Gerald Edelman advises on private equity investment into Strata FSC

Gerald Edelman is delighted to announce that its Corporate Finance team has advised the shareholders of Strata FSC (“Strata”), a specialist financial services consulting firm focused on BlackRock Aladdin implementation and data transformation, on an investment from Growth Capital Partners (“GCP”). This marks another successful transaction by the team in the digital transformation sector.

Strata, a specialist financial services consultancy, delivers implementation and transformation services for asset managers, asset owners and servicers undergoing complex system and data change programmes involving the BlackRock Aladdin and eFront platforms.

Founded in 2019 by Joe Yallop, Rich Hall and Stuart McBane, Strata has offices in London, Edinburgh, Singapore and New York, and is one of a small number of global BlackRock Aladdin partners. The business has experienced rapid growth since the arrival of James Howell (CEO) in 2023, and Strata is now positioned to scale globally with its clients as continued demand for BlackRock’s software accelerates globally.

GCP has a proven track record of successfully building genuine investment partnerships with founders in ambitious, highly specialist businesses that power the Knowledge Economy. The partnership with GCP will support Strata’s next phase of growth by continuing its excellent momentum both in the UK and expanding internationally, with further investment in Strata talent and partners.

James Howell, CEO at Strata, commented:

“Strata is delighted to have GCP onboard for the next stage of our growth, as we continue with our strategy of being the global market leader in BlackRock Aladdin, eFront and surrounding platform expertise.

GCP’s reputation, cultural fit and work with other successful high growth technology services firms made them the natural choice. The support and expertise of the GCP team will benefit our own team members, clients and partners globally.

Thank you to the Gerald Edelman team for their immense support throughout. Their sector understanding, expert advice and hands-on management of a demanding process were key to achieving a successful result.”

Nick Wallis, Partner in the Gerald Edelman Corporate Finance team, added:

“We are delighted to have advised the Strata team on this important milestone. Joe, Rich, Stuart and James have built a highly differentiated consultancy with deep expertise in a complex and rapidly expanding segment of the financial services ecosystem.

Securing the right investment partner was critical, and GCP’s track record in scaling specialist consulting and technology-enabled services firms positions them well to support Strata’s ambitions. Their involvement will help the business accelerate its international growth, broaden its capabilities and strengthen its infrastructure.

For our team, this transaction reinforces our growing footprint in advising high-growth consulting and digital transformation services businesses. It has been a pleasure working with the Strata team and we look forward to seeing what they achieve in the next chapter.”