Alpha FMC agrees to £626 million takeover bid from Bridgepoint

20 June 2024 Consultancy.uk

Alpha FMC’s leadership team has agreed to a takeover deal by private equity group Bridgepoint, in a deal worth around £626 million.

With over 900 consultants, Alpha FMC is one of the larger consulting firms dedicated to the financial services sector. The London-headquartered firm has offices in 17 major financial centres worldwide, stretching from New York and Zurich to Sydney.

In May, Alpha confirmed that it had received a number of expressions of interest and proposals over the past months, with reports emerging that both Bridgepoint and rival private equity investor Cinven had approached the company about a potential deal.

Bridgepoint nears takeover of Alpha FMC

In a statement released this morning, Alpha FMC confirmed that it has reached a deal with Bridgepoint, a well-known investor in the consulting landscape (with previous investments in the likes of Analysys MasonERM and HKA). The offer of 505p-a-share represents a premium of 51% on Alpha FMC’s closing price on 30 April, the day after the offer came in.

Alpha FMC’s board said that joining Bridgepoint is a move in the “best interests of the company and all shareholders.”

The deal drivers

In its offer, Bridgepoint outlined Alpha FMC’s unique capabilities and the sector’s outlook as key drivers behind its interest in the British consultancy.

“Bridgepoint views Alpha FMC as a leading independent specialist operating in the large and growing financial services consulting market, importantly with a distinct culture and a high calibre team of professionals. The sector is expected to benefit from long-term growth drivers, including digital transformation, increasing financial services regulation, evolving product complexity, cost pressures and continued growth in assets under management.”

The investor also believes that by bringing Alpha FMC back into private hands, the firm will be able to “take a longer-term view around investment and talent recruitment and retention, to better fulfil its growth potential and ambitious strategy.”

Meanwhile, with Bridgepoint’s capital firepower, Alpha FMC will be able to accelerate growth in high-demand areas. “Bridgepoint believes Alpha FMC’s potential can be unlocked through both continued organic growth and further strategic M&A to add new capabilities, scale in existing territories and to potentially add new end markets and geographies to Alpha FMC’s service matrix.”

Commenting on the acquisition, Charles Welham, Partner and Head of Business and Financial Services at Bridgepoint, said: “Bridgepoint has strong experience of backing specialist consultants and we are excited to partner with Alpha FMC and combine our breadth of knowledge of these financial services end markets and the technology ecosystems underpinning them with the bench of specialist capabilities that Alpha FMC has built over many years.”

“We look forward to investing further both organically and inorganically with the management team.”

Shareholder decision

The £626 million takeover bid will be put to shareholders at the company’s general meeting, requiring 75% to vote in favour of the deal.

Ken Fry, chair of Alpha FMC, said: “Since its AIM admission in 2017, Alpha FMC has successfully developed into a leading global consultancy to the financial services industry and delivered strong growth in revenues and profits through a proven strategy of deepening client relationships, broadening the client offering and geographic expansion.”

“Whilst Alpha FMC is well-positioned to make continued progress, the Alpha FMC independent directors believe that the acquisition recognises the quality and value of the business and represents an opportunity for Alpha FMC shareholders to realise their entire investment, in cash, at an attractive premium.”

Earlier this month, Alpha FMC was named one of the UK’s leading management consulting firms.

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