The parent company of investment research house Zenith Investment Partners has been acquired by United Kingdom-based FE fundinfo from its private equity and company management co-owners.
FE fundinfo announced it had acquired Zenith Group, which includes Zenith Investment Partners, superannuation fund research firm Chant West and asset allocation research firm Heuristic Investment Systems, from Five V Capital and Zenith management.
The UK-based company, which started operations in Australia in 2014, stated the “deal brings together two of the leading fund data and research providers in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region with a complementary set of asset manager and adviser-focused services”.
FE fundinfo chief executive Hamish Purdey said: “Zenith Group holds an enviable reputation in Australia, not only for the quality of both their research and consulting services, but also for their impressive technology and data capabilities. Combined with our own leading expertise, data, technology and ratings services, we will be able to further support and meet the needs of the global investment industry and deliver new and even more innovative solutions for our clients.”
Zenith Group chief executive David Wright said the acquisition would create an opportunity for the group to expand its research, data and technology solutions offering to more clients in Australia and potentially overseas.
“Management are in agreement that there’s excellent alignment of values and purpose across the two organisations, and a belief that together we can create a really compelling, premium service for advisers, fund managers, super funds and institutional clients,” Wright said.
The acquisition follows a number of deals in the UK and Europe with the purchase of environmental, social and governance specialist CSSP at the end of 2020 and cash-flow planning provider CashCalc and fund data technology company FundConnect in 2021.
Globally, FE fundinfo has operations in Australia, the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, India, Hong Kong and Singapore.
