A private equity fund managed by the world’s biggest institutional investor is plotting the sale of a pensions software provider it bought four years ago.
Sky News has learnt that BlackRock’s Long Term Private Capital (LTPC) vehicle is working with bankers on the sale of Heywood, for which it paid about £350m in 2021.
City sources said that advisers at Evercore had been hired to work on the deal.
A formal sale process is expected to get underway in the near future.
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Heywood – previously known as Aquila Heywood – was formed from the merger of two companies in 2002, with the Aquila part of the group subsequently being sold to Equiniti, the share registrar provider.
The company was one of the first bought by BlackRock’s LTPC fund, which has also made investments in Authentic, the brand-owner which has a partnership with Sir David Beckham’s consumer goods stable.
BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager by far, with more than $11.5trn in assets under management, having been buoyed by a couple of major recent acquisitions.
Based in Altrincham in Cheshire, Heywood counts local government and private sector pension schemes among its clients.
The company is run by chief executive Sian Jones.
Its valuation in a potential sale was unclear on Tuesday.
A BlackRock spokesman declined to comment.