SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Goldfinch Partners, a private equity firm with approximately $1 billion of equity invested in digital transformation transactions across industry verticals, today announced that William Abbott is joining the firm as Principal.
Mr. Abbott was most recently Director, Corporate Development, with Starbucks since 2016 working on over $10 billion worth of closed investment transactions and forming a number of strategic partnerships. Prior to joining Starbucks, Mr. Abbott spent nearly four years as a Vice President in the Investment Banking division of J.P. Morgan, in New York. He holds a BA from Amherst College and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Mr. Abbott will be based at Goldfinch’s Seattle headquarters. His appointment follows the hiring of Matthew F. Herman as Partner and General Counsel earlier this month.
Goldfinch invests in sectors and spaces about which it has deep knowledge, including marketing, commerce, payments, fintech, supply chain and human capital. Recent investments include the announced $910 million acquisition of Western Union Business Solutions, one of the world’s largest non-bank providers of business-to-business (B2B) cross-border payment and foreign exchange solutions, which is to be renamed Convera upon the deal’s closing.
Bill McNichols, Goldfinch’s Co-Managing Partner and Co-Founder added “Will and I worked very closely together at Starbucks for several years on strategy, execution and integration, as well as ensuring stakeholder engagement throughout all touchpoints of corporate development. Will played a lead role in Starbucks’ $7.25 billion sale and go-forward licensing of Starbucks’ CPG and Foodservice business division to Nestle in 2018, and I cannot think of a better cultural and strategic fit for Goldfinch as we continue to grow and deliver exceptional investment opportunities to our investors.”
Mr. Abbott added “I am excited to join Bill, Sean and the entire growing Goldfinch team as we create what will be the most successful buyout platform in Seattle, focused on digital transformation across enterprises. This is an important time in Goldfinch’s history, and I am eager to learn and contribute. After nearly six rewarding years at Starbucks, I wish my colleagues all the best.”
About Goldfinch
Headquartered in Seattle, and with investment professionals in the Bay Area and New York City, Goldfinch Partners is a financial sponsor with approximately $1 billion of equity invested in enterprise technology companies that power digital transformation. Goldfinch invests thematically agnostic to size, from growth investments to mature leveraged buyouts, across industry verticals that its professionals know deeply, including marketing, commerce, payments, fintech, supply chain and human capital.
Recent transactions include:
● Convera, August 2021: Goldfinch, together with The Baupost Group, acquired Western Union Business Solutions (WUBS) for $910 million, creating a new stand alone fintech company which will be named Convera on the deal’s close. WUBS is one of the world’s largest non-bank providers of cross-border business payment and foreign exchange solutions processing over $110 billion in total payments volume in 2020. With 30,000 customers over 40 countries and territories and 140 currencies, the business possesses a truly global footprint and serves some of the fastest-growing segments of the B2B cross-border payments markets.
● Vesta, May 2020: Goldfinch invested $135 million in Vesta to fuel its global expansion via a control recapitalization. Vesta is a fintech pioneer in fraud protection and fully guaranteed payment technologies enabling e-commerce companies to grow their businesses by optimizing maximum acceptance with minimum risk.
● Bakkt, March 2020: Goldfinch invested in Bakkt, a provider of institutional and retail solutions for digital assets, as part of a $300 million funding round. Bakkt provides a mobile application enabling consumers to unlock the value of digital assets, including cryptocurrency, loyalty points, in-game assets, and gift cards, while giving merchants and loyalty program sponsors deeper customer engagement and delivering cost savings to merchants. On October 18 2021, Bakkt made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), under the ticker symbol BKKT.
● Catalant Technologies, January 2020: Goldfinch led a $35 million Series E equity round in Catalant Technologies, a leading provider of software that helps companies effectively manage strategy execution. Founded in 2013 as an online marketplace for companies to find consultants quickly and easily, Catalant has globally rolled out software and services for work planning, resource management, and insights and reporting, facilitating access to more than 65,000 independent experts and 1,000 consulting firms in 127 countries around the world.