eFront Finds a Home at BlackRock
Posted on 03/22/2019
BlackRock Inc. entered into an exclusive agreement to acquire eFront, a French software provider of risk management products for the alternative investments industry. Asset management firms are worried about margins and have increasingly acquired service provider firms to buffer revenues. BlackRock sells the Aladdin (Asset, Liability, Debt and Derivative Investment Network) platform, which is one of the largest portfolio operating systems in the investor community. BlackRock’s offer is to pay US$ 1.3 billion in cash for 100% of the equity of eFront. The seller of eFront is private equity firm Bridgepoint.
Bridgepoint acquired eFront in January 2015 in a transaction totalling approximately €300 million. In 2006 eFront listed on the Alternext Paris market of NYSE Euronext (ALEFT) and was taken private in 2011 by Francisco Partners. eFront was founded in 1999 by Olivier Dellenbach.
According to the press release, “The combination of eFront with Aladdin, BlackRock’s investment operating platform used by more than 225 institutions around the world, will set a new standard in investment and risk management technology.”
BlackRock is funding the eFront acquisition through a combination of existing corporate liquidity and debt.
