OSTC, the global derivatives trading and education business, today announced the acquisition of industry-leading financial training and education specialist BG Consulting, in a stock-and-cash transaction, with some of the consideration subject to future financial performance.

This acquisition strengthens OSTC’s focus on the learning and development sector, transforms its current financial education products and services, and accelerates the global deployment of its ZISHI education platform.

BG Consulting is a leading provider of talent development solutions for the financial services sector. Founded in 2002 and with an extensive and developed client base across North America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, BG Consulting offers clients a range of training courses covering corporate banking, global markets, asset management and hedge funds.

The acquisition is accretive to OSTC’s earnings and accelerates the growth, quality, and diversification of the OSTC revenue base, in line with the organisation’s strategic ambitions. 

The addition of BG Consulting further widens the range of ZISHI’s digital education platform offering, extending out to BG Consulting’s clients and network, and creating new growth opportunities for the business. BG Consulting will be integrated into OSTC’s ZISHI education subsidiary, creating expected 2021 proforma revenues in excess of 5% of Group revenue, with 20% CAGR revenue projected over 3-years.

BG Consulting’s footprint will allow the ZISHI educational platform to deliver through meaningful distribution channels across North America and EMEA, on behalf of a large portfolio of clients, including blue-chip financial institutions. The acquisition significantly expands OSTC’s activities in a large and growing addressable market, with the global education and training market expected to reach $7.3Tn in total expenditure by 2025[i] fuelled by demand from 1.2Bn young people between 15-24 years of age, accounting for 15.5% of the global population[ii].

Lee Hodgkinson, Group CEO of OSTC, commented:  “The acquisition of BG Consulting advances our growth and revenue diversification strategy, and adds scale and further momentum to our financial training and education business. BG Consulting is a rapidly growing and profitable learning and development company renowned for its excellence. We are delighted to welcome Claire Anderson and her talented BG Consulting team to the OSTC family as we join forces to advance our leadership in powering early careers learning for aspirational young people around the world.”

Claire Anderson, Managing Director of BG Consulting commented: “This is an exciting next step in the growth of BG Consulting and our market-leading offering. OSTC’s global network and pioneering ZISHI EdTech platform will broaden our horizons with a more extensive range of products and services, as well as strengthening our investment in digital delivery. We remain committed to providing our existing clients with the high level of service they have come to expect and look forward to expanding our offering as part of OSTC’s stable.”