Equistone-backed Acuity Knowledge Partners acquires Cians Analytics, consolidating a leading position in the global financial services outsourcing market

Acuity Knowledge Partners (“Acuity”), a leading provider of high-value research, analytics and business intelligence to the financial services sector, today announced the acquisition of Cians Analytics (“Cians”), a provider of high-quality, cost-effective research and analytical support for financial institutions. This acquisition will allow Acuity to offer enhanced support in the field of knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and help streamline the operations of financial firms globally. The financial terms of the transaction were undisclosed.

• Acuity Knowledge Partners has completed a 100% acquisition of Cians Analytics, strengthening its position as a global market leader in providing outsourced expertise across research analytics and data to all financial services firms, as well as expanding its product offering
• Cians Analytics has grown significantly over recent years through existing relationships and new client wins; the transaction will further expand Acuity’s client base of top-tier financial services firms, including but not limited to investment banks, private equity funds and hedge funds
• “Given our history, shared cultures and service offerings, the opportunity to combine to ultimately provide high-quality services to a larger client base was compelling,” says Robert King, CEO of Acuity Knowledge Partners 
• “The combination of firms will provide both our customers and our employees with the opportunity to grow and benefit from shared expertise and an expanded service offering,” says Anmol Bhandari, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Cians Analytics 

Cians Analytics enables investment banks, private equity funds and corporations to do more with their time while significantly reducing operating costs. Its diverse pool of talent, including financial researchers, developers and data scientists, allows the in-house teams of Cians’ clients to better focus on strategic initiatives and increased output. Challenging economic conditions, the migration of finance talent into the technology sector and disruptions in the financial services space have significantly increased demand for these services. Cians’ product offering also includes LeverData, a proprietary data ingestion, validation and management platform which helps customers eliminate the data reliability issues that often plague financial services firms, saving them money, resources and valuable time. 

The acquisition represents the first bolt-on transaction made by Acuity since its buyout by Equistone, a leading European mid-market private equity investor, in 2019. Following the acquisition, all Cians employees will join the Acuity workforce, taking its global headcount to over 5500 employees.

“Cians Analytics has proven, throughout the years, that they have a dedication to quality work and best-in-class service to all of their clients,” said Acuity Knowledge Partners CEO, Robert King. “Given our shared cultures and service offerings, the opportunity to combine our teams and provide high-quality services to a larger client base was a compelling one. Post-transaction Acuity will support over 500 banking and financial services firms worldwide. This deal also supports the significant growth we have seen, and continue to target, in key markets such as the U.S.”  

“The combination of both firms not only increases the capabilities we can offer to our combined client set, but also allows our employees and customers to have a truly global engagement team and experience,” said Cians Analytics Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Anmol Bhandari. “We often saw each other in engagements and in the marketplace. It ultimately made sense to combine to truly consolidate offerings and clients and to give the customers and employees the best that both firms can offer.” 

“This is a win-win situation for our most important stakeholders, our clients and our employees,” said Cians Analytics Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Aman Chowdhury. “Both firms have a history of delivering high-quality services to a discerning and sophisticated client set spread across the globe. While both firms work with similar types of clients, our services and focus areas are often complementary. This sets the combined firm up as the pre-eminent firm in our industry.” 

Speaking about the transaction, Tim Swales, Partner at Equistone, said: "Robert and his team have done an excellent job of driving strong organic growth over the past three years. In Cians we recognised an opportunity to supplement that, by supporting the bolt-on acquisition of a company with a similarly strong and highly complementary service offering and client base. By strengthening the product suite available to clients, we believe this transaction has the potential to further accelerate Acuity’s growth over the coming years.”

Cians was advised on the transaction by Grant Thornton, Mayer Brown and Phoenix Legal, while Acuity was advised by BDA Partners (William Blair), Latham & Watkins, AZB Partners and Baker Hostetler.