In a survey the law firm Kingsley Napley published on 21 July 2025, 27% of 22 respondents from the UK’s top 60 accounting firms said their firms had already taken private equity funding. A further 19% said they would be prepared to consider it, and 54% said they had no interest in private equity "now or down the line".
The survey is the most specific public figure on how far private equity has reached into the top 60. It is also smaller than the way it is often quoted.
What the survey covers
According to Kingsley Napley’s release, the questionnaire had 22 responses in spring 2025, "mostly" from senior or managing partners, at UK firms with fee income between £10m and £1bn a year. The release gives percentages only. Applied to 22 responses, 27% is consistent with six firms, 19% with four and 54% with twelve; those counts are our arithmetic, not the survey’s.
Two other findings sit alongside the headline:
- 86% of respondents said their firms had been approached by private equity houses or other external investors in calendar year 2024;
- the "nearly half (46%)" in the release’s headline is the 27% that have taken funding plus the 19% that would consider it.
What the survey cannot show is the share of the top 60 as a whole. It describes the 22 firms that answered. It says nothing about the 38 that did not, and firms that have already sold a stake may have been more, or less, willing to reply.
The broad shape agrees with other research. ICAEW Corporate Financier wrote in April 2025 that ICAEW’s own research "showed that the majority of firms felt private equity investment was not for them", with a significant minority open to it. That article gives no percentages.
How the figure has travelled
The same numbers have since appeared without the respondent base.
| Where | Date | How the figure is put | Source named |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kingsley Napley press release | 21 July 2025 | 27% of 22 respondents have taken PE funding; a further 19% would consider it | Own survey |
| The Accountant (opinion article by JMAN Group) | 12 May 2026 | 25% of UK mid-tier firms have taken PE investment; 46% of top-60 firms are open to it | “research”, not named |
| Founder Capital blog | 14 July 2026 | Around 27% of the UK’s top-60 firms have accepted PE investment; a further 19% would consider it | “industry surveys and reported transactions” (ICAEW; Farrer & Co) |
The 27% and 19% pair matches the Kingsley Napley survey, but in the later versions it is put as a share of the top 60 rather than of 22 respondents. The 46% in The Accountant matches the survey’s headline. The 25% "of UK mid-tier firms" does not appear in the Kingsley Napley release; the article does not name its research, so it is not attributed here.
Firms named in public as private equity-backed
A count of the top 60 would need a list. None of the pages cited gives one. What exists is a set of firms named with their backers in professional coverage. The table below takes those from one article, ICAEW Corporate Financier’s April 2025 Trendwatch, plus Grant Thornton UK’s own account of its sale. These names are not matched against a league table, so the table is not a count of the top 60.
| Firm | Backer(s) as reported | Date as reported |
|---|---|---|
| Azets | Hg (formed the business); PAI Partners took an equal stake | 2017; June 2023 |
| Cooper Parry | Waterland; later sold to Lee Equity | 2022; “December” (article of April 2025) |
| Moore Kingston Smith | Waterland | 2023 |
| AAB | August Equity | 2021 |
| Xeinadin | Exponent | 2022 |
| TC Group | Inflexion | 2023 |
| Sumer | Penta Capital and BlackRock | early 2023 |
| Gravita | Tenzing | Not disclosed in the article |
| Grant Thornton UK | Cinven (majority stake) | announced December 2024 |
Since then, at least one more firm has changed private equity owner: Affinia, which Sovereign Capital Partners described as a top 50 firm in the Accountancy Age 50+50, was the subject of a sale agreement with RedBird Capital Partners in April 2026 (our note on that deal).
What this means for the number
- There is no published count with a list. The figure most often quoted rests on 22 survey responses from 2025, and it describes those firms only.
- The trend in names is clearer than the trend in shares. Coverage of individual deals is detailed and dated; the share of the top 60 is not.
- We keep the list, not the percentage. In Consolidators we are building one profile per backer and firm, each with its sources and a "Checked" date.
Sources
- Kingsley Napley, "Nearly half of UK accounting firms are open to private equity investment, Kingsley Napley survey reveals", 21 July 2025: kingsleynapley.co.uk
- The Accountant, "Why 2026 will be a pivotal year for accountancy M&A – Are you ready?", 12 May 2026: theaccountant-online.com
- Founder Capital, "The Consolidation of UK Accountancy: Who’s Buying, and Why", 14 July 2026: foundercapital.co.uk
- ICAEW Corporate Financier, "Trendwatch: PE targets accountancy firms", 9 April 2025: icaew.com
- Grant Thornton UK, "Private equity is onboard – what does this mean for other advisory and consultancy firms?", 18 June 2026: grantthornton.co.uk
- Sovereign Capital Partners, "Affinia to combine with three UHY Hacker Young offices to create Top 25 UK accounting firm", 4 February 2026: sovereigncapital.co.uk
Related reading: Grant Thornton: 310 deals in 2025, up from 292; Xeinadin: owners, backers and acquisitions to Oct 2026.
