cyber security

Bow River Acquires Kivu Consulting

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Bow River Capital has agreed to acquire Kivu Consulting, a provider of cyber security consulting services.

Kivu’s services include incident response, risk management, penetration testing, extortion and ransomware, expert witness, digital forensics investigation services, and preparedness for digital intrusions. The company is active in the insurance, legal, professional services, health care, and education sectors.

Kivu, led by CEO Kim Niquette, was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in San Francisco with additional offices in Denver, New York, Washington DC, Amsterdam, and Toronto (www.kivuconsulting.com).

“Kivu has the best team in the cyber security industry with brilliant analysts and incredibly innovative services,” said Ms. Niquette. “The partnership with Bow River will support us in building a unique global response capability.”

As part of the transaction, the founders of Kivu will retain a meaningful ownership stake in the company and will continue to lead the organization on a go-forward basis.  Bow River is partnering with the management team in order to scale operations, invest in infrastructure, and expand the company’s service offerings.

“Kivu is precisely the type of company Bow River seeks out for investment,” said Rick Pederson, a managing director at Bow River. “They are an exceptional team delivering top-notch services in a growing industry. We expect great things ahead in this partnership.”

Bow River makes control investments in companies with revenues of $10 million to $100 million and EBITDA of $3 million to $15 million. Sectors of interest include business services, healthcare services, industrial services and products, infrastructure services and products, niche manufacturing, and value added distribution. Geographically, Bow River prefers companies that are based in the US Rocky Mountains, Midwest, Southwest, and Western Canada. Bow River was founded in 2003 and is based in Denver (www.bowrivercapital.com).

FOCUS Investment Banking (www.focusbankers.com) was the exclusive sell-side advisor to Kivu Consulting.

© 2019 Private Equity Professional | February 14, 2019

HCAP Exits Datashield

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HCAP Partners has sold its portfolio company Datashield, a cybersecurity services provider, to ADT, a portfolio company of Apollo Global Management. According to HCAP Partners, Datashield is one of the fastest growing cybersecurity firms in North America.

Datashield provides cybersecurity services in conjunction with managed detection and response (MDR) services across all industries, including healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, energy, and legal. Datashield was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ (www.datashieldprotect.com).

Mid-market and large businesses are increasingly finding the need for 24×7 managed and monitored cyber service to help detect and respond to cyber attacks. It is estimated that by 2020, approximately 20 percent of mid-market and large businesses will be using MDR services up from less than 1 percent in 2016. With the close of the acquisition, Datashield will now operate under the new brand ADT Cybersecurity.

Frank Mora, Partner, and Nicolas Lopez, Principal, led the Datashield transaction for HCAP. “Since our initial investment in 2014, Datashield has done a fantastic job building out its platform and growing its business with new customer accounts. We were very pleased to work with the team to support the successful growth of Datashield and we look forward to their continued success and growth with ADT,” said Mr. Mora.

“HCAP has been a valuable partner in supporting Datashield and the growth of our company,” said Michael Malone, Datashield’s CEO. “Their support gave us the edge we needed to continue innovating and leading the industry in areas such as software and human capital.”

HCAP is a provider of mezzanine and equity capital to lower middle market companies throughout the western United States. The firm invests from $2 million to $9 million in businesses generating between $10 million and $75 million in revenues. Sectors of interest include healthcare, software, services, and manufacturing. HCAP has invested in over 60 companies since its founding in 2000 and is based in San Diego (www.hcapllc.com).

ADT, acquired by Apollo in February 2016, is a provider of security and automation services for homes and businesses in the United States and Canada. ADT is headquartered in Boca Raton, FL (www.adt.com).

© 2017 Private Equity Professional | December 6, 2017

CM Equity Exits PSS

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CM Equity Partners has agreed to sell its portfolio company Preferred Systems Solutions (PSS) to publicly-traded STG Group for a total consideration of approximately $119 million. This transaction is expected to close before the end of March. CM Equity Partners acquired PSS in September 2007.

