A private equity firm, which has stakes in the likes of Moonpig, Gü and Wowcher, has invested in a professional services group which has bases across the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
Exponent has taken a "significant minority" holding in Xeinadin Group for an undisclosed sum.
Xeinadin is a group of business advisory and accountancy practices in over 100 locations across the UK and Ireland that provides over 40 service lines to over 50,000 clients, predominantly small and medium sized businesses and their owner-managers. It was formed through a merger of the offices in 2019 and is now structured into 14 regional hubs.
READ MORE: AstraZeneca Covid jab sales rose to £3bn in 2021
Subject to regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to complete during the first quarter of 2022.
Xeinadin has more than 1,500 employees across the UK and Ireland and achieved a revenue of over £100m in its latest financial year.
The investment by Exponent will support the company’s ambitions to grow significantly, both organically and through acquisitions and allow it to make further investments in data-driven technologies to help drive efficiencies and improve the quality, breadth and delivery of services to its clients.
Under the new ownership, Mark Taylor and Tom Lightowler of Exponent will join Xeinadin’s board, along with John Dwyer, an Exponent operating partner, joining as a non-executive director. Alastair Marsh will remain as chairman.
Exponent has previously invested in the likes of Trainline, Quorn Foods and Ambassador Theatre Group.
Xeinadin has offices across London, North West, South West, North East, East Midlands, South East, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Derry Crowley, CEO of Xeinadin Group, said: "We are very excited to be heading into the next stage of our growth. We have ambitious plans and have found the right investor to support us and drive forward our ambitions.
"The high level of interest we received from potential investors is testament to the huge achievements made so far by everyone within the group in integrating over 100 firms and turning them into a cohesive and collaborative unit.
"We have a clear vision of where we want to go in the next phase of our development and we’re confident that Exponent is going to be invaluable in helping us achieve that."
Mark Taylor, partner at Exponent, added: "Xeinadin is one of the leading consolidators in the UK and Ireland professional services landscape and has a huge opportunity in a highly fragmented market.
"We’ve been impressed by the work done to date by Derry and the team to build a profitable business with highly diversified sources of income, more than 95% of which is recurring. We look forward to working with Xeinadin over the coming years."
Exponent was advised by Macfarlanes, Evercore and KPMG, and Xeinadin was advised by Canaccord Genuity, Hill Dickinson and EY.
