Praemium has signed its first contract in the United Kingdom.

The separately managed account and portfolio administration service provider has signed up with UK platform Cofunds, to provide services and reporting tools.

Praemium will initially provide Cofunds, which has over £14.6 billion assets under administration, with a Capital Gains Tax (CGT) calculation service.

"Cofunds are tooling up to be a full service wrap provider and we are supplying them with the infrastructure to do this," Praemium managing director Arthur Naoumidis said.

"This deal for us is the equivalent of getting one of the major platforms, such as BT or Macquaire, on board here in Australia.

"This is our initial toe in the water in the UK and is the first revenue from what we believe will be a very lucrative market."

Praemium, which won the deal through a tender process, is negotiating the possibility of providing further services to Cofunds after the initial implementation process is completed.

According to Naoumidis, this would see Praemium's range of portfolio tools and SMA services extended across Cofunds' investment platform.

"We are looking to take advantage of our first mover advantage in the UK. Anyone else looking to enter the UK market place will have to take at least a year to meet strict requirements laid down by the UK regulator, the Financial Services Authority," he said. 

"The opportunity to partner with Cofunds in the development of our services is an exciting avenue for Praemium's expansion into the UK marketplace."

The CGT engine is part of Praemium's V-Wrap portfolio administration and performance analysis system. The announcement follows the UK Government's Pre-Budget Report which declared its intention to make wholesale changes to CGT.