By Elizabeth Hearst for AMLi
A French private equity company has agreed to purchase ACAMS, the financial training company, for $500M, it’s been announced.
Paris-based Wendel said it has entered into an agreement alongside Colibri Group to purchase the Financial Services segment of ACAMS parent Adtalem Global Education.
As part of the deal Wendel will acquire the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS), with ACAMS President and Managing Director, Scott D. Liles will now take the reins as CEO of the Chicago based training company.
The deal worth $500M, will include an equity investment from Wendel of $355M, for a 99% stake in ACAMS, and is expected to be finalised during the first half of 2022.
ACAMS reported revenues of $83M during the twelve-month period to September 2021. It currently boasts 90,000 international members and 275 employees based in the US, UK and Hong Kong.
In a statement, André François-Poncet, Wendel Group CEO, and David Darmon, Wendel’s Deputy CEO said: “We are enthusiastic about the opportunity to invest in ACAMS, a global leader in training and certifications for financial crime prevention.”
They added: “ACAMS is a successful mission-driven organisation aligned with Wendel’s values. As a provider of services that ultimately reduce the funding of terrorism and human trafficking (among other nefarious activities), it fits well with Wendel’s CSR values. The investment represents a new milestone in our 2021-24 roadmap, and our announced target to accelerate the redeployment of our capital toward companies with higher growth rates.”
ACAMS’ CEO, Scott Liles said the body was looking forward to “partnering with Wendel in this next phase of ACAMS’ history”.
He added: “Wendel’s long-term investment philosophy and shared values are well suited to support ACAMS’ mission, our people, and our commitment to our global membership.”
“We are appreciative of the support and investment Adtalem has provided over the past several years and look forward to working with Wendel as we transition to a stand-alone business and seek to further expand our reach and impact,” said Liles.
In 2016, ACAMs was purchased by Adtalem Global Education from US private-equity firm Warburg Pincus for $330M.
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