We are delighted to have advised on the Carve-out and sale of Hargreaves Lansdown plc’s FundsLibrary Limited to Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc.
Established in 2003 as a subsidiary of Hargreaves Lansdown, FundsLibrary is a leading digital platform, supporting the life cycle of fund data, documents and regulatory reporting for the investment industry.
The company prides itself on the breadth and depth of data that it provides to it’s international customers, processing 185 million data and document requests a year, with information available on over 40,000 investment products from more than 700 different asset managers.
We provided an integrated range of advisory services to deliver the transaction, notably corporate finance advice, vendor due diligence, modelling support, tax and carve-out planning services.
In terms of operational support, we developed a ‘separation blueprint’ which included the following, and was presented to bidders to provide comfort around how the separation would work, and the key financial and operational impacts:
- The key separation assumptions including people, technology, branding, facilities and contracts
- A detailed presentation of the current operating model and organisation, highlighting activities impacted by the transaction, versus those which continued unchanged
- A detailed view on the current technology landscape of FundsLibrary and dependency on Hargreaves Lansdown’s IT environment and infrastructure along with the proposed separation plans
- Day 1 (deal Completion) operating assumptions by function, including transition services to be offered by Hargreaves Lansdown, and post-transition assumptions for how FundsLibrary could operate on a standalone basis; further optimising value.
- Presentation of the current FundsLibrary cost base, and cost proposals to operate standalone which included a number of synergy assumptions
Our extensive sector expertise and relationships with the range of acquirers meant we were able to position the business for value, and really add value to the process by understanding the key bidders strategic rationale and drivers of value, and managing conversations and negotiations.
Our joined up approach enabled us to work effectively with a range of stakeholders, driving a complex transaction, which included TUPE, continuity of business relationships, carve-out and technology considerations. This delivered a strategic value, a long-term partner for the business all within the targeted timeframe.
