Collingwood, the growth, value creation and M&A advisory for B2B information, media, and events businesses, today announced the successful completion of a corporate finance deal, advising its long-standing client, Exile Group, on securing investment from private equity firm Bridgepoint.

The investment sees Bridgepoint become a significant minority shareholder in Exile Group, a market-leading provider of proprietary intelligence and events for the commodities, project, export, trade, and development finance sectors. The partnership is designed to accelerate Exile Group’s next phase of growth, focusing on expansion in the US market, both organically and through M&A.

Exile Group, the company behind core brands including TXF, Proximo, and Uxolo, has spent the last 12 years building a technology-first business without external capital. Its offering combines high-value, proprietary intelligence — sourced from market participants, direct journalist engagement, and event transcripts — with seven market-leading tradeshow events. This creates a self-reinforcing ecosystem of data-informed networking, driving deep engagement within its client base.

Collingwood’s relationship with Exile Group evolved from its value creation services, where the focus was on scaling the business and optimising its operational model. Key strategic work included:

  • Developing and executing a unifying value proposition that tightly integrates its intelligence subscription and events business to super charge growth and create a distinctive position in the market  
  • Building out Exile’s subscription operational, sales and marketing capabilities, resulting in accelerated YOY ARR growth, bringing revenue retention rates into line with leading industry benchmarks 
  • Working with the management team to build robust governance processes that enabled the Founders to focus on value creation and accurately measure progress

Collingwood was subsequently appointed to find a strategic private equity partner for a capital event in 2025. A crucial requirement was identifying a firm that recognised the significant investment Exile Group had made over the last five years in developing its proprietary technology, AI, and data strategy — a major differentiator.

Deal lead Adam Shaw, Global MD, Collingwood Corporate Finance, commented:

“This is a tremendous deal for Exile Group. The team has been building the business with just the founders and their team, without external capital for 12 years. Bridgepoint have been incredibly impressed with how technically advanced Exile Group is in its data and AI strategy, and are keen to help grow the business in the US both organically and through M&A. Our work helped Exile develop the operational and commercial capabilities to accelerate its subscription revenue and demonstrate the convergence of intelligence and events, creating a strong ‘technology moat’ for the business.”

He added: “The focus on a compelling value proposition, supported by operational excellence and improved pricing and packaging, has resulted in Exile’s subscription renewal rate rising significantly through their work with Collingwood. This success clearly validated the value of the business to potential investors.”

The investment from Bridgepoint will allow Exile Group to continue its development of proprietary IP and AI-driven data intelligence, further strengthening its position as the market leader in export and agency finance.

About Collingwood

Collingwood is the only value creation and M&A advisory that is purpose-built to help information, media, and events businesses create and realise value. Our unrivalled depth of domain expertise means we help these companies grow faster, create more value, and achieve transformational outcomes. Our clients trust us to help them build and execute the right value creation plan for their business, because we know what good looks like, which levers they need to pull to get there, and how to avoid pitfalls and delays along the way. Collingwood’s experienced value creation, transformation, and corporate finance experts work in partnership with clients throughout their growth journey to deliver results. It’s this powerful combination that gets Collingwood’s clients where they need to be, faster and with greater certainty. Our mission is to be the trusted partner for ambitious business leaders, enabling them to create transformational value and enduring legacies, through our deep sector knowledge and pragmatic lived experience. Collingwood, founded in 2006, is headquartered in London with a US office in New York.

For more information, visit: collingwood.group and LinkedIn.

About Exile Group

Exile Group provides project, export, trade and development finance professionals with news, research insights and data intelligence; and connects people and industries through engaging, educative and network-building events. This is underpinned by a proprietary data and technology platform that supports deal origination, analysis and execution across the full deal lifecycle. Exile Group’s leading brands include TXF, Proximo and Uxolo.

About Bridgepoint

Bridgepoint Group is one of the world’s leading mid-market investors, specialising in private equity, infrastructure, private credit and private wealth. With $87 billion of assets under management and a strong local presence in Europe, North America and Asia, we combine global scale with local market insight and sector expertise, consistently delivering strong returns through cycles.

Media enquiries: Rosalind Hill, Head of Marketing rosalind.hill@collingwood.group