IT

Audax Group Invests in Magnitude Software

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Audax Group has made an investment in Magnitude Software, a provider of enterprise information management software.  The investment from Audax will be used to expand Magnitude’s product portfolio in order to complete the end-to-end information management products needed by its customers. New products will be developed internally and through add-on acquisitions.

Magnitude Software provides enterprise information management software to support business intelligence, data warehousing, master data management, reporting and analytics. The company has 600 active enterprise clients with over 200,000 users in 100 countries. Magnitude Software was formed in 2014 through a merger of Noetix, a provider of business intelligence services and Kalido, a provider of data management services.  The company is headquartered in Austin, TX (www.magnitudesoftware.com).

“Magnitude Software is a leader within the growing enterprise information management industry. We look forward to working with CEO Chris Ney and his team to drive growth organically and through strategic add-on acquisitions,” said Geoffrey Rehnert, Co-CEO of Audax Group.

The Audax Group makes control investments of $10 million to $100 million in middle market companies with transaction values of $25 million to $500 million. Sectors of interest include industrial manufacturing; energy; outsourced industrial services; consumer products; healthcare devices and services; non-asset based logistics; technology; aerospace & defense; business services; and direct marketing.  Audax has over $6 billion in assets under management in its private equity, mezzanine, and senior debt businesses. The firm was founded in 1999 and has offices in Boston and New York (www.audaxgroup.com).

“Every company is under increasing pressure to manage and govern information across the enterprise, and deliver this information faster and more consistently than ever before. This investment, coupled with our laser focus on customer success, presents us with an incredible opportunity to deliver unprecedented product and services innovation to customers in every industry in this high-growth enterprise information management market,” said Chris Ney, CEO of Magnitude.

Wells Fargo provided financing for the transaction and Ropes & Gray served as counsel to Audax Group.

2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 9-26-14

Thoma Bravo Acquires CA Erwin Data Modeling

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Embarcadero Technologies, a portfolio company of Thoma Bravo, has entered into an agreement to acquire the CA Erwin Data Modeling business from CA Technologies. CA ERwin is the most-used data modeling tool among data professionals, and is sold almost exclusively through more than 500 partners in over 70 countries.

According to Thoma Bravo, the acquisition of CA ERwin will make Embarcadero the world’s leading data architecture company.

“Data architecture is now the biggest part of Embarcadero’s business and represents our significant commitment to the category,” said Wayne Williams, CEO at Embarcadero Technologies. “Every aspect of IT – from application development and business intelligence to security and user experience – is defined and driven by data architecture. With the addition of CA ERwin’s strong technical team and deep data modeling expertise, Embarcadero will drive greater investment, innovation and momentum in this critical technology segment.”

Embarcadero is a provider of software used for application and database development. The company has offices in 29 countries, and over three million users worldwide. Embarcadero is headquartered in San Francisco (www.embarcadero.com).

Thoma Bravo provides equity and strategic support to management teams building growing companies. The firm originated the concept of industry consolidation investing, which seeks to create value through the strategic use of acquisitions to accelerate business growth. Thoma Bravo currently manages approximately $4 billion of equity capital. The firm was founded in 1981 and has offices in Chicago and San Francisco (www.thomabravo.com).

© 2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 3-14-14

Thoma Bravo Acquires Keynote

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Keynote, a provider of Internet and mobile cloud testing & monitoring, has been acquired by Thoma Bravo for $395 million in cash.

Keynote is a provider of Internet and mobile cloud testing & monitoring. The company maintains the world’s largest on-demand performance monitoring and testing infrastructure for Web and mobile sites comprising over 7,000 measurement computers and mobile devices in over 275 locations around the world that enable companies to continuously improve online and mobile performance. Keynote currently collects over 700 million mobile and Web performance measurements daily and in 2012 was recognized by Forbes as “One of the Best 100 Companies in America” with under one billion in revenue. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, CA (www.keynote.com).

“We’re thrilled to add Keynote to the Thoma Bravo family of leading infrastructure and software companies,” said Orlando Bravo, managing partner at Thoma Bravo. “Keynote is the established leader in the Internet and mobile testing and monitoring market and is currently at the forefront of a very compelling macro environment. The increasing complexity of websites combined with the proliferation of mobile devices creates new markets for the company’s enterprise business, while the shift to 4G and LTE networks continues to benefit its mobile telecom business. Thoma Bravo is excited to partner with Keynote to accelerate the growth of the company going forward.”

Thoma Bravo provides equity and strategic support to management teams building growing companies. The firm originated the concept of industry consolidation investing, which seeks to create value through the strategic use of acquisitions to accelerate business growth. Thoma Bravo currently manages approximately $4 billion of equity capital. The firm was founded in 1981 and has offices in Chicago and San Francisco (www.thomabravo.com).

© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 8-23-13

Grey Mountain Ups Investment in Ajubeo

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Grey Mountain Partners has made an additional investment in its portfolio company Ajubeo, a provider of virtual datacenters and cloud infrastructure-as-a-service.

The Ajubeo service offering includes virtual datacenters, virtual desktops, cloud-based disaster recovery, cloud-based data backup and restore, and cloud-based systems and application monitoring. Cloud hub locations include data centers in Denver, New York, and London, accessible via secure, private network connections from anywhere in the world. Ajubeo is headquartered in Boulder, CO (www.ajubeo.com).

The new capital will be used to support strong demand, 600% quarterly revenue growth over the past 12 months, for Ajubeo’s enterprise-class Virtual Datacenters, Virtual Desktops, Backup and Restore-as-a-Service and Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service. Specifically, the new capital will fund continued expansion in the New York Metro Area, new product development, staffing, and sales and marketing initiatives.

