AE Industrial Partners (AEI) has acquired a majority interest in NuWave Solutions, a provider of data management, artificial intelligence, and machine learning services.
NuWave’s services are used by governments and businesses to glean intelligence from their data to predict future events, analyze potential actions, and make decisions more accurately. NuWave is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.
With the closing of the transaction, Dr. Reggie Brothers and Michael Buscher have joined NuWave as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Growth Officer, respectively. Mark Keyser, NuWave’s CEO and co-founder, will reinvest in the company in partnership with AEI and will be active as an advisor to its board of directors.
Dr. Brothers was previously the chief technology officer of Peraton, a Virginia-based provider of communications, space, and technology services to the U.S. Government. Earlier in his career, he was undersecretary of science and technology with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and he was the deputy assistant secretary of defense for research for the Department of Defense.
Mr. Buscher will be active expanding NuWave’s reach to the defense and intelligence communities. Most recently, Mr. Buscher was the vice president of intelligence and special operations at Peraton and he also spent 20 years in national security both with U.S. Army Special Operations and the Central Intelligence Agency.
“We are very pleased to welcome Reggie and Mike, proven leaders with exceptional credentials,” said Kirk Konert, a partner at AEI. “They bring a deep understanding of the critical technologies, and many years of experience in both highly relevant government posts and with helping private companies develop and implement growth strategies.”
AEI will utilize NuWave as a new platform to expand its defense and government services strategy into the advanced analytics and artificial intelligence sectors. In March 2020, AEI added Kevin McAleenan to its team as an operating partner. Mr. McAleenan was the acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from April 2019 through November 2019. As head of Homeland Security, he managed 240,000 employees in eight operational agencies including U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration, and the U.S. Secret Service.
“NuWave is a highly respected leader in its field and a perfect launchpad in which to build a world-class advanced analytics and artificial intelligence platform,” said Jeffrey Hart, a vice president at AEI. “Artificial intelligence and machine learning continue to gain significant momentum helping governments and businesses gain intelligence from their vast amounts of data to make better decisions. The end uses for these capabilities continue to evolve and we look forward to being at the forefront of this evolution with the NuWave team.”
Boca Raton-based AEI invests in the aerospace and defense, power generation, and specialty industrial sectors with a specific focus on technical manufacturing; distribution and supply chain management; maintenance, repair, and overhaul; and industrial service-based businesses. Typical company targets will have from $50 million to $500 million of revenue. In July 2018, the firm held a final hard-cap closing of its second private equity fund, AE Industrial Partners Fund II LP, with $1.36 billion in commitments.
Grant Thornton was the financial advisor to AEI on the buy of NuWave and Conlin & Co. advised NuWave.
Private Equity Professional | June 23, 2020