Everstone sells Asia payroll business to US strategic player

Everstone carved out the business - then operating under the name Payfront Technologies - from Aon Hewitt in 2015. At the time, it provided payroll processing and human resources management services to more than 400 clients across 17 countries. A workforce of 600 in offices in India, Singapore, China and the Philippines processed over nine million payslips every year. 

According to Ceridian, Excelity now serves more than 300 customers in 13 countries in Asia. The number of payslips processed per year has risen to 14.4 million. Everstone planned to help enhance the company's service offering during its holding period. NelsonHall, a business processing industry consulting firm, said this included introducing a cloud payroll offering.

Ceridian, founded in 1992, is a NASDAQ-listed human resource management software provider. It manages payroll requirements for more than 4,000 customers through Dayforce, a cloud payroll management platform, in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia. It also operates Powerpay, a payroll management solution for small businesses in Canada. According to its latest annual report, Ceridian posted revenue of $824.1 million in 2019, up 11.2% year-on-year. 

Last year, Ceridian launched Dayforce in Australia and acquired RITEQ, a local provider of workforce management solutions, which brought in more than 300 customers in Australia and the UK. “Building on our recent investment and expansion in Australia and New Zealand, the acquisition of Excelity will position Ceridian as a leading human capital management provider in the Asia-Pacific region and demonstrates our intent to advance our growth globally,” said Ceridian CEO David Ossip, in a statement.

The deal marks Everstone’s latest exit following the sale of Indian pharmaceutical developer Rubicon Research to General Atlantic last year. Rubicon was a portfolio company in the firm's third fund, which closed at $730 million in 2015. Excelity came from Fund II.

Earlier in the year, Everstone brought in Brookfield Asset Management to support the asset diversification plans of Indian non-banking financial company IndoStar Capital Finance, a company launched by the GP in 2011. Meanwhile, Indian media has reported that Everstone’s plans to list the Indian franchise of Burger King have hit a wall due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

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• Topics
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• Trade sale
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