Pirum - Bowmark Capital

Investment April 2019

Business Securities finance software

Growth StrategyOrganic Accelerators International Expansion

Why we invested

Bowmark saw that Pirum played a key role for financial institutions, which rely on its software to navigate the complex, lengthy and multi-party process of securities lending, where borrowers, lenders and lending agents interact. The company has enviable customer retention rates approaching 100%, with clients seeing the platform as integral to their operations. Bowmark led a buyout in April 2019, supporting CEO Rajen Sheth’s strategy to continue to grow and evolve the business.

Already the European market leader, Pirum was ready to break into new areas such as collateral management, asset servicing and the front office, including trade and collateral optimisation. Pirum could also tap into the compliance needs created by the Securities Finance Transaction Reporting (SFTR), Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR) and Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR). Geographically, the USA represents 40% of the stock lending market and was an obvious destination for expansion. Furthermore, the asset classes of OTC derivatives and repo, with larger volumes than stock lending, were crying out for a high-quality post-trade solution.

Trades and collateral processed daily

$3.5 trillion

The story so far

Since our initial investment, Bowmark has fostered a strong partnership with Pirum's management team. This collaboration enabled Rajen Sheth to transition seamlessly to the role of President alongside the promotion of Phil Morgan to CEO. We have also supported the growth of the leadership team with key hires, including a Chair, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Commercial Officer, Chief Technology Officer and Head of US.

These changes have freed up the commercial division to focus on customer acquisition and service. With Bowmark’s backing, Pirum has developed new products, including an SFTR solution, collateral management, repo post-trade, corporate actions and front office services, and connectivity with the US Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation.

In 2021, Hg Capital invested in the business alongside Bowmark, with the management team also retaining a significant stake. Together, we have expanded the company’s international footprint and driven further growth across both the existing and new products.

With Bowmark’s investment and support, we’ve expanded our product portfolio, taken on the US and ensured our whole team is part of the journey Rajen Sheth,President