Warburg Pincus to invest up to US$1 billion in corporate services firm Acclime

The private equity firm beat rival firms Carlyle Group, Blackstone, KKR and TPG in a bidding race

American private equity firm Warburg Pincus on Wednesday (Dec 17) announced that it has signed an agreement to invest in Asia-focused corporate-services company Acclime.

The investment is valued at between US$950 million and US$1 billion, said sources, who asked to stay anonymous.

Carlyle Group, Blackstone, KKR and TPG were among the private equity firms bidding for the Hong Kong-headquartered Acclime, Bloomberg News reported.

Saurabh Agarwal, the managing director and head of South-east Asia private equity at Warburg Pincus, said: “Acclime has built one of the Asia-Pacific’s most scaled and differentiated corporate and business-services platforms, powered by strong leadership, disciplined acquisitions, and a clear commitment to technology-enabled excellence.

“Acclime’s deep local expertise and scalable, technology-driven solutions position it to lead the next generation of corporate and business services across the region.”

Martin Crawford, the founder and chairman of Acclime, said that Warburg Pincus’ “partnership-oriented culture, global network and strong track record of supporting growth make it an ideal investor for our next chapter”.

Acclime’s services include accounting, tax, human resources and payroll, fund services, corporate secretarial and risk and advisory. The company operates in 18 markets, and has a prominent presence in Singapore. It serves more than 17,000 clients.

Crawford was the former chief executive officer at larger rival Vistra, which was merged with Tricor Group by EQT in 2023 in a US$6.5 billion deal.

Acclime itself acquired accounting and advisory practice Crowe Singapore in October, shortly after it bought Australia’s Boutique Capital in July.

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