The Access Group

Private Equity Manager (GP)

Case study

About the company

The Access Group (‘Access’) employs approximately 5,000 people and is a leading provider of fully integrated mission-critical business management software solutions to medium-sized organisations in the UK. The company has approximately 60,000 customers and its products are used across a variety of functions such as finance, HR, payroll, hospitality, recruitment, health & social care, manufacturing & distribution, education and the not-for-profit sectors.

Investment rationale

• Hg Capital has owned Access since 2018 and this additional investment will enable the continued expansion of the business.
• Access has delivered uninterrupted profitable growth in the last 15 years and since 2020, the business has doubled in size. This has been driven by double-digit organic growth, as well as acquisitions in the UK, Ireland and Asia Pacific.

Our relationship

Pantheon has a long-standing relationship with Hg, having first invested in one of their funds in 2005, and it currently holds 10 advisory board seats with the manager. Furthermore, PIP currently has six co-investments alongside Hg.

Active management and value creation

Hg Capital has significant specialised expertise having led over 170 investments in the software and services sector during the last 25 years.

The new investment will enable Access to continue to focus on its growth strategy and enhancing its products and solutions, specifically its SaaS platform. In addition, its comprehensive product range offers significant cross-selling opportunities. Finally, the company has an experienced in-house M&A team with a strong deal pipeline.