03.12.14
Sovereign exits investment in global regulatory services provider Cordium
Sovereign Capital, the UK private equity Buy & Build specialist, today announces that Cordium, its global compliance and regulatory services provider, is to be acquired by European Capital.
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Completion is subject to change of control consent by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Malta Financial Services Authority. The exit will deliver a return in excess of 4x to investors.
Sovereign originally acquired Cordium, formerly The IMS Group, in November 2010. At the time of the original investment Sovereign augmented the management team with the appointment of Michel van Leeuwen as Group CEO and Tony Solway as Non-Executive Chairman. Through Sovereign’s strategy of buy & build, Cordium made eight strategic acquisitions which included HedgeOp in New York, HedgeStart in London and Zodiac Advisory Services in Malta. The Group also opened offices in Hong Kong. Throughout the four years of Sovereign’s’ investment, Cordium achieved strong organic growth and became well known for its innovative web based software solutions that allow clients to process their compliance obligations efficiently and securely. In addition the Group broadened its service offering to include Accounting and Tax. Today, Cordium is one of the largest independent regulatory compliance consultancies in the world, with four times as many clients as at the time of Sovereign’s investment.
With the avalanche of financial regulation and the requirement for investor governance transparency, the demand for outsourced independent compliance services has continued to accelerate globally. Cordium has achieved strong growth and is recognised as an industry leader that provides its clients with a total solution for all their Governance, Finance, Risk and Compliance needs. We are delighted to have partnered such a first class management team to build this business and wish them every success going forward.
Neil Cox, Director, Sovereign Capital
Sovereign has been a highly supportive investment partner that has enabled the Group’s structured expansion strategy of acquiring specialist companies globally while simultaneously investing in organic growth. As a global operator we are well positioned to continue to grow the Group and build upon the client relationships that we have already established.
Michel van Leeuwen, Group CEO of Cordium
Sovereign has a particular focus in the business support services sector. Most recently the firm completed its simultaneous investments in SJD Accountancy (“SJD”) and Nixon Williams in a transaction worth £100m. Together these businesses form the largest group providing accounting services to the Contractor and SME markets in the UK.
