Clearlake Capital Group has acquired Dude Solutions, a cloud-based software-as-a-service provider of facility management services, from Warburg Pincus which invested in the company in 2014.
Dude Solutions provides facilities management services to education, government, healthcare, senior living, manufacturing and membership-based organizations. The company’s products are used to streamline facility maintenance work order and IT help desk management, schedule preventive maintenance and plan for capital replacements, manage inventory, maximize after-hours facility use and manage utility consumption through a suite of web-based applications. Dude Solutions, led by CEO Ed Roshitsh, was founded in 1999 and is based in Cary, NC (www.dudesolutions.com).
The company will continue to be led by Mr. Roshitsh and the current management team, who are investing alongside Clearlake in this transaction. “We are thrilled to partner with Clearlake to support the next phase of growth at Dude Solutions,” said Mr. Roshitsh. “Clearlake’s extensive software investment experience will prove invaluable to Dude Solutions in this exciting new chapter. With Clearlake’s operational support and financial backing, we are in a great position to build on our record as the leading cloud-based operations management software provider.”
Clearlake has over $9 billion of assets under management and invests in the industrials and energy; software and technology-enabled services; and consumer sectors. In March 2018, Clearlake closed Clearlake Capital Partners V LP with over $3.6 billion in commitments. Fund V exceeded its target and was substantially oversubscribed, reaching its hard cap. The firm was co-founded by José Feliciano and Mr. Eghbali in 2006 and is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA (www.clearlake.com).
“We are impressed by Dude Solutions’ market-leading franchise and we are excited to partner with Ed and the team to accelerate growth both organically and through acquisition,” said Behdad Eghbali, a co-founder and managing partner of Clearlake. “We look forward to supporting the company through significant additional investment in the product portfolio and the go-to-market teams.”
Warburg Pincus has more than $58 billion in assets under management and has raised 18 private equity funds since its founding in 1966. The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Mauritius, San Francisco, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore (www.warburgpincus.com).
William Blair & Company was the financial advisor to Dude Solutions and Warburg Pincus, and Shea & Co. was the served financial advisor to Clearlake.
Financing for the transaction was led by Monroe Capital acting as sole lead arranger and administrative agent of a $260 million senior credit facility with participation from BlackRock Capital Investment Advisors, Owl Rock Capital, and Vista Credit Partners.
© 2019 Private Equity Professional | June 24, 2019
