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The founder of Azets is reportedly in the process of lining up potential backers for a £1.5bn bid for the firm, Sky News has reported.
John Connolly, who is also the former CEO of Deloitte, was said to be working alongside TowerBrook Capital Partners and Warburg Pincus on the potential bid.
Connolly originally founded Cogital Group, which later became Azets, in 2016, later stepping down following a sales process in 2019.
Sources told Sky that he viewed Azets as “unfinished business” however, and was “expected to front a serious offer for the company”.
Private equity firm Hg has reportedly hired JP Morgan bankers to oversee an auction of Azets, though according to Sky, a bidding process will likely not begin until next year. A price range of between £1.2bn and £1.5bn was said to be “realistic” for the firm.
Azets is one of the largest providers of business-critical services such as accounting work, payroll and tax to small and medium-sized businesses in northern Europe, and currently has more than 100,000 SME customers.
Azets declined to comment on the reports.
