Private equity firm in London Cinven has acquired supplier of online tax preparation software tax law in a deal worth about $720 million.
TaxAct offers a range of online tax tools and products aimed at individuals, small businesses and professional tax advisors. The company’s history dates back nearly 25 years to when it was founded in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, initially as 2nd Story Software. In the intervening years, it expanded into the cloud, eventually being acquired by Blucora (then known as InfoSpace) for $287.5 million in 2012 before officially changing its name to TaxAct the following year.
Cinven, for his part, has something of a… shopping spree lately with what five acquisitions in his name only in the past year. However, Cinven has also become embroiled in controversy after the British competition watchdog gave it out with several multimillion dollar fines about price gouging practices with medicines sold to the NHS.
Separately, Cinven too an unknown amount invested into another tax preparation software company called Drake Software in 2021, with Cinven now planning to bring both Drake and TaxAct together into a new holding company that will serve as a single entity that includes professionals and consumers.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of this year, with both Drake and TaxAct continuing to operate under their own brands and with their current CEOs at the helm.