Staff at Estera were informed the company was being bought by another business in a morning meeting last week.

Around 80 people work at the Athol Street, Douglas, office of the firm which is a described as a provider of funds, corporate and trust services.

Inflexion Private Equity is to acquire Estera from Bridgepoint, which is an international private equity group.

Following completion of the investment, which is subject to regulatory approval, Estera will be merged with Inflexion’s existing portfolio company Ocorian, forming what is being billed as a ’global corporate service and fund administration leader of significant scale.’

The news comes only only days after Estera released information about promotions in the island.

Ashley Cole was promoted to administrator - Fiduciary, Mark McCarrick was promoted to assistant manager - funds, and Edward Perkins was promoted to manager - funds.

It is understood all the Estera jobs in the island are safe.

Farah Ballands, Estera chief executive, said: ’This is a really exciting next step for our business and everyone who works for it.

’We are delighted that we will be combining with Ocorian, which with Inflexion’s support, will help us develop and grow the business even further.

’We look forward to implementing an ambitious joint growth plan.’

Now, the new combined business will operate from 18 global jurisdictions, including the island, Bermuda, Cayman, Guernsey, Ireland, Jersey, Luxembourg and Mauritius.

The businesses will have more than 1,250 professionals globally, serving more than 8,000 clients across the corporate service, fund administration and private client sector.

Together, Ocorian and Estera, will provide a ’complete range of services to clients with multi-jurisdictional needs’.

In particular, Ocorian clients will benefit from Estera’s established North American presence (Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and Cayman), while Estera clients will be able to leverage Ocorian’s strong links to the Middle East and Africa.

Stuart Layzell, Ocorian chief executive, said: ’This is a landmark transaction for Ocorian. Together both businesses will be able to offer an enhanced service to their clients wherever they are located. The whole team looks forward to working with the team at Estera to take the enlarged business forward.’

Simon Turner, managing partner, Inflexion, said: ’Since carving out Ocorian from Bedell Cristin in September 2016, the business has successfully completed four acquisitions, significantly diversifying its client offering geographically.

’The combination of Ocorian and Estera is truly transformational, creating a global, market leading business of significant scale and we look forward to partnering with both teams to accelerate the growth of the joint business.’

William Paul, partner and Head of Bridgepoint’s financial services team, said: ’Estera has a reputation for high quality, client-centric services, and the expertise to deal with the complex needs of its clients.

’Alongside a strong management team, we have helped the business build market leadership positions globally across its product portfolio and accelerated investment in its platform as well as in selective acquisitions.

’We wish the company and its team continued success under its new ownership.’

Estera was created following a management buyout of the fiduciary group of Appleby.

We have previously reported Gary O’Connor has been managing director in the Isle of Man since October, 2017, after being promoted from director where he played an important role in the development of Estera in the Isle of Man, leading both the finance function and client-facing teams to ensure commercial success of the business.

This latest investment was made by affiliated funds advised by Inflexion Private Equity Partners LLP.

Gary O’Connor, Estera’s managing director in the island

Farah Ballands