Investment Group Wendel Acquires ACAMS in $500M Deal

French investment group Wendel has made an agreement to acquire the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) in a deal that values ACAMS at $500 million.

“ACAMS is the global leader in training and certifications for anti-money laundering (“AML”) and financial crime prevention professionals,” Wendel said in a news release Monday (Jan. 24).

The company notes ACAMS has a membership base of 90,000 in 175 countries, including 5,0,000. ACAMS employs about 275 people, mostly in the U.S., London and Hong Kong, and reported revenues of $83 million for the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, 2021.

“We are enthusiastic about the opportunity to invest in ACAMS, a global leader in training and certifications for financial crime prevention,” André François-Poncet, Wendel Group CEO, and David Darmon, Wendel’s deputy CEO, said in the news release.

The two said ACAMS is aligned with Wendel’s values, and that the acquisition matches the firm’s target of redeploying capital to companies with higher growth rates.

The transaction is expected to close in the first half this year, subject to customary conditions and regulatory approval.

Read more: Financial Crime Swamps Government Efforts, Demanding a High-Tech Approach

This news comes at a time when, according to one recent report, governments are struggling to combat financial crimes.

As PYMNTS reported Monday (Jan. 24), a report from anti-graft charity known as Spotlight on Corruption says economic crime in the U.K. ends up costing the government “hundreds of times more” than it spends dealing with the criminals themselves.

According to the report, the British government spends 825 million pounds ($1.1 billion) on the budgets each year for national agencies that fight economic crime. But this pales in estimation when compared with the 190 billion pounds (or $258 billion) lost to fraud and the 100 billion pounds ($135.6 billion) spent combating money laundering.