Twenty7Tec is set to acquire Bluecoat Software, the provider of mortgage, protection and wealth management CRM solution Finplan.
As part of the acquisition, Bluecoat Software will operate under the Twenty7Tec brand. The combined business, which has almost 100 employees, will be led by chief executive James Tucker.
Bluecoat Software’s former chief executive Mark Skelding will join the Twenty7Tec Group as a non-executive director.
Bluecoat’s Finplan, which is already integrated with Twenty7Tec’s CloudTwenty7 platform, allows clients of the combined business to benefit from a fully integrated product offering.
The acquisition will see Twenty7Tec invest in Finplan to develop it into a market-leading CRM solution for the wealth, mortgage and protection markets, as well as continuing to further develop the other mortgage capabilities of the combined businesses.
Commenting on the acquisition, Tucker says: “We believe the product skills and knowledge that we have accumulated as a business in the mortgage market are eminently transferable into adjacent markets. Today, Finplan is a highly configurable solution, and we are confident that we can deliver real value to advisers in mortgages, wealth management and protection.”
“In addition to our significant investment in our new product family, we plan to recruit heavily to further strengthen our senior team in particular, bringing in the expertise and experience that we believe will be needed in order to be successful.”
“This represents our first significant acquisition, but we will continue to look for opportunities to enhance our product offering in the UK. We will continue to look for other business that share a similar ethos and desire to drive efficiency and innovation in the financial services technology market.”
Skelding adds: “I’ve got to know James very well over the last year as part of these discussions, and it’s clear to see what he and the team have done at Twenty7Tec in the last seven years. They’ve successfully disrupted that market and are now bonafide leaders in the space.”
