The owner of one of Britain’s fastest-growing accounting firms is planning a sale that could value it at almost £1.5 billion.
Sky News learned that Hg, the private equity firm, hired investment bankers at JP Morgan to oversee an Azets auction.
City sources said on Thursday that a sale is likely to put a price tag for Azets – formerly known as Cogital – between £1 billion and £1.5 billion.
Azets claims to be the largest provider of business-critical services such as accounting, payroll and tax to small and medium-sized businesses in Northern Europe.
In total, it boasts over 100,000 SME clients.
The company does business under several brands, including Blick Rothenberg, which formed part of a 2016 merger that saw Hg become a shareholder of the business.
Since then, it has made a string of acquisitions to strengthen its presence in several countries.
Cogital was co-founded by John Connolly, a former Deloitte UK executive and one of the most prominent figures in the UK professional services sector.
Mr. Connolly, the former president of security service provider G4S, later left the business.
In 2019, Hg held talks about selling a substantial stake in Cogital to several other private equity firms, including Permira and BC Partners, but a transaction was never finalized. complete.
The rebranding of the group under the name Azets took place the following year.
It recently announced a strategic partnership with Xero, an accounting software provider.
According to insiders, an Azets sale won’t begin until next year.
When that happens, it will come amid accelerating structural change in the accounting world, with EY proposing a global decoupling of its audit and consulting businesses.
A spokesperson for Hg declined to comment.
