Equiteq has announced the sale of its client Crossbridge, a specialist financial services consulting firm based in London, to Synechron, the largest independent pure-play technology consulting and outsourcing provider for the financial services industry.

Equiteq, the lead M&A advisor for the deal, is a consulting sector merger and acquisition specialist, providing both growth advisory and M&A transaction services to the global consulting and IT services industry.

Established in 2008, Crossbridge is a specialist consultancy focused exclusively on Financial Services which helps clients address critical business priorities covering technology, operational strategy and change.

The acquisition deepens Synechron’s strong financial services expertise and expands its offerings to include Business and IT Transformation, Regulatory Services, Data, and Financial Crime. The deal extensively augments Synechron’s Consulting expertise and consolidates its footprint in the London financial services community and the European market.

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Speaking about the acquisition, Tony Clark and Richard Squire, Managing Partners of Crossbridge said, “Our clients have been looking to us to rapidly grow the Crossbridge consulting services, capacity and global footprint, so joining forces with Synechron is a great strategic move.  

“We are delighted to be part of a team with technical depth and scale which is absolutely well aligned with our Transformation, Regulation, Financial Crime, Data and Digital practice areas.  

In a rapidly evolving market, we believe that the amalgamation of Synechron’s technical consulting focus and Crossbridge’s business consulting capabilities creates a truly leading full lifecycle financial services consulting proposition”.

Dan Bowtell, Lead Advisor for Equiteq said “Crossbridge is a fantastic example of how to grow and create value in a consulting firm that utilises a hybrid model. The business has created a pretty unique delivery model for clients in the Financial Services market which the combination with Synechron will only strengthen and expand. ”

Tim Cuddeford, Chairman of Crossbridge, added: “Equiteq have been valued advisors to Crossbridge over several years, and worked hard to understand us and our business. The process provided us with a number of strategic options, which they expertly assessed, explained and negotiated on our behalf. When it came to establishing the excellent fit with Synechron, they went the extra mile to ensure we took the right decisions.”

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