Belfast-headquartered consulting firm Fscom is set to grow its Irish business following a significant investment by growth investor Bridgepoint.
The investment, the value of which was not disclosed, will support Fscom’s long-term growth, which includes a focus on its Irish business.
The investment will also see the company widen its areas of expertise into new services and grow its client base. Fscom, which currently employs 35 people, is planning to double in size over three years.
“Post Brexit we were doing a lot of work for clients because they needed to be authorised in Ireland as part of a post-Brexit transition plan.,” said Jaime Cooke, managing director of Fscom. “We ultimately then acquired Compliance Ireland to be able to effectively spearhead our entrance into the Irish market having successfully built in the UK market. This [investment] will allow us to further consolidate and offer jobs in the Irish market.”
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Fscom offers governance, risk, and compliance consultancy services. The deal will support the expansion of Fscom’s consulting services to cover cyber security, managed services, regulatory technology platforms and environmental, social and governance solutions for financial services institutions. It has offices in Dublin, London and Belfast.
“The primary growth area will be Ireland,” said Mr Cooke. “We don’t feel that we need to extend geographically beyond the UK and Ireland in terms of financial services. And I think that probably a factor care of Brexit, the fact that you have seen majority of our clients and a lot of UK companies have chosen Ireland as their preferred destination. So I think geographically, Ireland is probably the biggest market that this investment will support, establishing and further building out our presence.”
Bridgepoint has more than €37 billion of assets under management across six sectors, including financial services and business services.
“We are excited to partner with fscom to support its expansion and transformation into new markets. This partnership will consolidate the firm’s position as the UK and Ireland’s leading specialist governance, risk and compliance solutions consultancy in financial services,” said Mayank Kanga, Bridgepoint. “It will help to build a stronger, broader-based business with enhanced potential for further growth..”
