British software company Access worth £9 billion as Singapore buys stake | Business Newsletter

A software company based in Loughborough is close to becoming more valuable than Sage Group, technology champion FTSE-100, as it closes a deal to sell shares to a Singapore state investment fund.

Sky News has learned that The Access Group, founded in 1991, is in advanced negotiations over a transaction that would value it at around £9 billion.

Sources said on Wednesday that Access, which provides business management software to midsize companies in the UK, Ireland and Asia, could close the deal within weeks.

It will see the company’s current private equity backers, Hg and TA Associates, continue to support the company by reinvesting in it.

Singapore Government Investment Corporation (GIC) is expected to become a significant minority shareholder as part of the deal.

Meanwhile, Hg’s shares will be transferred to Saturn vehicles, which hold its stakes in large-cap software companies.

With a valuation of £9 billion, Access will be valued higher than Sage Group, supplier of the FTSE-100 software.

Sage has a current market capitalization of £6.8 billion.

Access, which has seen 16 years of continuous profit growth, would be ranked at 55 if it were a component of the FTSE-100.

To secure such a hefty valuation, the Access acquisition will strengthen Hg’s position as one of the most successful investors in the software industry in the world.

Hg’s Saturn Fund also holds large stakes in IFS and Visma, both of which are now worth more than $10 billion.

The timing of the Access transaction is also important, where it highlights the continued explosive growth in value of successful enterprise software companies even as broader technology-related businesses faces a more turbulent funding environment.

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When Hg made its initial investment in Access in 2018, the company had an enterprise value of £1 billion.

Hg reinvested and became a major shareholder two years ago.

Access, which has around 60,000 customers and 5,000 employees, has added hundreds of millions of pounds in revenue by acquiring scores of smaller businesses in recent years.

It specializes in providing software for financial management systems and so-called human capital management, as well as industry-specific software for sectors including legal and hospitality.

Hg and the Access Team declined to comment, while GIC could not be reached for comment.