Private equity firm TA Associates has completed a majority investment in Confluence, a global leader in investment data management automation for regulatory, investor communications and performance reporting. Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Founded in 1991, Confluence is a financial services data management software platform that offers mission-critical regulatory, investor communications and performance reporting solutions to the global asset management industry. The company serves several of the top global fund administrators and asset managers, and over 90 per cent of the United States mutual fund market. Confluence is uniquely positioned as the only unified data-driven software platform that enables asset managers and global and regional fund administrators to automate various communications and reporting to shareholders and regulators. The company is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with additional locations in Brussels, Dublin, London, Ho Chi Minh City, Luxembourg and San Francisco.
“We have closely followed the success and development of Confluence for over a dozen years and have been impressed with the company’s long-term vision and global expansion,” says Jonathan W Meeks, a Managing Director at TA Associates who will join the Confluence Board of Directors. “Utilising its proprietary software and service offerings and with a seasoned and talented management team, Confluence has proven its ability to deliver significant operational value to its long-tenured clients, many of which are the world’s top asset managers and fund administrators. It is an honour to be partnering with the entire Confluence team and we look forward to leveraging our deep experience and resources to help the company accelerate its growth.”
“Since our founding, Confluence has strived to create and deliver automated solutions that enable asset managers and third-party administrators to consolidate and leverage data across their business operations,” says Mark Evans, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Confluence. “TA’s investment represents a unique opportunity to partner with a firm that generates key growth initiatives, and maintains a longstanding track record within the financial technology and software sectors. We are very pleased to have TA on board as an investor and look forward to a close collaboration in building significant additional value in Confluence.”
Confluence estimates the financial services data management software market to be over USD1 billion, which includes over USD250 million in identifiable whitespace opportunity. In late 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission implemented major initiatives impacting mutual funds, including reporting modernisation for investment firms. As a result of these regulatory overhauls, fund administrators and asset managers servicing or managing more than 80 per cent of all ’40 Act funds have selected the Confluence platform to prepare and file their SEC modernisation filings.
“As asset managers adjust to comply with the increasing data aggregation and processing requirements, we see this as an attractive time to enter into a niche market at an early stage,” says Kenneth T Schiciano, a Managing Director at TA Associates who will also join the Confluence Board of Directors. “Confluence has invested a tremendous amount of time and resources to optimise productivity and control, which we expect will lead to organic growth opportunities to further scale the business. We are delighted that Confluence, which we believe to be the market standard in performance, financial and regulatory reporting, has chosen to partner with TA and look forward to helping the company execute its strategic vision.”
Goodwin provided legal counsel to TA Associates. Jones Day provided legal counsel and Raymond James served as financial advisor to Confluence.
