Independent Governance Group (IGG), the UK’s leading provider of professional pensions trusteeship and governance services, today announces the acquisition of pensions consultancy KGC Associates, further strengthening its governance offering.
With extensive experience spanning more than two decades, KGC provides independent evaluation and operational governance services including benchmarking, market review, operational governance and management consulting to a range of pension schemes. The firm has a strong reputation as a trusted leader in objective analysis and practical insight.
KGC’s services are well complemented by IGG’s trustee and governance expertise. The acquisition further enhances IGG’s capability to deliver end-to-end solutions that achieve good governance and optimal outcomes for members, an area where demand from employers and scheme trustees remains strong.
The KGC team will all retain their positions under IGG’s ownership. Kim Gubler, Managing Director, and Lesley Carline, Director, will continue with their client facing roles, with Hayley Mudge maintaining her leadership of the business’s research function as Head of Research.
The move follows two recent senior hires for IGG: Hatty Goodwin, who joined in September as Trustee Director and Head of Risk Transfer, and Jeremy Petty, who joined in October as Director to lead IGG’s creative communications and employee engagement agency, like minds. These are succeeding our investment in October 2024, to support organic and acquisitive growth. The Group will continue to evaluate complementary acquisition opportunities to accelerate its successful organic growth strategy and further deepen its talent pool.
Andrew Bradshaw, CEO of IGG, comments: “I am very pleased to welcome Kim, Lesley and Hayley to the IGG group. The first-class reputation they have built within the industry is based on deep expertise, while their focus on independent evaluation and operational governance services is a natural fit for our existing offering. Bringing KGC into the IGG group will allow us to offer our clients more of the governance services they are asking us for, from an established team of industry experts.”
Kim Gubler, Managing Director of KGC, comments: “I founded KGC as I saw a need for truly unconflicted and practical consulting. Over the past 20 years, KGC has become known for delivering objective, practical insights, underpinned by a rigorous evidence-based approach. As part of the IGG group, I’m looking forward to scaling this across an even wider group of employers and scheme trustees, with support from IGG’s business support infrastructure and technology. We’re ready to create even more impact with KGC.”
Lesley Carline, Director of KGC, adds: “The pensions landscape is fast evolving with increased regulation, market consolidation, and the advent of new technology driving demand for quality operational governance. We’re already playing our part in shaping how the industry responds to this with our evidence-based insights and solutions, but we want to go further. We’re looking forward to making the most of IGG’s network of offices across the UK to bring the KGC approach to even more clients.”
Hayley Mudge, Head of Research at KGC, adds: “We’re excited to join a business that aligns so strongly with our values. IGG has a reputation for combining excellence in service with a people-first approach, and this also reflects the way we see the world at KGC. Couple that with our complementary business specialisms – KGC’s independent oversight expertise with IGG’s broader trustee services – and there is strong alignment in how our businesses will fit together to deliver excellence for clients.”
Michael Butler, Partner at ECI, adds: “The acquisition of KGC to the IGG portfolio will further enhance its governance offering, allowing IGG to offer truly end-to-end governance services. Furthermore, bringing Kim, Lesley and Hayley into the IGG fold also strengthens the bench of experts within the business – an area where IGG already stands out as a business prioritising breadth and depth of industry expertise. We look forward to continuing to support the IGG growth story, through this acquisition and beyond.”
