On September 8, Willkie clients FFL Partners and Accordion, a private equity-focused financial and technology consulting firm, announced the successful closing of a majority growth investment in Accordion by Charlesbank Capital Partners and Motive Partners, and the sale by FFL Partners of its minority stake in Accordion. Nick Leopard, Accordion’s Founder and CEO, and other members of Accordion’s management team will remain major shareholders of the company alongside Charlesbank and Motive. Founded in 2009, Accordion focuses exclusively on the Office of the CFO, primarily at private equity-backed companies. Following FFL Partners’ minority investment in Accordion in 2018, Willkie also advised Accordion in its strategic acquisitions of Mackinac Partners, a financial restructuring and operational turnaround firm, and technology consultancies ABACI and Platform Specialists, which respectively focus on enterprise resourcing planning and enterprise performance management. FFL Partners is a San Francisco-based private equity firm with over $5 billion under management, pursuing investments in business services and healthcare services. The Willkie team was led by partners Neil Townsend and Thomas Sharkey and included associates Ian Morganelli, Madison Wiles-Haffner, Steven Mikel, Arianne Connell and Kim Aquino.