Ignacio Jayanti, CEO of Corsair, discusses Corsair's target companies and the sourcing of TreviPay inside World Fuel Services. They also cover the diligence process, post-close operations, team building, balance sheet management, and the early performance and challenges of the deal.
Corsair Partners focuses on middle market businesses in the financial services industry and partners with founders and management teams to help them grow.
Trevi Pay is exploring ways to accelerate customer onboarding, establish partnerships, and focus on industry-specific growth.
Deep dives
Overview of Corsair Partners and Middle Market Businesses
Corsair Partners, a financial services and infrastructure investment firm, focuses on middle market businesses that operate in and around the financial services industry. They partner with middle market founders and strong management teams to help the companies grow and be relevant within their industries.
Introduction to Trevi Pay and its History
Trevi Pay is a B2B payments company that offers a suite of services to enable businesses to transact and make error-free payments with other businesses. It was originally part of a technology service provider for business payments and was later acquired by World Fuel Services. However, management realized that Trevi Pay had broader relevance and decided to explore a carve out from the parent company.
Corsair's Interest in Trevi Pay and the Due Diligence Process
Corsair identified Trevi Pay as a high-priority business in the B2B payments vertical. They had access to management during the due diligence process to understand the software and value proposition. The company also had non-core subsidiaries and a balance sheet function that needed to be addressed. Corsair's expertise in financial services and their network allowed them to secure a securitization transaction and sell the non-core divisions.
Challenges and Future Growth of Trevi Pay
One of the challenges for Trevi Pay is shortening the customer onboarding process, despite the sticky nature of the product. To address this, they are exploring ways to accelerate the enterprise sales cycle and establish partnerships between product development and go-to-market teams. Trevi Pay's specialization in serving specific industry verticals sets it apart in the market, and Corsair believes that focused growth rather than acquisitions will lead to higher-quality growth and make them more attractive to strategic industry buyers in the future.
Ignacio Jayanti is the CEO of Corsair, a $10 billion specialist in financial services and infrastructure investing that started as a private equity practice within JP Morgan three decades ago.
TreviPay is a global payments and invoicing network that enables businesses to transact in a reliable way with other businesses.
Our conversation covers Corsair’s target companies, sourcing of TreviPay inside World Fuel Services, diligence process, exclusivity period, valuation, and risk assessment. We then turn to post-close operations, including building and onboarding a team alongside the existing superstar CEO, managing the balance sheet, transitioning from the former parent, and the early performance and challenges of the deal.