Sanlam Private Investments, the South African wealth manager, has bought a majority stake in Summit Trust International, the Geneva-based fiduciary and tax services firm, for an undisclosed sum.

SPI has bought 65 per cent of Summit and the management owners of the Swiss firm will keep the remainder.

Summit, which has subsidiaries in the UK, New Zealand and the Cayman Islands, was founded in 1999, and offers trust services, tax planning and other specialist offshore services to high net worth individuals

The purchase extends SPI's new fiduciary and tax team in Johannesburg, which will work with local clients while the new addition will serve clients across the globe.

In terms of offshore services, SPI also has stakes in UK-based Principal Investment Holdings and Calibre Investments, the Australian private client investment manager, as well as affiliations with Pictet & Cie, the Swiss private bank, and US-based Centre Asset Management.

The acquisition comes hot on the heels of SPI’s agreement to buy Merchant Securities Group, the UK stockbroking and wealth management firm, two weeks ago.