Sverica International has closed its sale of a majority stake in Accuvant, a provider of information security and services, to Blackstone. Sverica International, which first invested in Accuvant in July 2008, has retained a minority interest in the business and remains active on the Board of Directors.
“We are thrilled to have been partners with Accuvant management since 2008 during a massive phase of growth for the company,” said Frank Young, Managing Director at Sverica. “Accuvant has now reached a size and scale where we feel it is the right time to explore adding another financial partner, and Blackstone is the ideal fit, given their depth of knowledge in security. We look forward to partnering with them and continuing to work with Dan Burns (Accuvant Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer) and his team for the next phase of growth.”
Blackstone’s investment will be used by Accuvant to accelerate its pace of expansion and enable the management team to deploy additional capital and resources for a broader roll-out of its product- and service-based solution offerings.
Accuvant provides its enterprise customers with security software and hardware manufactured by its technology partners. The company’s professional services arm offers enterprise security program design, enterprise assessments, incident response and remediation, PCI (payment card industry) audit services, and IT compliance policy development and implementation. Since 2002, more than 4,500 organizations, including half of the Fortune 100 and 800 federal, state and local entities, have utilized Accuvant for their security needs. The company is headquartered in Denver and operates out of 35 additional locations in the US plus one international office in Toronto (www.accuvant.com).
“Sverica has been a fantastic partner for Accuvant. Their strategic input has been invaluable to our success. The company wouldn’t be where it is today without their board level oversight and involvement,” said Dan Burns, Accuvant Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “I am pleased they will remain involved and provide board continuity as we seek to accelerate our pace of innovation and expansion through the Blackstone investment.”
Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment and advisory firms. The firm’s alternative asset management businesses include the management of private equity funds, real estate funds, hedge fund solutions, credit-focused funds and closed-end funds. Blackstone also provides various financial advisory services, including financial and strategic advisory, restructuring and reorganization advisory and fund placement services. Blackstone is headquartered in New York (www.blackstone.com).
Sverica invests in service oriented businesses and light industrial manufacturers. The firm targets companies with enterprise values under $100 million and EBITDAs greater than $3 million. Sverica was founded in 1993 and has over $425 million of assets under management across three funds. The firm has offices in Boston and San Francisco (www.sverica.com).
© 2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 4-23-14
