design software

The Riverside Company has acquired Fisher/Unitech, a reseller of software and hardware used in 3D modeling design.

“3D solid modeling and additive manufacturing are increasingly being employed for a wide array of product design, prototype development and manufacturing applications,” said Riverside Partner Steve Dyke. “Fisher/Unitech is a trusted resource for a broad array of customers in numerous industries.”

Fisher/Unitech is a reseller of 3D solid modeling design software, 3D printing hardware and related products and services including training, and consulting services. Fisher is the world’s largest distributor of Stratasys 3D printers (www.stratasys.com) and the third-largest distributor of SolidWorks software (www.solidworks.com) in the US.  Fisher operates largely in the Midwest and New England. Fisher has more than 8,000 customers that are active in the aerospace, consumer goods, automobiles, and defense industries.  The company has 13 locations with classroom facilities supporting sales across 16 states. The company was founded in 1993 and is based in the Detroit suburb of Troy, MI (www.funtech.com).

Fisher/Unitech CEO Charlie Hess and Vice President of Technology Greg Fisher founded the company and will remain in their positions along with the rest of the management team.  “We’re delighted to partner with Riverside, and we look forward to accelerating our growth with the support of Riverside’s resources and expertise,” said Mr. Hess.

Riverside’s growth plans for Fisher include investing in the company’s sales, marketing and tech support to advance the company’s core product offerings, as well as entering new markets and product offerings both organically and through add-on acquisitions.

“Our SMD team focuses on investing in many manufacturing businesses that would be target customers for Fisher/Unitech. As a result, the value Fisher provides its customers as they seek to innovate with new products was immediately recognizable to our team,” said Mr. Dyke, Riverside’s Global Head of SMD.

Working with Mr. Dyke on the transaction for Riverside were Principal Rob Langley, Senior Associate Bernardo Villar, Associate Conor Cook, Senior Operating Partner Michael Michienzi and Operating Partner – Finance Tom Snyder. Origination Principal Scott Gilbertson sourced the opportunity and Partner Anne Hayes worked on financing the transaction for the firm.

The Riverside Company is a global private equity firm focused on investing in and acquiring growing businesses valued at up to $250 million (€200 million in Europe). Since its founding in 1988, Riverside has invested in more than 360 transactions. The firm’s international portfolio includes more than 75 companies. Riverside is headquartered in New York with additional offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London (www.riversidecompany.com).

Maranon Capital provided financing for the transaction. Maranon Capital provides senior financing, mezzanine debt and equity co-investments for private equity-backed and non-sponsored middle market transactions. Maranon has offices in Chicago, IL; Birmingham, MI (near Detroit) and South Bend, IN (www.maranoncapital.com).

2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 11-17-14

Arlington Capital Partners has acquired the Zemax division, a provider of optical and illumination design software, from Radiant Zemax.

The Zemax division (Zemax) is a provider of optical and illumination design software used by design engineers in the aerospace, defense, medical & life sciences, instrumentation, optics, lighting, and government R&D sectors.  Zemax’s OpticStudio software platform allows users to quickly design, tolerance and simulate sophisticated optical or illumination systems.  The company’s installed base spans 80 different countries and includes over 7,500 different companies. Zemax is based in Redmond, WA (www.zemax.com).

“Zemax’s technically superior software algorithms have long represented the best value proposition in the rapidly growing optical and illumination design software market, and the company is ideally positioned to benefit from the strong macro growth trends in its underlying market sectors,” said Michael Lustbader, a Partner at Arlington Capital.  “In addition, we believe the company has significant potential to expand its traditional user base beyond expert users, and we are excited to partner with the Zemax team to execute an aggressive growth plan as a standalone company.”

Arlington Capital Partners has $1.5 billion of committed capital and focuses on buyouts and recapitalizations of companies valued from $50 million to $500 million. Sectors of interest include aerospace and defense, government services and software, healthcare services, business services, and education and training. Zemax becomes the sixth company with licensable software in Arlington Capital’s current portfolio, joining Advanced Health, Compusearch, Iron Data, Novetta, and Quantum Spatial.  The firm is based in Washington, DC (www.arlingtoncap.com).

“The Zemax acquisition creates a software platform with global sales capabilities that is well positioned for substantial growth. We have consistently been impressed with the company’s execution capabilities and look forward to building the Zemax platform through the execution of both organic initiatives and highly targeted acquisitions,” said Jesse Liu, a Principal at Arlington Capital.

The senior debt financing for the acquisition was provided by Ares Capital and the subordinated debt financing was provided by Stellus Capital Management and Metropolitan Life.

2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 10-26-14