BC- and GIC-backed Acuris bolts on Blackpeak

Kenny Wastell
20 March 2019

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BC Partners- and GIC-backed Acuris, the parent company of Unquote, has bolted on Hong Kong-based Blackpeak, a provider of investigative research and due diligence related to capital markets, M&A and private equity.

It is understood the deal values the business in excess of $5m and that Acuris did not raise new equity funding to finance the transaction.

The deal comes 20 months after BC sold a 30% stake in Acuris to Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, following which BC retained a stake of more than 60% in the business.

Acuris is widely reported to be in the midst of a sale process of its own, with the Financial Times recently reporting that News Corp and Axel Springer have entered the bidding for the company. Other potential buyers to have reportedly expressed an interest or prepared bids include S&P Global, Moody's and Fitch, in addition to private equity houses including Advent International, EQT Partners, Hellman & Friedman and KKR.

Following the latest deal, Blackpeak will become part of Acuris's compliance division. The add-on is intended to increase Acuris's presence and consumer base in the Asian market.

Acuris has made a number of bolt-ons since it first received backing from BC. The group bought Perfect Information and The Law Report Group in 2014, Unquote, AVCJ and C6 Intelligence in 2015, Creditflux in 2016, TIM Group in 2017 and SparkSpread in 2018.

Acuris, which rebranded from Mergermarket Group in July 2017, has also invested in product development and its IT infrastructure.

Company
Headquartered in Hong Kong and founded in 2011, Blackpeak undertakes due diligence, research and investigations with a particular focus on capital markets, M&A and private equity. Its services include integrity due diligence, asset searches, business intelligence for institutional and hedge fund investors, stakeholder mapping, and political risk research.

The company has 400 customers and has additional offices in Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo and Beijing, with a small number of staff in New York and Washington DC.

People
Acuris – Hamilton Matthews (CEO); Joel Lange (compliance managing director).
Blackpeak – Jack Clode, Chris Leahy (co-founders, managing directors).