Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets Acquisition Finance has provided a senior debt facility to support Sovereign Capital’s acquisition of The IMS Consulting Group, a provider of consulting and integrated business support to the wholesale asset management and securities industry.
The acquisition finance team acted as sole mandated lead arranger for the transaction, which saw Sovereign Capital take a majority stake in the business.
Lloyds Bank will also provide full clearing and hedging services to IMS.
Founded in 1997, IMS’ core offering is compliance consultancy to UK regulated financial services firms. It also provides related services such as due diligence, compliance training and recruitment services, as well as accounting, taxation and administration services through IMS Buzzacott, and US regulatory consulting through IMS Consulting (US), based in New York.
IMS supports more than 400 investment businesses, ranging from start-ups to established global firms. Its client base includes many of the world’s largest hedge funds, fund of funds, family offices and institutional pension fund managers.
Chris Birt at Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets Acquisition Finance says: “The compliance consulting industry has been growing steadily over the past ten years, primarily fuelled by the growth of boutique hedge fund and private equity firms.
“Changing market conditions mean that the sector is widely expected to go through a further period of growth and IMS’ market leading position, high visibility of earnings, strong margins and excellent expansion prospects make it an ideal vehicle for a buy and build strategy.”
