The Irish Independent has confirmed that the firm, whose CEO is former Dublin footballer John Calvert, has appointed KPMG to advise the board on strategic options for the business.
“The appointment follows a number of unsolicited expressions of interest in the business by wealth managers based in Ireland and overseas,” a spokesman said.
“We have received a number of enquiries over the last 12 months from potential suitors both here in Ireland and overseas. On foot of these enquiries, we have asked KPMG to review strategic options for the business and how best to position the firm for continued success both for our clients and for our colleagues.
“We have no predetermined outcome to this exercise and we will consider the issue carefully in the months ahead.”
The company manages €3.5bn in assets and has 40 staff. It specialises in creating investment solutions at the conservative end of the market, and says it has provided products or advice to more than 30,000 investors over its lifetime. It has been in business since 1969.
Its takeover would be just the latest consolidation in the financial services sector, where the requirement of regulation is weighing particularly heavily on smaller players.
Two years ago Bank of Ireland completed the €427m takeover of Davy Stockbrokers, a year after AIB bought Goodbody’s.
In late 2020, UK asset manager Gresham House bought Appian Asset Management, a Dublin-based investment group in a deal that valued it at about €10m. The business was rebranded as Gresham House Ireland.
Davy, Goodbody’s and Gresham House Ireland would all be regarded as potential purchasers of BCP.
In a statement last month, Tony Dalwood, chief executive of Gresham House, said it aimed to significantly grow its business in Ireland.
On its website, BCP says it is one of Ireland’s largest independently owned investment product providers for the adviser market. From 1992, it specialised in the manufacture of capital-secure structured products, and later expanded into commercial property and alternative investments.
BCP’s directors include Aidan Williams, who is the current chairman of the National Asset Management Agency and is a former chair of both UniCredit Bank Ireland, and Macquarie Capital Ireland.
He joined the board in September along with Mary Brennan, an experienced independent non-executive director.
