Acuity Knowledge Partners acquires PPA Group

Acuity Knowledge Partners (Acuity), a leading provider of high-value research, analytics and business intelligence solutions to the financial services sector, announced the acquisition of PPA Group (PPA). 

PPA is a leading technology-enabled service provider to financial institutions in Germany and Switzerland, providing services focused on bespoke structuring of global financial and ESG data for commercial lending and ESG analysis. 

With offices in Darmstadt, Germany and Zurich, Switzerland, PPA has over two decades of experience in working with leading European banks to help them better understand and utilise complex counterparty data. PPA’s software-enabled services, developed in-house, and deep domain expertise deliver accurate, cost-effective and secure results to its growing client base. 

“Advanced, accurate and timely data processing to assist financial institutions engaged in commercial lending is a key growth area for Acuity. The acquisition of PPA Group is a strategic investment to support Acuity’s commitment and growing presence in supporting best practices in commercial lending. I am also delighted that we will partner with the highly experienced PPA management team to scale this business and bring its capabilities to Acuity’s global client base” said Robert King, Chief Executive Officer, Acuity Knowledge Partners.

“Our combined platform will provide clients with a market-leading service, and we look forward to integrating PPA’s innovative use of AI and Machine Learning into our portfolio of solutions. The acquisition also adds direct presence in two important and major European financial markets, Germany, and Switzerland.” 

Heimo Saubach, Chief Executive Officer, PPA Group said, “We have built a best-in-class data extractionand processing business serving European lending customers. Becoming part of Acuity Knowledge Partners will allow us to expand our market share globally and provide additional value to our existing customer base. 

It also means we can combine our advanced understanding of AI platforms with that of Acuity to create new and market-leading solutions. Acuity and PPA share the same mission of being a strategic and trusted partner to our customers and a great place to work for our employees. We feel very comfortable becoming part of Acuity and are confident that we can add value to our common endeavours.” 4GC acted as the exclusive M&A advisor for PPA.