Grant Thornton UK, the country’s sixth largest accounting firm by revenue, has agreed to sell a stake to the buyout group Cinven, marking the most significant private equity investment to date in the UK accounting sector. Cinven beat rival offers from other private equity groups including Sweden’s EQT, and from Grant Thornton’s sister firm in the US, which had proposed a transatlantic merger. The size of the stake and the price that Cinven has agreed to pay could not immediately be learned.
Grant Thornton US is the largest American accountancy firm to have sold a majority stake to private equity, and its owner New Mountain Capital has set its sights on international expansion. Last month, it inked a deal to acquire Grant Thornton Ireland and had hoped to complete a three-way merger. However, the leaders of the UK sister firm decided they preferred to remain independent rather than fold the business into the US operation, according to people familiar with their thinking.