PSS is a provider of software engineering & development; cyber security; cloud computing; systems engineering & technical assistance; business applications and financial management; and program and acquisition management services. Customers include the intelligence services, US Army, US Navy, Defense Logistics Agency, US Transportation Command, Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Departments of Homeland Security and Transportation, among others. PSS is led by CEO Scott Goss and is headquartered in McClean, VA (www.pssfed.com).

“We are extremely pleased to become part of the STG Group as it will significantly increase our ability to provide an expanded set of advanced technology capabilities across the broad spectrum of critical national security programs,” said Mr. Goss. “The company’s commitment to outstanding customer support enables world class services in support of our country’s warfighters and the federal civilian workforce working daily to safeguard our country.”

CM Equity Partners makes control and minority investments of $5 million to $40 million in companies with $20 million to $200 million in revenues and $3 million to $20 million of EBITDA. Sectors of interest include federal services and aerospace & defense. The firm has made more than 70 acquisitions and investments since its founding in 1992. CMEP is associated with Carl Marks & Co., a private family investment office with merchant banking activities dating back to 1925. CMEP is based in New York (www.cmequity.com).

STG Group (OTC: STGG) is a provider of technology, cyber, and data services to more than 50 defense, intelligence, federal, and other national security agencies. The company was formerly known as Global Defense & National Security Systems and changed its name to STG Group, Inc. in November 2015. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Reston, VA (www.stg.com).

“We are excited to announce the next step in our transformation strategy for STG Group. With the acquisition of PSS, we are advancing our technological agility and ingenuity to meet the most complex and demanding national security challenges facing the US,” said STG President Phillip Lacombe.

Sagent Advisors, an investment bank with offices in New York, Chicago and McLean, VA (www.sagentadvisors.com), was the financial advisor to STG Group on this transaction.

© 2017 Private Equity Professional | February 24, 2017

Marlin Acquires Fidelis Cybersecurity, Completes First Add-On

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Marlin Equity Partners has quickly added-on to Fidelis Cybersecurity – its IT security platform – with the purchase of Resolution1 Security, a provider of threat detection and incident response cybersecurity products.

Fidelis – acquired by Marlin on May 4th from General Dynamics – offers a portfolio of products and services that protect companies from data theft, financial loss and reputational damage. The company’s flagship product is Fidelis XPS that detects and prevents initial malware infections and also prevents the subsequent spread of malware and theft of information from within an organization. Fidelis is led by its CEO Peter George and is headquartered outside of Boston in Waltham, MA (www.fidelissecurity.com).

“We acquired Fidelis because it is uniquely positioned to help customers protect their data and assets against adversaries across the entire threat lifecycle, from intrusion to propagation to exfiltration, in one fully integrated solution,” said Peter Chung, a principal at Marlin. “We are thrilled to provide the resources and financial backing to grow Fidelis and solidify its position at the forefront of the rapidly evolving advanced threat defense, and incident response and forensics markets.”

Resolution1 Security – Fidelis’ first add-on acquisition – provides cybersecurity detection and resolution systems to Fortune 500 companies in the retail, financial services, energy & oil, and government industries. The company was spun off from Access Data Group – a provider of cybersecurity, digital forensics and e-discovery – in January 2015.  Resolution1 is headquartered north of Provo in Lindon, UT and has additional offices in Washington DC; New York; Houston; and San Francisco (www.resolution1security.com).

“Resolution1’s continuous and automated endpoint threat detection and remediation engine addresses one of the largest issues in cybersecurity today – the disproportionate number of incidents that security analysts must manually respond to in the enterprise,” said Mr. Chung.  “With the buy of Resolution1, Fidelis now can offer one of the most comprehensive and powerful advanced threat solutions in the market across both the network and endpoint.”

Marlin Equity Partners invests in businesses that have revenues of $20 million to $1 billion and that are in the process of undergoing varying degrees of operational, financial or market-driven change. Sectors of interest include technology, healthcare, consumer products and services, business services, manufacturing, aerospace & defense, distribution & logistics, and media. The firm has $2.6 billion of capital under management. Marlin is headquartered in Los Angeles with an additional office in London (www.marlinequity.com).

2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 5-13-15