August Equity has announced a significant investment in Anderson Anderson & Brown (AAB), the tech-enabled business critical services group, to fast-track ambitious growth plans and realise AAB’s strategic vision of becoming a key UK regional player in the accountancy and wider business services market.
AAB is currently a leading Scottish regional player, with offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and plans to build its market share across the Central Belt of Scotland alongside growing the number of regional hubs it operates from in key major cities across the UK. AAB also has a London office focussed on payroll/global mobility and virtual finance which supports some of the group’s largest UK and international clients.
AAB’s team of over 350 provide a highly complementary portfolio of business services including audit, accounting, tax, payroll, HR, consulting, wealth and corporate finance. The group supports a wide range of SME and enterprise clients, with a strong exposure to the energy, technology, business services, public & not for profit, food & drink and property & construction sectors.
August’s investment in AAB shall facilitate considerable investment in people, both existing and those who recognise the exciting opportunities being created across the group. In addition, it will allow AAB to invest further in tech following the doubling of spend in this area during 2021. It shall also provide significant firepower for AAB to pursue merger & acquisition opportunities (M&A) across the UK. The partnership with August will enable AAB to continue to build on the momentum already created this year following the merger with Glasgow-based accountancy firm Hardie Caldwell, and acquisition of Edinburgh-based Purpose HR.
Graeme Allan, Chief Executive at AAB, said, “We are enjoying a fantastic period of growth but see so many opportunities to invest more heavily to fast-track this. August Equity’s investment will be instrumental in helping us build a high-quality regional business services group across the UK. They are also a great cultural fit and are as excited about our partnership and the future as we are.
As we grow, we will remain committed to investing and developing our people and of course clients will benefit as we expand our portfolio of tech-enabled services for the SME and enterprise markets. We shall work closely with August as we actively seek M&A opportunities with a particular focus on partnering with firms who adopt a similar ethos to us driven by a passion for helping people (staff and clients alike) achieve their goals. This model will establish a wide equity ownership whilst maintaining the opportunity for real partner progression for the future leadership of the group.”
David Lonsdale, Partner at August Equity, added, “We are delighted to be investing in AAB and we are excited to be working with Graeme and the team. We look forward to working together to accelerate the growth of AAB and build a leading tech-enabled, business critical services group which is highly differentiated in the market.”
August Equity was advised by Macfarlanes (legal), KPMG (financial and tax), Strategy& (commercial), Lockton (insurance) and Xaeus Blue (technology).