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Grant Thornton’s US enterprise and two European buyout corporations are amongst bidders to have made a shortlist of suitors vying to purchase a stake within the mid-tier accountant’s UK franchise.
Grant Thornton’s personal equity-owned US enterprise, Sweden’s EQT and London-based Permira have been put via to the following spherical of bidding in a course of aimed toward securing a valuation of as much as £1.5bn for Grant Thornton UK, in keeping with folks aware of the matter.
Cinven, one other mooted bidder, declined to touch upon whether or not it had made the shortlist.
The shortlist leaves Grant Thornton with a number of strategic choices, every of which might shake up the UK accounting panorama.
Grant Thornton operates as a world community of legally separate partnerships, and the concept of merging the UK business into the US arm could be a major innovation. US agency leaders imagine it will turbocharge development by permitting them to higher goal worldwide shoppers.
Grant Thornton US just lately offered a majority stake to a consortium led by the private equity group New Mountain Capital, which is eager to bankroll worldwide growth. It has proposed the concept of buying not simply the UK group but in addition Grant Thornton Eire, which has employed bankers of its personal to contemplate the concept, the Monetary Instances has beforehand reported.
Alternatively, a stake sale to a buyout agency would mark essentially the most important personal fairness transaction within the UK’s accounting trade to this point.
The 2 corporations and Grant Thornton US declined to remark.
“It’s fascinating to see that world opening as much as personal fairness they usually really need us to personal them,” mentioned an govt of one of many corporations that bid for Grant Thornton, referring to the buyout trade as an entire.
“It’s a folks enterprise and we perceive folks companies as a result of we’re one,” the chief added.
Non-public fairness involvement has been more extensive in the US accounting market, the place the sale by Grant Thornton US of a 60 per cent stake to a consortium led by New Mountain Capital in March this yr was the biggest deal to this point.
The potential sale of Grant Thornton UK initially garnered curiosity from a bunch of personal fairness teams together with Blackstone, Carlyle, Bridgepoint and CVC Capital Companions, the FT previously reported.
Luxembourg-based CVC, which was initially seen by trade executives as a frontrunner, thought of making a suggestion however finally determined to not bid, folks with information of the method mentioned.
CVC’s possession of Teneo, to which it bolted on Deloitte’s former restructuring unit in 2021, might have made it too difficult for the personal fairness agency to bid for one more monetary companies firm, one other particular person with information of their operations prompt.
UK guidelines mandate that audit corporations should be majority owned by educated accountants, that means any funding by a buyout agency could be prone to contain ringfencing Grant Thornton UK’s audit observe.
Grant Thornton UK mentioned was exploring “numerous avenues that can drive development for our agency,” including: “No choices have been made and, while we’re contemplating our choices, we won’t be commenting additional.”
Carlyle, Blackstone, Bridgepoint and Rothschild declined to remark. CVC didn’t instantly reply to a request in search of remark.
Extra reporting by Ivan Levingston in London
