Synova invests in Doran + Minehane

Harriet Matthews
14 June 2021

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Synova has announced an investment in Doran + Minehane (D+M), an accountancy service provider for the asset management industry.

Paul Elliott will join the board as chair. Synova's David Menton and Sunil Jain have also joined the board.

Synova backs companies based in Ireland and the UK, generally investing in businesses with enterprise values of £30-150m, deploying equity tickets of £10-60m. D+M, which is valued in the €50-100m region, is the GP's fourth platform investment from the GP's fourth fund. Synova Fund IV held a final close in 2019 on £365m. The fund plans to make 8-12 platform investments.

Synova aims to help its portfolio companies to internationalise, expand their customer reach, and optimise sales, as well as assisting them with recruitment, the deployment of data, and digital transformation. The GP said in a statement that it intends to support D+M's organic and inorganic growth, providing capital for strategic acquisitions. Potential add-ons are likely to add to the core business of the company in its existing market, or to add new geographies to its offering.

Synova's previous investments in the financial services sector include financial and fund database platform Defaqto; the firm backed the company's £24.25m MBO from FF&P Private Equity and Foresight Group in 2015, exiting four years later in a £74.3m sale.

More recently, Synova sold financial advisory firm Fairstone Group to TA Associates, netting a 4.5x return and 40% IRR. Synova had invested £25m in Fairstone in 2016 and reinvested alongside TA for a minority stake in the business, deploying equity via Synova IV.

Company
Founded in 2007 and based in Ireland, D+M provides accountancy services for the asset management industry, serving fund administrators and asset managers. Its six core services are financial reporting; management accounting and corporate secretarial; taxation compliance; liquidation; assurance services; and SME accounting. The company is headquartered in Limerick, with additional offices in Cork, Singapore and the Cayman Islands

People
Doran + Minehane – Ian Doran (co-founder, CEO).
Synova – David Menton (managing director); Sunil Jain, Thomas Usher (investment directors); Jonathan Lavers (investment manager); Mao Isobe (investment executive).

Advisers
Equity – Key Capital (corporate finance); KPMG (financial due diligence, tax); EY (commercial due diligence); Pinsent Masons (legal).
Vendor – IBI (corporate finance); Dentons (legal).