Alantra advises Zanders on investment from MML to support future growth

Oct 2021

Sell-side advisory

Alantra has advised Zanders, the specialist treasury and risk management consultancy, on a minority investment from MML Capital Partners. The transaction will facilitate Zanders’ ambitious growth plans for internationalisation and further bolt-on acquisitions.

Founded in 1994, Netherlands-based Zanders has experienced strong growth and established itself as the leading independent treasury and risk consulting firm globally. Zanders combines thought leadership with a high-quality approach and client involvement across the value chain. The business operates across seven offices in Europe, the US and Asia with over 200 employees.

With a specialised focus on treasury and risk, Zanders has been 100% committed to providing best-in-class advisory services to over 750 customers in more than 40 countries, including large multinational corporates, financial institutions and public sector organisations. The company has also developed its own suite of innovative cloud-based solutions on the Zanders Inside platform, which it will continue to scale with MML’s investment.

Lodewijk Sodderland, Managing Director Alantra Netherlands, commented: “We are delighted to have supported Zanders in an important step in its growth path. We are seeing increasing interest from private equity in professional services companies and this transaction is a great example of how a partner-led company can benefit from working with private equity.”

Richard Holden, Partner and UK Head of Business Services, added: “Zanders is a high-quality specialist consulting firm and has demonstrated its ability to scale and service a blue chip multinational client base. With the support of MML, we expect it to accelerate its growth trajectory through deepening its global footprint and making strategic acquisitions.”

Laurens Tijdhof, CEO and Managing Partner at Zanders said: “We are very excited that MML is going to support us. We have been searching for a genuine strategic partner to help accelerate our international expansion and execute on our growth strategy. MML’s strong track record of scaling people businesses, across multiple geographies, was immediately attractive to us. The experienced investment team felt like the perfect cultural fit for our business, and we look forward to working alongside them to deliver our strategic objectives.”

Luke Jones, Partner at MML, commented: “We are thrilled to be partnering with the existing Zanders’ management team to support the firm’s next phase of growth. Zanders has a highly specialised proposition and its expertise in treasury and risk is unparalleled. The team has sustained strong growth over a number of years, and we are backing them to do more of the same.”

A cross-border team from Alantra advised on this transaction combining local market knowledge with professional services sector expertise. The deal team comprised Lodewijk Sodderland and Alexander Laheij from the Netherlands team, and Richard Holden, Josh Jones and Sophie Glanfield from the UK team.

Alantra’s Business Services team has an unrivalled track record advising across the professional services and consulting space having worked with a number of high calibre businesses. Recent transactions have included advising on the sales of digital transformation consultancy Chaucer to BIP in Italy, software testing consultancy Ten10 to Graphite Capital, and customer data consultancy Sagacity to Queen’s Park Equity.