Epiris’ portfolio company Nucleus secures major equity investment from HPS Investment Partners to support the next stage of its growth

POSTED 29 March 2022

Epiris and HPS Investment Partners (“HPS”) today announce that they have agreed to join forces to support Nucleus with a shared vision to build the leading retirement-focused investment platform for financial advisers in the UK.

HPS through certain funds and/or accounts managed, advised or controlled by the Firm or its subsidiaries or affiliates, will acquire a majority stake in Nucleus as part of the transaction, with Epiris retaining a significant minority interest alongside the management team. The transaction will see no changes to Nucleus’ business model or management team. Completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval. Financial terms are not being disclosed.

Nucleus is one of the UK’s leading independent financial planning and retirement-focused platforms operating from offices in London, Salisbury, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The business administers £48 billion of customer assets across Self-Invested Personal Pensions, Individual Savings Accounts, general investment accounts and other products for over 3,000 financial advisers and more than 160,000 underlying clients. Nucleus was formed in 2021 through the combination of James Hay Partnership and Nucleus Financial Group (“NFG”).

Richard Rowney, Chief Executive of Nucleus, said:

“My whole team and I have really enjoyed working with Epiris to deliver the vision they set out when they bought this business in 2019, and we are all really grateful to Owen, Bill and the rest of their team for their incredible support through the significant change and growth we have achieved.

“We are delighted that HPS will be combining forces with Epiris. It has been obvious from an early stage that their ambition for Nucleus and their commitment to support my management team and me to grow the business means we are all completely aligned. We look forward to continuing to use our scale to invest in giving our customers better products, better service and better prices.”

Owen Wilson, Partner at Epiris, said:

“This transaction is a huge endorsement of all the work Richard, his team and we have put in to realising the vision we set out three years ago. Together, we have created a platform group that offers a comprehensive product set through an award-winning digital customer interface supported by best-in-class technology and operations.

“Nucleus is now poised to begin its next chapter, which will be one of accelerating growth, and we are delighted that an investor of HPS’ quality shares our ambition and will bring access to fresh capital and insight. We look forward to working with them on the next phase of growth for Nucleus.”

Alex Fortescue, Managing Partner at Epiris, said:

“This is a fantastic story and a great example of what we do at Epiris. We have completely transformed the business we bought in 2019 into one of real scale and strategic importance in its market, led by an outstanding management team and with a clear growth story that, as this transaction shows, is extremely attractive to other investors.”

The Epiris team on the deal is Owen Wilson, Bill Priestley and Thayne Forbes. Epiris and Nucleus are being advised by Fenchurch Advisory Partners, Macfarlanes, Oliver Wyman, PwC and Alpha FMC.  HPS is being advised by Slaughter and May, Deloitte and Kirkland & Ellis.

For Epiris LLP please contact:

Greenbrook Communications

Robert White, Matthew Goodman, Daniel Oliver

+44 (0)20 7952 2000

epiris@greenbrookpr.com

For Nucleus please contact:

TB Cardew

Tom Allison (0778 999 80200) or Shan Willenbrock (07775 848537)

nucleus@tbcardew.com

About Epiris

Epiris is a top-decile private equity firm which invests in opportunities to transform businesses in partnership with exceptional management teams. It targets control positions in UK-headquartered businesses with an enterprise value of between £75 million and £500 million, deploying between £40 million and £150 million of equity.

For more information, please visit www.epiris.co.uk.

About Nucleus

Nucleus was formed in 2021 through the combination of James Hay Partnership and Nucleus Financial Group. James Hay was formerly a part of IFG Group, which Epiris acquired in a £206 million take-private transaction in 2019. Following that acquisition, Epiris separated IFG into its two component parts, Saunderson House, an independent wealth manager and financial adviser which Epiris sold to Rathbone Brothers Plc for £150 million in October 2021, and James Hay. In August 2021, James Hay acquired NFG in a £145 million take-private transaction.

For more information, please visit www.nucleusfinancialplatforms.com.

About HPS Investment Partners

HPS Investment Partners is a leading global investment firm that seeks to provide creative capital solutions and generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for our clients.  We manage various strategies across the capital structure that include syndicated leveraged loans and high yield bonds to privately negotiated senior secured debt and mezzanine investments, asset-based leasing and private equity. The scale and breadth of our platform offers the flexibility to invest in companies large and small, through standard or customized solutions. At our core, we share a common thread of intellectual rigor and discipline that enables us to create value for our clients, who have entrusted us with more than $80 billion of assets under management as of March 2022.

For more information, please visit www.hpspartners.com.

Issued by Epiris which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.