Houlihan Lokey Advises Inflexion

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Inflexion has acquired Marlowe PLC’s Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) software and services assets in a transaction valued at £430 million. The investment has been made by Inflexion’s Buyout Fund VI. The transaction closed on 31 May 2024.

Founded in 2019, Marlowe’s GRC division provides software and tech-enabled services to manage business risks and ensure customers remain compliant with legal and regulatory standards. With five business lines, Compliance E-Learning, Regulatory Intelligence, Risk Management Software, Employment Compliance, and ISO services, the business delivers compliance to both SMEs and large global enterprises.

As part of the transaction, Alex Dacre, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Marlowe, will step down from Marlowe to become Chief Executive Officer of GRC. Together with Inflexion’s support, the stand-alone business will pursue an ambitious organic growth strategy through cross-selling of services, launching new software, and investment in sales and marketing. This will be complemented by M&A to broaden the product offering and support international growth.

Inflexion is a leading middle-market private equity firm investing in high-growth, entrepreneurial businesses with ambitious management teams and working in partnership with them to accelerate growth. Inflexion’s flexible approach allows it to back both majority and minority investments, investing £10 million to £500 million of equity in each deal.