RNS : 25 June 2021

MJ Hudson Group plc

(the "Company", "Group" or "MJ Hudson")

Acquisition of FinTech firm Clarus Risk adds risk reporting and workflow automation to MJ Hudson's data & analytics offering

MJ Hudson Group plc (AIM:MJH), the specialist service provider to the asset management industry, announces that it has acquired the entire issued share capital of FinTech risk specialist, Clarus Risk Limited ("Clarus"), to widen the breadth of services in the Group's data and analytics division.

Founded in 2011, Clarus is led by its co-founder Max Hilton, a quant finance expert and former hedge fund manager. The addition of Clarus follows the acquisition of performance analytics group PERACS, in December. As such, MJ Hudson can now support its fund manager and investor clients with data, analytics, benchmarking and reporting across risk, investment performance, ESG and cost transparency. The transaction is expected to be modestly accretive to earnings per share in its first full year following completion.

Similar to MJ Hudson, Clarus´ clients are European and North American alternative asset fund managers, investors and service providers in the asset management industry. The current AUM of clients on Clarus' system totals c. £10bn. Clarus offers its clients risk and regulatory risk reporting either as managed service, or via software as a service (SaaS). Such services are deployed through an advanced, customisable dashboard environment.

Mr Hilton and his team are all joining MJ Hudson and will play an important role in helping to refine the next level of digital tools across the business. MJ Hudson also anticipates being a significant internal user of Clarus' risk systems. The intention is for Clarus to expand its team of quant engineers and risk professionals and extend its operations to London. 

The initial consideration is £1.0 million with deferred and earn-out consideration of up to a further £2.5 million over a three-year period. The full consideration is payable in a mixture of cash and new ordinary shares in MJ Hudson Group plc, as decided by the Company. The cash consideration will be funded from MJ Hudson´s existing cash resources. Further announcements will be made, in due course, as and when these shares are issued.

Clarus generated revenues of £0.6m for the twelve-month period to December 2020 and is EBITDA positive.

Odi Lahav, Group COO and head of MJ Hudson´s Data & Analytics division, said:

"We are delighted to have Max and the team join the Group. Risk analytics is a key building block in our developing data and analytics product set. Clarus' FinTech business model fits well into our current product suite, and its forward-looking strategic objectives - to offer comprehensive technology focused solutions to asset managers and institutional investors - are fully aligned with ours. With the addition of Clarus, we can now offer clients enhanced levels of transparency, reporting and analytical solutions across the critical areas of their business. Max and the senior Clarus team also bring a wealth of technology and quantitative skills to the group and will form part of our research and innovation platform."

Max Hilton, Managing Director of Clarus, commented:

"I have known and worked alongside the senior team at MJ Hudson for a number of years and have been impressed with the business they have built. The Company's continued focus on the research and development of data-driven analytical tools, as well as its proven ability to attract blue-chip clients for these products and services makes MJ Hudson the perfect home for our growing and evolving product set."

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About MJ Hudson

MJ Hudson is a one-stop-shop specialist service provider to the US$100 trillion+ asset management industry, with a focus on its fastest growing segment, alternative investments (which includes private equity, venture capital, private credit, infrastructure, real estate and hedge funds.)

As outlined at IPO in December 2019, our growth strategy is to develop and acquire new products and services that are needed by our core customer base of asset managers and institutional investors and to extend this customer base in the key markets of North America and Europe. Our strategy benefits from the underlying expansion of the alternative assets subsector and the continuing and growing need for outsourcing and specialist advice as regulation and competition makes operating more challenging for our clients.   

Founded in 2010 by CEO Matthew Hudson (a lawyer and former alternative assets fund manager), we have grown quickly to now support more than 1,000 clients, including 18 of the FTSE 100. Our business is transatlantic, with clients clustered around the major asset management centres of Europe and North America. Our team of 230 works out of 11 offices in those same centres.

For more information, please visit our website: investors.mjhudson.com/ 

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/mj-hudson/

Twitter: www.twitter.com/MJHudsonCorp