HedgeOp will operate as 'HedgeOp Compliance- an IMS Group company' from its offices in New York, Boston and San Francisco. Bill Mulligan, founder and Chief Executive of HedgeOp, will continue in his role and report to IMS Group Chief Executive, Michel van Leeuwen. The entire HedgeOp management team and staff will continue in their current roles.

The enlarged Group will have offices in London, New York, Boston and San Francisco, with more than 100 staff supporting approximately 700 investment management firms globally. The London office will serve as the Group's global headquarters.

The combined Group further increases its capabilities to holistically deliver global compliance services via HedgeOp's compliance software subsidiary, EvenWheel Solutions, the successful cloud-based regulatory solutions platform currently servicing about 150 firms and over 3,000 users on its employee filing platform.

IMS is backed by Sovereign Capital, the UK's buy & build private equity specialist. With Sovereign Capital's financial backing and business acceleration experience, IMS has the ideal combination to grow and consolidate its expertise in assisting clients with forthcoming regulatory challenges. The objective for the Group is to build on the talent and industry experience offered in the UK and US (as well as globally), so maintaining the reputations of IMS and HedgeOp as market leaders.

Michel van Leeuwen, Chief Executive, The IMS Group, says: "Following the financial crisis of 2008, IMS made a strategic decision to increase its expertise in America. This is mainly due to the SEC's decision to increase its regulatory scope outside of the US and the need for UK managers to access the US market, creating an increased requirement amongst many of our clients for a broader service provision across Europe and the US. IMS has always sought to grow its business in line with the needs of our clients and as regulatory requirements become more consistent globally, we plan to create a global regulatory services group. I greatly look forward to working with HedgeOp, which has an excellent reputation."

Bill Mulligan, Chief Executive, HedgeOp, says: "The regulatory challenges facing investment firms are becoming increasingly complex and global. I believe IMS and HedgeOp share the same values and client service standards and by joining together we will have more global resources and expertise to deal with these challenges, gaining a broader skills base to offer our clients and a wider range of services. In addition to compliance consulting in the UK, IMS has a dedicated regulatory training department and also offers recruitment, hosted regulatory permissions and risk management."