H.I.G. Capital has acquired Whitney, Bradley & Brown (WBB), a provider of program management and consulting services to the US Department of Defense and other federal agencies. WBB has been a portfolio company of Lake Capital since February 2012.
Whitney, Bradley & Brown has approximately 500 full-time employees, including over 100 subject matter experts with an average tenure in excess of 20 years. Half of the company’s advisors, consultants and subject matter experts are veterans and 75% have security clearances.
WBB was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Reston, VA with additional offices in Quantico, VA; Dayton, OH; Patuxent River, MD; Hampton, VA; Virginia Beach, VA; Niceville, FL; and Warner Robins, GA (www.wbbinc.com).
As part of this transaction, Robert Olsen, Chief Operating Officer, has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman Bill McMullen has retired from the company. “I’d like to congratulate Robert Olsen on his promotion to Chief Executive Officer and would also like to thank the company’s retiring Executive Chairman Bill McMullen for his years of service,” said Jeff Zanarini, a Managing Director at H.I.G. “Bill and Robert have worked in tandem to position WBB as an integral partner to the Department of Defense and other federal agencies. We believe WBB’s existing services provide a strong foundation and are looking forward to working with the team to expand WBB’s capabilities through organic investments and complementary acquisitions as we embark on this exciting next chapter of growth.”
The buy of WBB is H.I.G.’s second acquisition in the government market in 2017. In August the firm took private NCI, another Reston-headquartered government IT and professional services company.
H.I.G. specializes in providing capital to small and medium-sized companies and invests in management-led buyouts and recapitalizations of manufacturing and service businesses. H.I.G. has more than $22 billion of capital under management. The firm was founded in 1993 and is based in Miami with additional offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogotá, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro (www.higcapital.com).
“We are excited to announce our affiliation with H.I.G. Capital. H.I.G. brings to the table a wealth of knowledge and resources,” said Mr. Olsen. “We’re looking forward to leveraging these resources to accelerate the execution of our growth strategy while expanding our ability to provide mission-critical, best-in-class solutions on behalf of federal agencies.”
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | November 15, 2017
