11 May 2017
20 April 2017: P2 Consulting (“P2”), a Lonsdale Capital Partners (“Lonsdale”) backed project management consultancy that supports blue chip companies undertaking major change initiatives, today announced that it has completed a bolt on acquisition of financial crime specialist FS101, significantly bolstering its capability in the anti-money laundering and cybercrime market. Led by founder Phil Rolfe, FS101 is a specialist consultancy advising blue chip financial service businesses in the UK on how to shape their financial crime and regulatory strategies at time when anti-money laundering, financial crime and regulatory change is becoming increasingly important and they face stringent compliance requirements. Lonsdale backed the MBO of P2 in December 2016 with the goal of creating the world leader in project and programme management.
This acquisition forms part of an active buy and build strategy, capitalising on the highly attractive acquisition opportunities that exist in this fragmented sector. Since the management buyout, P2 has maintained its impressive growth trajectory which is underpinned by favourable market drivers that include increasing levels of regulatory and government change, digital and technological disruption and M&A activity. This is the sixth bolt-on acquisition Lonsdale has completed for its portfolio companies since January 2016. It follows a busy period for Lonsdale, which closed its first institutional fund at its target hard cap of £110 million in April 2016 and since then has made four principal fund investments. James Knott, Director at Lonsdale Capital Partners, commented: “FS101’s proposition is very complementary to P2. P2 already has a number of financial services clients, and having Phil on board will only further strengthen our proposition in this area. We are keen to make further acquisitions going forwards in this fragmented space, cementing P2 as the go
to provider for Programme and Project Management solutions.” P2’s CEO, Doug Elliott, said: “This acquisition is part of the plan to turbo charge our business and comes just three months after our management buyout. With the support of our growth partner Lonsdale and the added expertise and drive of
the FS101 team, we are well equipped to fulfil our growth ambitions. Over the past few years, anti-money laundering, financial crime and regulatory change has become increasingly important to our clients, and following this acquisition we will be in a position to provide them with an even stronger service.”
