Baird acquires Bfinance

Kenny Wastell
03 May 2016

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Baird Capital has acquired a majority stake in UK investment consultancy Bfinance.

Upon completion of the deal, Baird Capital's Andrew Ferguson will take a seat on the board alongside Mark Brownlie – formerly CFO of visual effects company The Foundry – and Citywire co-founder Tim Trotter.

Bfinance will seek to expand its team and undertake an international expansion strategy upon completion of the deal. In particular, it intends to capitalise on a growing trend of institutional investors looking to move into European private debt and African equities.

The acquisition comes shortly after Baird sold another financial consultancy, Alpha Financial Markets Consulting, to Dunedin in a deal worth £80m.

The GP is currently investing from Baird Capital Partners Europe Fund II, which held a final close in June 2013 on £125m.

Previous funding
The investment from Baird marks the second time Bfinance has received backing from institutional investors. Carlyle and Net Partners invested in the business shortly after its inception in 1999, gaining a minority stake. The GPs wholly exited the company via a management buyout in May 2009, with Bfinance having expanded internationally over the course of a decade.

Company
Founded in 1999, London-headquartered Bfinance provides consultancy services to investors including pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, endowment funds and family offices.

The business has advised 300 clients, with a combined total of around $2.5tn in assets under management. It currently has additional operations in Amsterdam, Munich, Montreal, Paris and Sydney.

People
Baird – Andrew Ferguson (partner).
Bfinance – David Vafai (CEO); Tim Trotter (chairperson); Mark Brownlie (director).

Advisers
Company – Cavendish Corporate Finance (corporate finance).