Carlyle to acquire intelliflo from Invesco, spinning off RedBlack for US RIAs

Global investment firm Carlyle has reached an agreement to acquire intelliflo, the London-based provider of cloud-based practice management software, from Invesco in a deal valued at up to $200 million.

The transaction includes $135 million at closing and up to $65 million in potential future earn-outs, with completion expected in the fourth quarter.

The acquisition announced Tuesday covers intelliflo’s US-based subsidiaries, including RedBlack, a software platform widely used by RIAs for portfolio rebalancing and trading. As part of the deal, RedBlack will become a standalone business, led by its own management team and focused exclusively on the American market.

Carlyle will support both intelliflo and RedBlack as they operate independently, with intelliflo concentrating on the UK and Australia, and RedBlack targeting US advisors.

Founded in 2004, intelliflo’s platform is used by more than 30,000 professionals at around 2,600 advisory firms, supporting the management of approximately £450 billion in client assets. The company’s software integrates CRM, financial planning, onboarding, compliance workflows, and reporting, and connects with over 120 third-party applications.

RedBlack, meanwhile, is trusted by a significant share of large RIAs in the US, with the company claiming more than one-quarter of the 50 largest RIAs by assets under management use the platform.

Still, industry surveys suggest RedBlack holds less than one percent of the US trading and rebalancing software market. The definitive T3 financial advisor software survey found it commanded just 0.40% market share among advisors in 2022, while this year's report found it made limited progress to reach 0.66% market share.

The move comes as intelliflo and RedBlack have both sought to boost their offerings for advisors. Recent updates to RedBlack include an institutional-level compliance rules engine introduced last year, designed to help RIAs automate compliance checks and improve operational efficiency.

Carlyle’s investment is being made through its Europe Technology Partners fund, which specializes in technology companies.

“intelliflo is a mission-critical software provider to the UK’s wealth management ecosystem, with a deeply embedded and loyal customer base,” said Fernando Chueca, managing director at Carlyle. He added that the firm is “excited to partner with Nick, Bryan, and the team to unlock the company’s full potential and deliver a new stage of growth.”

Nick Eatock, chief executive and founder of intelliflo, said the deal marks “an exciting moment for intelliflo.” He noted that Carlyle’s investment reflects “its trust in our business and its deep experience in scaling software companies.”

Bryan Perryman, who will lead RedBlack moving forward as CEO, said the new structure will allow the company to “bring our full focus onto the US market as an agile, standalone company.” He added that RedBlack’s team is “excited to be backed in this endeavour by a sponsor with the reputation and credentials of Carlyle.”

Invesco, which acquired intelliflo in 2018, said it will continue to work with both intelliflo and RedBlack through its relationships with wealth advisor clients .