We’re shaking things up again. And we’re delighted to announce a ground-breaking investment partnership with New York-based Lee Equity.
Following two years of transformational growth, Lee Equity succeeds Waterland Private Equity as our capital partner. Waterland has supported us in our ambition to become a leading accountancy firm in the UK market. They helped us broaden our capabilities and expand our presence across the country.
There’s been a huge amount of growth over the past two years as we’ve completed and integrated 11 transactions. Including the acquisition of Haines Watts London and its associated audit and advisory businesses across the South-East, Thames Valley and the Midlands, UHY Manchester, London-based Cloud Orca, the fast-growing Salesforce consultancy and MacroFin, the award-winning NetSuite Alliance Partner.
This M&A activity, coupled with a highly differentiated client experience and strong business development, has fuelled our market-leading growth. Turnover has grown 4X over the last two years to £180m with sustainable organic growth exceeding 24% annually over the prior 3 years. (FY21-24).
Our entrepreneurial leadership and award-winning teams (there are over 1450 of us now) support like-minded clients across the UK and overseas. As one of the UK’s mid-market heavyweights, we serve the fastest-growing market segment with an iconic, rebellious and powerful brand. We offer tech-enabled specialist services – delivered at scale – from five superhub locations across the UK (East Midlands, Birmingham, London, Thames Valley and Manchester).
What’s more, we’re the largest UK accountancy firm to attain B Corp status. At the same time, our Glassdoor and NPS scores consistently out-perform peers as ‘best in class’, so we keep attracting and retaining the UK’s top talent to collaborate with our clients.
ADE CHEATHAM, CEO of Cooper Parry commented:
“This investment marks a monumental milestone in the CP journey, representing one of the largest deals of its kind in the global accountancy market.
Following an incredible period of sustainable growth, partnering with Lee Equity Partners is the next level game-changer. The scale of this deal will propel us further forward over the next five years, giving us the financial resources to create the UK’s next-gen professional services group.
After getting to know the Lee Equity team over the past few months, I’m so excited that we’re culturally aligned, share the same ambitious outlook and know that they really ‘get’ the opportunity we have in front of us. This is history-making news for everyone in the CP orbit – our people and clients alike. I can’t wait to bring our vision for 2030 to life.”
Danny Rodriguez, a Partner at Lee Equity said:
“For over three years, Lee Equity has been in search of the right type of accounting and business advisory services firm to partner with. We’ve found that in Cooper Parry, who has emerged as a market leader in the UK due to their exceptional management team, best-in-class organic growth rates, centralized business development function, and fully integrated approach to M&A,”
“We also found strong alignment with Cooper Parry’s entrepreneurial spirit and one-of-a-kind culture, which has attracted brilliant people who are disrupting the sector and who care deeply about their clients. We are extremely fortunate to partner with Ade and the rest of the Cooper Parry team as they embark on their next phase of growth.”
