 23,000 plans.

Under the deal, Capita take over the SIPP administration for “a number of other leading blue chip financial services companies”.

“Winterthur Life UK will now be able to inject real drive into its stated strategy of developing clear, transparent and innovative pension and investment products backed with an open charging structure that reflects the needs of customers in the 21st century,” said Mike Kellard, chief executive of Winterthur Life UK.

"Outsourcing of third-party SIPP administration to Capita fits with our company's business philosophy of outsourcing parts of its offering where other firms can add value. We undertook a detailed evaluation process to choose an appropriate long-term partner.”

"The combination of our knowledge and expertise of customer service and administration processing with the depth of skill and experience of the PPML employees, positions us at the forefront of delivering service excellence in third party SIPP administration,” said Capita chief executive Rod Aldridge.

“This agreement positions Capita as the largest open book administrator in the UK life & pensions outsourcing market, following our recent contracts with The Children's Mutual, Lincoln Financial Group, Prudential International and St James's Place International.”

The transaction will be completed once regulatory approval has been granted.