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A number of non-public fairness corporations are contemplating provides for a stake in Grant Thornton’s UK enterprise, in a aggressive bidding course of aimed toward securing a valuation of as much as £1.5bn for the mid-tier accountant.
Carlyle, Blackstone, Permira, CVC Capital Companions and Bridgepoint are amongst buyout corporations weighing potential provides for Grant Thornton UK forward of a deadline in September for formal expressions of curiosity, in keeping with individuals conversant in the state of affairs.
London-based Cinven can also be seen as a possible bidder by trade executives, whereas New Mountain Capital, which took a majority stake in Grant Thornton’s US enterprise earlier this 12 months, is exploring a suggestion as a part of a plan to merge the UK, Eire and US operations, the Monetary Occasions has reported.
The method, which is being run by Rothschild, is predicted to worth Grant Thornton UK between £1bn and £1.5bn.
A transaction could be “fairly an necessary milestone as a result of within the UK, in that space of the market which is the massive, enterprise shoppers, there hasn’t been a deal but”, stated Richard Holden, head of enterprise providers at funding financial institution Alantra.
Folks near the matter stated that curiosity was at an early stage and there was no assure of formal provides. New York-based KKR is just not anticipated to make a bid, one individual near the agency stated.
Grant Thornton additionally shut down hypothesis that it could contemplate a deal excluding its audit follow, with one individual near the accountant saying the thought was “full nonsense”. A spokesperson added: “We’re dedicated to remaining as a multidisciplinary agency.”
UK rules require audit corporations to be majority owned by skilled accountants, that means that any non-public fairness deal could be prone to contain ringfencing Grant Thornton’s audit follow.
The agency has in recent times moved away from auditing so-called “public curiosity entities”, akin to listed teams, banks and insurers that contain the best stage of regulatory scrutiny. In consequence, Grant Thornton was demoted final 12 months from the UK accounting watchdog’s high tier of audit supervision.
Personal fairness involvement within the UK accounting sector is much less in depth than within the US, the place home accounting corporations are bigger. However such curiosity has been gathering tempo in Britain, particularly amongst smaller corporations.
Holden stated accounting teams had been turning to non-public fairness companions for help in investing in know-how and navigating succession planning.
A number of the potential bidders for Grant Thornton have a historical past of investing in skilled providers corporations, together with CVC, which owns Teneo and bolted on Deloitte’s former restructuring unit to the enterprise in 2021.
Grant Thornton UK reported revenues of £654mn and an working revenue of £146mn final 12 months. The agency is led by Malcolm Gomersall, who took over in January following the departure of his predecessor David Dunckley.
Carlyle, CVC Capital Companions, Bridgepoint, Blackstone, Permira, Cinven and Rothschild declined to remark.
Grant Thornton stated it all the time explored “avenues that can drive development for our agency . . . we is not going to be commenting additional on this matter”.
