PEN Partnership has been acquired by Wavestone to become a leading UK player in transformation consultancy

Arrowpoint Advisory’s Business Services team has advised PEN Partnership, a UK-based specialist transformation consultancy focused on the Financial Services and Life Sciences sectors, on its sale to Wavestone.

Founded in 2012, PEN Partnership has established itself as a trusted partner for its clients operating across the Financial Services and Life Sciences sectors. It serves some of the most reputable organisations within these industries across four core specialisms: Customer Experience & Digital, Operations & Automation, Data & Technology and Change Delivery & Capability. PEN Partnership is headquartered in London, with a headcount of circa 60 permanent employees and an additional circa 40 associates.

The acquisition fits perfectly with Wavestone’s strategic plan ‘Impact’: to accelerate the firm’s growth in its target geographies. The acquisition will enrich Wavestone’s value proposition in the UK and the addition of PEN Partnership’s sector expertise to Wavestone’s technological capabilities will enable it to offer a first-class proposition to clients to help tackle their transformation challenges, across the two industries and the wider UK market.

Over the past 10 years, PEN Partnership has successfully grown and scaled the business to reach £19.6m revenue for its fiscal year ending in March 2022, and an adjusted EBITDA margin of c.15%.

Chris Gibson, PEN Partnership’s CEO, commented: “Wavestone and PEN Partnership together make a powerful combination, and this is really great news for PEN Partnership’s clients and staff. The two companies provide complementary services and share very similar corporate culture and values. Wavestone has an ambitious growth plan and I am very excited for the PEN team to a play key role in building a leading consultancy player in the UK market.”

Will Evans, Director at Arrowpoint Advisory, added: “The PEN team has built an exceptional reputation across the UK Financial Services landscape and has developed highly disruptive propositions for the Life Sciences sector that are having significant impact. We are delighted to have helped the team find an aligned strategic partner in Wavestone and look forward to watching the combined group thrive in the future.”

Chris Gibson concluded: “The Arrowpoint Advisory team demonstrated an exceptional understanding of our business, the markets we operate in, and what the right deal looked like for all the shareholders. They have provided first class advice and execution support throughout, and we would like to thank them for the key role they played in delivering this great outcome.”

DISCOVER our sell-side transactions