Key Takeaways
- Sector: Financial Services & Fintech.
- Geography: Australia, New Zealand.
Analysis
Advent International has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Automic Group, a leading provider of financial market infrastructure in Australia and New Zealand. The deal marks Advent’s first acquisition since opening its Sydney office, reinforcing its commitment to business and financial services across Asia-Pacific. Transaction terms were not disclosed.
Automic delivers a cloud-native platform integrating share registry, employee share plans, shareholder analytics, and fund administration. The firm serves more than 1,400 companies and funds and has been the top-performing registry for IPOs and listed company transitions in Australia over the last five years.
Advent will partner with Automic’s management team to expand the business domestically and internationally. With over $100 billion AUM and a track record of investing $6.6 billion in fintech since 2008, Advent brings deep operational expertise and sector knowledge.
Comparable transactions underscore growing investor appetite for financial infrastructure and fintech platforms. In Australia, KKR acquired MYOB, a leading accounting and business management software provider, for over A$2 billion. TPG Capital invested in Greensill’s supply chain finance operations before its restructuring, highlighting interest in technology-enabled financing. Silver Lake backed Global Payments and other registry-adjacent fintech platforms to capture digital transformation in payments.
Globally, large private equity firms are scaling similar investments. Vista Equity Partners has built a portfolio of enterprise fintech firms, including SS&C Technologies, a leader in fund administration software. Carlyle invested in Polygon, the Indian blockchain platform, and in European financial infrastructure providers. Hellman & Friedman and GTCR took Genesys private in a $10 billion deal, reinforcing interest in software that powers mission-critical workflows. Permira invested in Kroll, expanding exposure to governance, risk, and compliance solutions, which overlap with registry and data services.
These deals highlight a global trend: private equity investors are targeting tech-enabled financial infrastructure platforms with recurring revenues, regulatory moats, and scalability into new markets. By acquiring Automic Group, Advent is positioning itself at the heart of this transformation in Australia and New Zealand, with ambitions to extend Automic’s cloud-native registry and administration solutions internationally.
The transaction is expected to close by year-end 2025, subject to customary regulatory approvals.