Private equity firm Carlyle has bought technology provider Intelliflo from Invesco in a deal worth up to $200mn.
The deal includes Intelliflo’s US-based subsidiaries, including RedBlack, a provider of SaaS-based portfolio rebalancing tools, and Intelliflo Portfolio, a portfolio management software solution for US investment advisers.
Post completion these will become a standalone business called RedBlack, run by a separate management team, while Intelliflo will continue to focus on delivering software and innovation for the UK and Australian markets.
The $200mn (£148mn) deal is made up of $135mn to be paid at closing, which is expected to happen in the final quarter of this year, and up to an additional $65mn paid in potential future earn outs.
Nick Eatock, CEO and founder of Intelliflo, confirmed its leadership team remained unchanged, as does the work it does for advisers.
“Our commitment to advisers and partners remains as strong as ever. And our focus on shaping the digital future of financial advice is only deepening,” he said.
“Building on our continuing and profitable growth at Intelliflo, this move gives us the freedom and backing to do what we do best — and with Carlyle’s deep expertise in fintech and SaaS, we have the perfect partner to accelerate our next phase of innovation and growth.”
Addressing advisers specifically, Eatock said: “To our advisers and partners — thank you for your trust, ideas and collaboration. We are excited about the opportunities ahead and committed to delivering even more value in the months and years to come.”
It is reasonable to expect them to continue their position as UK market leader for many years, especially given the quality of their new investors
Ian McKenna, founder of Financial Technology Research Centre and AdviserSoftware.com, praised the deal.
He told FT Adviser: “It is always unsettling for customers when you know that the ownership of a key supplier is up in the air. Having this resolved with such a high-quality buyer is positive news for Intelliflo and its customers.”
Intelliflo, which offers cloud-based practice management software Intelligent Office to advisers, was founded in 2004.
It was sold to fund management firm Invesco for an undisclosed sum back in 2018.
Before then it was owned by private equity investor HgCapital which had bought it in 2013.
McKenna said the next few years would see an “unprecedented transformation” in the financial advice industry. The new investment would help Intelliflo adapt to this change.
“[The industry] is certain to become a major part of the Augmented Economy brackets (AI robotics and humans) with services extended beyond the 8 per cent of consumers who currently benefit from financial advice to a vastly wider audience.”
He added: “Under their new ownership Intelliflo are very well positioned to take advantage of the changes ahead.
“It is reasonable to expect them to continue their position as UK market leader for many years, especially given the quality of their new investors.”
Back in May, Intelliflo partnered with Flagstone to make client reporting easier for advisers.
The integration allowed advisers to see the performance of their clients’ existing Flagstone cash savings from their own Intelliflo dashboard.
amy.austin@ft.com