Global tax software provider Sovos today announced it has acquired Booke Seminars, which provides critically important educational seminars to employees of insurance companies and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on topics across property, casualty, life and health insurance sectors. The Booke acquisition also adds software for federal income tax (FIT) filing and compliance to Sovos solutions. The acquisition follows the 2019 Sovos purchase of Eagle Technology Management (ETM), which added high-volume statutory reporting and unclaimed property compliance to the breadth of Sovos technology and services. With today’s announcement, Sovos solidifies its position as a leading provider of statutory reporting solutions and educational services for U.S.-based insurers.
U.S. law requires insurance companies to submit a series of statutory reports and state compliance, municipal tax and premium tax forms to 50-plus state and territory insurance departments, as well as the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). These complex filings are unique to each jurisdiction, and regulations change annually. Booke’s customers include many of the nation’s largest insurers and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), who rely on Booke’s comprehensive educational seminars and webinars to help them stay up to date in today’s dynamic regulatory landscape. In 2018, for example, Booke held almost 200 seminars and webinars, serving nearly 4,500 attendees.
“Insurers must stay educated on myriad requirements in order to remain compliant, and they stand to gain significant operational efficiency and risk mitigation through technology and process automation,” said Andy Hovancik, CEO, Sovos. “That’s why Booke’s professional education programs, combined with Sovos software solutions, promise to be a powerful driver in alleviating the burden of compliance on insurance companies operating in the U.S.”
Paul Banker, vice president and general manager of the Tax and Regulatory Reporting line of business at Sovos, said, “From seminars to self-study guides to handbooks, Booke has helped individuals and companies increase industry knowledge for more than 50 years. Together with our previous acquisition of ETM, this acquisition enables Sovos to solve the full spectrum of tax and regulatory compliance challenges for the vast majority of the U.S. insurance market.”
“Sovos continues to expand both organically and through acquisition around the world,” said John Gledhill, vice president of corporate development for Sovos. “As our first acquisition of 2020, Booke marks an opportunity to fully meet the statutory reporting needs of the insurance industry, a market we’ve long served as the largest private filer of IRS tax information forms.”
Booke was previously owned by Aon, a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Sovos is owned by Hg, the London-based specialist private equity investor focused on software and service businesses. EY served as financial advisor to Sovos, and Morris, Manning & Martin provided legal counsel.
About Sovos
Sovos is a leading global provider of software that safeguards businesses from the burden and risk of modern tax. As governments and businesses go digital, businesses face increased risks, costs and complexity. The Sovos Intelligent Compliance Cloud combines world-class regulatory analysis with its secure, scalable and reliable S1 cloud software platform to create a global solution for tax determination, e-invoicing compliance and tax reporting. Sovos supports more than 7,000 customers, including half of the Fortune 500, and integrates with a wide variety of business applications. The company has offices throughout North America, Latin America and Europe. Sovos is owned by London-based Hg. For more information visit https://www.sovos.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
About Booke
Headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Booke has helped individuals and companies increase industry knowledge and experience in insurance statutory reporting, U.S. GAAP, and IFRS accounting and reporting since 1968. The company was acquired in 1993 by Aon, a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions.
