Cinven to buy majority stake in Grant Thornton UK

Grant Thornton’s UK partners have opted to sell a majority stake in Britain’s sixth-largest audit firm to Cinven, the London-based private equity house, rather than pursue a merger with their American colleagues.
After months of talks and due diligence, Cinven confirmed on Thursday morning that it had emerged victorious in the bidding war, beating competition from EQT, the Swedish buy-out fund, and New Mountain Capital, which already owns Grant Thornton’s US business.
Cinven did not disclose what it paid nor how big a stake it has acquired, saying only that it had made a “majority investment”. The speculation in the industry is that it has bought a stake of around 60 per cent which values Grant Thornton at as much as £1.5 billion.
It is expected that Grant Thornton’s 240 or so UK partners will each receive a cash payout from the sale plus an equity stake in the group. Cinven confirmed that the partner base will remain invested as “a significant shareholder”.
“Through this process we have been hugely impressed by the strength of the business, calibre of its partner group and its unwavering commitment to delivering client excellence with high audit standards,” Maxim Crewe, head of Cinven’s financial services sector team, said.
“Cinven has extensive experience of successfully investing in people-based professional service providers such as Alter Domus, Miller and CPA Global, and we see significant opportunity to support the business in meeting the growing needs of clients.”
A spokesman for Grant Thornton confirmed the tie-up with Cinven, which will allow it to “significantly upscale our investments in talent and technologies and offer an unparalleled client service”.
Last year, Grant Thornton UK turned an operating profit of £146 million on revenue of £654 million. On average, its partners were paid £644,000 in 2023, an 11 per cent increase on the previous year.
Grant Thornton can trace its roots back to 1904. It is now one of the UK’s biggest accounting firms, although it has pulled back from the “public interest entity” market — signing off the accounts for listed and large business — after a string of audit scandals, including that around Patisserie Valerie, the collapsed café chain.
Several accounting firms, particularly in the US, have taken private equity money in recent years to fund investments into things such as their IT systems and artificial intelligence. Grant Thornton US is the largest of those, and its new owner, New Mountain Capital, had hoped to fold in the UK business, too.
Accountants have historically preferred to operate as private partnerships. Critics see partnering with private equity as little more than a money grab at the expense of past and future partners.