Fast-forwarding private equity

How Cooper Parry harnessed investment to "smash it out of the park"

Hello Rainmakers,

On Tuesday, the news broke that the self-styled "rebels of accountancy" Cooper Parry had new private equity backers.

Just two years after Waterland Private Equity invested in the company, in a deal which valued Cooper Parry at £100m, it sold its stake to New York-based Lee Equity in what was described by Cooper Parry as "one of the largest deals of its kind in the global accountancy market. The deal's value, however, remains very much undisclosed...

Professional services firms are hot property right now.

Private equity backers like the allure of recurring steady income, and the opportunity to grow through a buy-and-build.