Platform technology provider FNZ has been bought from its private equity backers in a deal which values the company at £1.65bn.
La Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec (CDPQ) and Generation Investment Management have bought the two thirds of the business previously owned by General Atlantic and HIG Europe, with the remaining third still owned by FNZ's employees.
The deal, which FNZ claims is one of the world's largest fintech transactions this year, is the first investment by CDPQ-Generation, a sustainable equity partnership launched today (9 October) by the two businesses.
FNZ is responsible for more than £330bn in assets under administration held with companies such as Standard Life Aberdeen, Santander, Lloyds Bank, Vanguard, Quilter, Aviva, Zurich and UBS.
Adrian Durham, chief executive and founder of FNZ, said: "Our clients have all moved to platform-as-a-service combining cloud-based software with transaction and custody services.
"This frees them to focus purely on their customer proposition, transferring all the technology, transaction and asset servicing to FNZ.
"We see a unique opportunity to create a global-scale platform for wealth management. This requires a willingness to invest for the long-term.
"The firm's 400 employee shareholders are firmly committed to this outcome and CDPQ-Generation is the perfect partner, given its unique eight to 15-year time horizon and focus on sustainable investments."
FNZ was founded in New Zealand in 2003 by Mr Durham and FNZC, New Zealand’s leading investment bank and wealth manager.
It expanded into the UK in 2005 and was subject to a management buy-out with private equity backing in 2009.
FNZ found its work in the headlines earlier this year after it helped Aviva through its replatforming process, which led to a wide range of problems for advisers.
The platform was unavailable for six days after it moved to FNZ and there were issues with the new client reporting function and technical issues, which affected payments for people in drawdown, while advisers reported they were not getting their payments through the platform.
FNZ is also working on Quilter's new platform after the wealth manager terminated its contract with IFDS in a bid to cut the cost of the replatforming process.
David Blood, senior partner and co-founder at Generation, said: "FNZ represents an outstanding first investment for our new partnership.
"It is an exceptional company with a management team that has demonstrated its ability to innovate and grow in the fast-moving fintech sector.
"We believe our long-term approach will suit the company and allow it to continue to invest in its technology and service proposition to the benefit of savers and pensioners, as well its employees, customers and investors."
damian.fantato@ft.com
