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Arcapita Group Holdings Limited (“Arcapita"), the global alternative investment firm, today announced its acquisition of The DataFlow Group, a leading international provider of credential verification services, from EQT Private Equity. The acquisition represents yet another milestone in Arcapita’s growth strategy, having completed five direct investments and eight add-on acquisitions in the business services space, in the US and GCC, over the past five years.
DataFlow Verification Services Limited is the GCC’s leading provider of regulation-mandated pre-employment primary source verification (PSV) services, with over 850 employees across nine countries, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and a global network of more than 160,000 issuing authorities across 190 countries. The company’s workflow and system integrations with issuing authorities and GCC regulators has made it the service provider-of-choice in many markets resulting in long-standing client relationships. While DataFlow has historically focused on the healthcare segment, the company has begun expanding into verticals such as education, engineering, work visa, and sports, and has secured strategic wins in these sectors.
Hisham Al Raee, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Arcapita, commented, “Arcapita’s private equity strategy within the business services sector is to target companies that deliver essential and mission-critical B2B services. Arcapita targets companies that are asset light, technology-enabled, and have strong management teams. Our investment in The DataFlow Group plays a key role in this strategy, while further building on our track record in the sector. We look forward to working closely with DataFlow’s management team to drive further growth across multiple markets, leveraging our global expertise in the sector.”
Yousif Al Abdulla, Managing Director and Head of MENA Investment at Arcapita, also commented, “The DataFlow Group enjoys a dominant market position, underlined by an unrivalled competitive moat, as evidenced by its consistent sales growth. We are excited about the prospects of this partnership and the capabilities of DataFlow’s management team, and are confident in the long-term growth potential of the business in the GCC region and beyond.
Simon Griffiths, Partner within EQT Private Equity’s Advisory Team, said, “We are pleased to have found a good partner for DataFlow for its next phase of the exciting journey. The Company has transformed significantly and become a digitally enabled, leading credential service provider. We are proud of the accomplishments achieved by an outstanding management team led by Sunil Kumar, especially the swift actions in response to COVID-19 and its impressive outperformance during this challenging period. We thank Sunil and the entire management team, all the employees and the board for their vision, dedication and contribution. We are confident that Dataflow will continue to be successful under its new ownership.”
Sunil Kumar, CEO of DataFlow, said “We look forward to joining forces with Arcapita for our next phase of growth and transformation, where their investment will provide The DataFlow Group with enhanced access to cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain, and machine learning, enabling us to serve our stakeholders better and accelerate our growth. We have solid growth targets for the coming years, and Arcapita’s track record, coupled with a strong leadership team, will enable us to improve our services to meet our clients’ needs best and drive transformation. We thank EQT for supporting The DataFlow Group in reaching this growth phase.”
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Contact
| Arcapita | Brunswick Group |
About Arcapita
Arcapita Group Holdings Limited is a premier alternative asset manager with a total transaction value in excess of $30 billion across more than 100 investments. The firm’s principled approach provides a strong, ethical compass that fosters trust, excellence and partnership with stakeholders. With over 25 years of management expertise, aligning Arcapita Group’s interests with that of our clients, we conduct business in a fair and transparent manner. Arcapita Group has offices in the US, UK, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and an affiliated office in Bahrain giving us a unique vantage point to understand tomorrow’s evolving investment landscape.
About EQT
EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organization with EUR 126 billion in fee-paying assets under management within two business segments – Private Capital and Real Assets. EQT owns portfolio companies and assets in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas and supports them in achieving sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.
About The DataFlow Group
The DataFlow Group is a leading global provider of specialized Primary Source Verification (PSV) solutions, and background screening and immigration compliance services. The DataFlow Group partners with clients across the public and private sectors to assist them in mitigating potential risk by exposing fraudulent academic degrees, employment certificates, practice licenses, work permits and passports, among other documents. The DataFlow Group utilizes cutting-edge technologies and leverages an expansive network of over 160,000 issuing authorities globally to liaise with primary sources and verify the authenticity of documents submitted by candidates in accordance with global industry best practices.
