One of the most prominent figures in Britain’s professional services industry is lining up private equity backing for a £1.5bn offer for the accountancy firm he co-founded.

Sky News understands that John Connolly, the former chief executive of Deloitte’s UK firm, is working with TowerBrook Capital Partners and Warburg Pincus on a bid for Azets.

Mr Connolly, who chairs a number of privately held businesses, including the TowerBrook-backed US accounting firm Eisner Advisory Group, is also the former chairman of the FTSE-100 companies Amec Foster Wheeler and G4S.

He founded Cogital Group, which later became Azets, in 2016, but stepped down following an earlier sale process in 2019.

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City sources said he regarded Azets as “unfinished business” and was expected to front a serious offer for the company.

Hg, the private equity firm, has hired investment bankers at JP Morgan to oversee an auction of Azets, although a process is unlikely to get underway until next year.

Bankers regard a price range of between £1.2bn and £1.5bn as realistic.

Azets claims to be the largest provider of business-critical services such as accounting work, payroll and tax to small and medium-sized businesses in northern Europe.

In total, it boasts more than 100,000 SME customers.

The company trades under a number of brands, including Blick Rothenberg, which formed part of a 2016 merger that saw Hg become a shareholder in the business.

Since then, it has made a string of acquisitions to bolster its presence in several countries.

The group’s rebranding under the Azets name took place in 2020.

Preparations for a sale are taking place against a backdrop of accelerating structural change in the accountancy world, with EY proposing a global separation of its audit and consulting businesses.

Mr Connolly could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

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