IFM’s private equity unit closes in on stake in Tally Group
IFM Investors’ growth private equity team has found a new target it likes in the utilities-focused software business Tally Group.
EnergyAustralia is a client of Tally Group, which is set to add IFM Investors to its register. Bloomberg
It is understood IFM is in the final stages of negotiations to acquire a stake in Tally Group, which is currently backed by Auckland-based private equity firm Pioneer Capital. The two have been in talks for a while and are expected to sign a deal in the coming weeks.
Tally builds software for the utilities sector for things such as automated billing, customer experience and customer self-service. Its product suite is cloud-native and structured as software as a service.
The business has built a client book of more than 110 names across electricity and gas utilities companies in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Middle East, India and the United States. That includes EnergyAustralia and Kiwi power company Genesis Energy.
It was formed in 2021, after cloud-based billing solutions provider Agility CIS acquired energy retail SaaS provider Tally. The latter included brands Znalytics in US and Japan, and Webtools Energy in Australia and New Zealand – all of which are now a part of Tally Group where IFM Investors is set to become an investor.
IFM was working through its growth private equity unit, which typically invests anywhere between $20 million to $150 million and is frequently spotted around technology plays. It recently invested $50 million in retail energy infrastructure player SUPA, and has been an investor in construction payments software business Payapps (then called Zuuse) since 2020.
The size of IFM’s incipient investment in Tally Group wasn’t known. The business is understood to be
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