Competition heats up for possible Iress acquisition
A possible acquisition of data provider Iress is becoming a greater likelihood after the firm announced it is engaging with multiple interested parties.
It was announced on 8 August that it was in the early stages of discussions with US alternative asset manager Blackstone and software private equity firm Thoma Bravo regarding a possible acquisition.
It had previously received an offer of $10.50 cash per share from Blackstone, but this was subsequently withdrawn.
Some 10 days later, Iress said it was still in “early stages of all discussions and interest” to explore whether a change of control proposal for the company was viable to be recommended to the board, although no parties were named.
But in a subsequent update on 17 October, it said in an ASX statement that it was “engaging with new third parties” in addition to the parties that had already expressed interest.
As well as the discussions, it had now made a virtual data room available to the interested parties.
“To facilitate this engagement, Iress has, since the time of its previous update, made a virtual data available to a number of additional parties under appropriate confidentiality agreements. The basis for engagement is that bidders are restricted from contacting former management (without Iress consent),” it said.
The final sentence is understood to relate to the exit of former CEO Marcus Price, who announced in August 2025 that he intended to step down in September.
Price had been CEO at the firm since 2022 and led its recent transformation strategy, which included the divestment of several of the firm’s business arms. This included the sale of its managed fund administration business to SS&C Technologies, its platform business to Praemium, and superannuation business to Apex Group.
Since the announcement, Iress has appointed former Bravura Solutions CEO Andrew Russell to take over Price’s leadership role, and he will join the firm in November 2025. With the transformation complete, it is understood the next phase of the company’s growth will be intensely product and client-focused.
“As we enter the next phase of our growth strategy, Iress is well-placed to capitalise on global growth opportunities, leveraging our core capabilities while selectively investing in new trading and wealth technologies.
"We see significant opportunities in emerging cloud and AI technologies to enhance trading experiences and expand Iress’ wealth tech suite to meet the needs of the millions of people around the world who don’t have access to the financial advice they need," the firm said in August.
With this AI focus in mind, Iress appointed Daniel Ashley in August to the newly created role of chief AI officer to spearhead the fintech firm’s strategic focus on AI. Ashley was most recently at Amazon Web Services (AWS) where he spent more than three years as an AI/machine learning and data specialist for enterprise accounts.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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