Portland financial firm acquires Pennsylvania peer to 'scale responsibly'
File Photo / Tim Greenway
David Whitaker, former president of Foreside Financial Group, is now global services leader at ACA.
Portland-based Foreside Financial Group LLC on Tuesday said it has acquired Hardin Compliance Consulting LLC, of Wexford, Pa., to create what Foreside said is one of the country's largest compliance consulting firms for the financial services industry.
The combination, for an undisclosed amount, will add all of Hardin's 30 employees to Foreside, putting its total at close to 340. The deal is Foreside's eighth acquisition in two years.
Hardin Compliance, founded in 2006, provides customized regulatory compliance services to more than 200 clients nationwide, and provides customized regulatory compliance services the new owner owner said will expand its current service offering.
“We’re thrilled to bring on a firm of Hardin’s caliber that shares Foreside’s passion for building cultures of effective compliance with our clients,” said David Whitaker, president of Foreside, in Tuesday's announcement. “Not only does it support our overall growth strategy and improve our market position, but it also allows us the ability to scale responsibly to maintain our unparalleled standards in client service.”
Matthew S. Hardin, president and CEO of Hardin Compliance, added that “Foreside is a good fit culturally, and we feel confident that our clients and employees will be treated well. This combination of Hardin and Foreside brings together two best-in-class providers of compliance services to financial organizations.”
Information was not immediately available as to Hardin's role under Foreside Financial's ownership.
Foreside is majority-owned by Lovell Minnick Partners, a Radnor, Pa.-based private equity firm that has raised $3.5 billion of committed capital and completed more than 50 portfolio company investments since 1999.
The latest deal comes less than two weeks after Foreside announced the acquisition of Golden Bear Consulting Group LLC, a two-person boutique regulatory compliance consulting firm based in Newport Beach, Calif., its first acquisition in the western United States.
In an "On the Record" interview with Mainebiz published in April, Whitaker spoke about several fast-growing compliance areas he has observed.
"We have seen a large uptick in firms requiring assistance developing their compliance programs to incorporate important aspects of environmental, social and governance initiatives," he said. "Other areas that firms need to keep their focus on include changing privacy rules in light of transformative technology, and addressing enhanced policies and procedures regarding diversity, equality and inclusion."
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