LSE sells wealth back-office unit for $1.1b

The London Stock Exchange Group said on Monday it will sell its wealth management technology operations BETA+ for $1.1 billion to affiliates of Clearlake Capital Group and Motive Partners to cut the exchange’s leverage.

BETA+, which includes Maxit and Digital Investor, provides back-office processing to the wealth management industry, including securities processing and tax reporting. It had revenue of about $300 million last year, mainly linked to US markets.

LSEG said it expects to hand a “significant proportion” of the net proceeds to shareholders via a buyback, which would likely start in the third quarter.

“In addition, LSEG announces that it has entered into a new long-term strategic partnership for data, content and tools with BETA+ and portfolio companies owned by Motive and Clearlake,” LSEG said in a statement.

The partnership will provide LSEG with new, recurring revenue at attractive growth rates through access to new client segments, the exchange said.