TA Associates Announces Majority Investment in Confluence

BOSTON & PITTSBURGH--()--TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm, today announced that it 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 were not 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% 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,” said Jonathan W. Meeks, a Managing Director at TA Associates who will join the Confluence Board of Directors. “Utilizing 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 honor 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,” said 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 $1 billion, which includes over $250 million in identifiable whitespace opportunity. In late 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission implemented major initiatives impacting mutual funds, including reporting modernization for investment firms. As a result of these regulatory overhauls, fund administrators and asset managers servicing or managing more than 80% of all ’40 Act funds have selected the Confluence platform to prepare and file their SEC modernization 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,” said 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 optimize 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.

About Confluence

Uniquely positioned as the single vendor that solves the broad array of complex data-driven challenges for the global investment management industry, Confluence provides a data-centric platform of solutions which share value across products – from data integration and governance to calculation, output and reporting. The platform features regulatory reporting, investor communications, and performance and analytics solutions and supports a wide array of fund types – including mutual funds, ETFs, alternative investments, institutional portfolios and UCITS funds. Eight of the top 10 global service providers license Confluence products and eight of the top 10 global asset managers have business processes automated through Confluence. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Confluence serves the international fund industry with locations in Brussels, Dublin, Ho Chi Minh City, London, Luxembourg and San Francisco. For more information, please visit www.confluence.com.

About TA Associates

Now in its 50th year, TA Associates is one of the largest and most experienced global growth private equity firms. Focused on five target industries – technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services – TA invests in profitable, growing companies with opportunities for sustained growth, and has invested in nearly 500 companies around the world. Investing as either a majority or minority investor, TA employs a long-term approach, utilizing its strategic resources to help management teams build lasting value in growth companies. TA has raised $24 billion in capital since its founding in 1968 and is investing out of current funds of $7.25 billion. The firm’s more than 80 investment professionals are based in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong. More information about TA Associates can be found at www.ta.com.

Contacts

For TA Associates:
TA Associates
Marcia O’Carroll, 617-574-6796
mocarroll@ta.com
or
BackBay Communications
Philip Nunes, 617-391-0792
phil.nunes@backbaycommunications.com
or
For Confluence:
Confluence
Joan Tesla, 412-697-4306
jtesla@confluence.com
or
Forefront Communications
Michael Kingsley, 914-522-9471
michael@forefrontcomms.com

Contacts

For TA Associates:
TA Associates
Marcia O’Carroll, 617-574-6796
mocarroll@ta.com
or
BackBay Communications
Philip Nunes, 617-391-0792
phil.nunes@backbaycommunications.com
or
For Confluence:
Confluence
Joan Tesla, 412-697-4306
jtesla@confluence.com
or
Forefront Communications
Michael Kingsley, 914-522-9471
michael@forefrontcomms.com