“The cloud infrastructure market continues to expand at a rapid pace,” said Chuck Price, president and CEO of Ajubeo. “The question is no longer whether infrastructure-as-a-service is a viable alternative to traditional methods. Instead, customers are architecting their IT-based products and services around a diversified cloud strategy. This shift has led to strong demand for high-performance, production-ready cloud services from providers such as Ajubeo.”

Grey Mountain Partners invests up to $75 million in control acquisitions of companies with enterprise values between $30 million and $150 million. Sectors of interest include aerospace & defense, building products & materials, business process outsourcing, diversified manufacturing, energy & power, financial services, food & beverage, healthcare services & technology, industrial services, packaging, professional services, specialty chemicals, technology, transportation & logistics, wholesale and distribution. Grey Mountain was founded in 2003 by Managing Partners Rob Wright and Jeff Kuo and is based in Boulder with an additional office in Minneapolis (www.greymountain.com).

“We are excited to support Ajubeo’s leadership team, Chuck Price and Colorado CIO of the Year Tom Whitcomb, as they expand and enhance their industry-leading cloud infrastructure offering,” said Marcello La Rocca, affiliate manager at Grey Mountain Partners. “Ajubeo continues to deliver on a strong business plan, providing performance-sensitive customers with a 100% uptime cloud solution that has been measured at twice the performance of current market share leaders such as Amazon Web Services.”

© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 8-22-13

Investcorp Exits CCC Information Services

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Investcorp has sold its portfolio company CCC Information Services, a provider of software and workflow tools to the insurance automotive claims and collision repair industries, to Leonard Green & Partners for $550 million.

CCC Information Services (CCC) is the nation’s leading provider of advanced software and workflow tools to the insurance automotive claims and collision repair industries. The company is based in Chicago (www.cccis.com).

Investcorp acquired CCC in February 2006 and during its ownership term the company’s EBITDA grew organically by over 50 percent.

“CCC is a true market leader, and we have enjoyed a successful partnership with the company’s stellar management team over the past several years. Working alongside management, Investcorp was able to support CCC’s business objectives, its expanded market presence, and, through substantial investments in technology and infrastructure, its development of new products to further penetrate the insurance and automotive markets and strengthen and improve the company’s product offering. This is emblematic of the value that Investcorp brings to each of our portfolio companies,” said Steve Puccinelli, Managing Director at Investcorp and Head of Corporate Investments for North America and Europe.

Investcorp invests in mid-size companies operating in an array of industry sectors that have total enterprise values of between $200 million and $1 billion and are located in North America or Western Europe. The group has offices in London and New York (www.investcorp.com).

Leonard Green & Partners’ invests in middle-market companies with market-leading franchises and defensible competitive positions, attractive growth prospects and proven management teams. The firm’s investments are in the form of traditional buyouts, going-private transactions, recapitalizations, growth capital investments, corporate carve-outs and selective public equity and debt positions. Sectors of interest include retail, distribution, healthcare, aerospace/defense, and consumer/business services. Leonard Green & Partners was established in 1989 and manages approximately $15 billion of equity capital. The firm is located in Los Angeles (www.leonardgreen.com).

© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 1-16-13

TA Associates Acquires DigiCert

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TA Associates has completed a majority investment in DigiCert, a provider of online authentication and encryption services.

“We have known the professionals at TA Associates for many years and are pleased to welcome the firm as an investor in DigiCert,” said Nicholas Hales, CEO, DigiCert.  “DigiCert has grown through strategic product development, key partnerships, an unrelenting focus on customer success and attracting strong talent to strengthen DigiCert’s corporate infrastructure.  A partnership with a deeply experienced firm like TA fits squarely within that focus and we are confident this will prove to be a highly beneficial and productive relationship for DigiCert.”

DigiCert provides online authentication and encryption services primarily through Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificates to companies, government agencies, financial institutions, and educational and medical institutions worldwide.  DigiCert is the world’s third largest issuer of high-assurance certificates, serving more than 60,000 clients in 176 countries. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Lindon, UT (www.digicert.com).

“DigiCert offers a compelling value proposition to its customers,” said Jason Werlin, a Principal at TA Associates who will join the company’s Board of Directors. “The company’s differentiators include excellent customer service, best in class security and user-friendly tools, all offered at an affordable price. As a result, DigiCert has seen very strong growth over the past several years. We look forward to working closely with the company’s talented management team to continue that growth.”

TA Associates makes buyouts and minority recapitalizations of profitable growth companies in the technology, financial services, business services, healthcare and consumer industries. Since founding in 1968, TA has invested in over 425 companies globally and has raised more than $18 billion in capital. The firm was founded in 1968 and has offices in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong (www.ta.com).

“We chose to partner with TA Associates because of their demonstrated experience in adding value to profitable, growing businesses such as DigiCert,” said Ryan Woodley, DigiCert’s CFO and COO. “Over the past several years, we have substantially grown revenues and increased market share primarily through earned trust and client referrals. With TA’s added support and strategic guidance we will strive to accelerate that growth.”

O’Melveny & Myers provided legal counsel to TA Associates. Goodwin Procter LLP served as legal counsel and William Blair served as a financial advisor to DigiCert.

“Growth in the SSL certificate market is the result of several trends, including the need for web pages handling sensitive information to have secure lines for data transfer, as well as new security challenges posed by cloud computing,” said A. Bruce Johnston, a Managing Director at TA Associates who will also join the company’s Board of Directors. “In addition, the continued growth in e-commerce and the attendant need to establish secure vendor websites will foster ongoing demand for SSL certificates. DigiCert is well positioned to capitalize on these trends.”

© 2012 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 12-17-12