FFL Partners, a private equity firm focused on growth investments in tech-enabled business services and healthcare companies, announced that it has completed a strategic growth investment in Abacus Group, a financial services-focused IT Managed Services Provider “specializing in hedge fund, private equity, venture capital and family office clients.”
Terms of the private transaction “were not disclosed.”
Founded in 2008, Abacus manages clients’ entire IT stack “via a tech-enabled streamlined offering specifically designed for the unique needs of the financial services industry.”
The innovative Abacus Cloud platform “allows investment managers to source all technology as-a-service, offering the capacity to scale on-demand to meet current and future IT, cybersecurity, and compliance requirements.”
Founded in San Francisco and headquartered in New York City, Abacus “has over 250 employees and serves more than 650 clients with on-site support teams in every major financial city across the U.S. and the U.K.”
Jonathon Bunt, Director at FFL, stated:
“We have evaluated over 25 MSPs in the last three years and Abacus is the clear leader in the industry due to the strength of its management team, leading cloud platform, and service approach purpose-built for financial services companies that cannot afford to compromise on compliance and cybersecurity, We look forward to partnering with Abacus Founder and CEO Chris Grandi and his management team as they invest further in supporting their existing clients and expand to new clients both organically and through strategic acquisitions.”
Grandi added:
“FFL has a deep understanding of our business and our target markets and has a great reputation for partnering with founder-led businesses like Abacus to help them scale. I am confident that the resources, business acumen and energy the FFL team brings makes them the ideal partner for Abacus as we enter our next chapter of growth.”
Abacus’ financial services IT MSP market “is estimated to be over $4 billion and is projected to grow as much as 15% through 2025.”
Cas Schneller, Managing Partner at FFL, said:
“The increasing focus on cybersecurity, transition to the cloud, need for enhanced data and analytics, and consistent difficulty of attracting and retaining IT talent only increases the importance of a world-class MSP like Abacus. This is even more relevant in highly regulated industries like financial services, where the specialization and deep industry knowledge Abacus brings should continue to help the company expand its private equity, venture capital, family office and wealth management client base.”
Abacus marks FFL’s third IT services investment, “following ALKU, an Andover, Mass.-based leading IT & Life Sciences specialized consulting firm; and Optomi Professional Services, a specialized provider of technology consulting, team augmentation and IT outsourcing services.”
Furthermore, Abacus “builds on FFL’s expertise in partnering with leading companies serving the alternative investment community that started with FFL’s 2018 investment in Accordion Partners, the leading financial and technology consulting firm for the private equity community.”
Guggenheim Securities, LLC and Lazard “served as sell-side advisors to Abacus and outgoing investment partner Westview Capital Partners. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to FFL and Latham & Watkins, LLP and Lowenstein Sandler LLP served as legal counsel to Abacus and Westview on the transaction.”