We are excited to have invested £7m into The Thinking Traveller, the world’s most thoughtful villa brand, backing founders and joint-CEOs Huw and Rossella Beaugié and their team in the next stage of growth. They will be joined as Executive Chairman by Ian Simkins, former CEO of Audley Travel, who helped to grow it into a £250m global business.
Founded in 2002 by Huw and Rossella Beaugié, The Thinking Traveller began with seven villas in Sicily. Today it has 220 highly curated properties priced at £3-£50k per week, all 100% exclusively available to rent through The Thinking Traveller. This includes some of the most sought-after villas in the Mediterranean, such as the 16th Century former fortress Forte San Giorgio on the island of Capraia and the aristocratic hilltop Rocca delle Tre Contrade in Eastern Sicily.
Sales grew to £20m in 2019 with more than half of clients from outside the UK and especially popular with US travellers. The business currently covers seven destinations: Sicily, Puglia, The Greek Ionian and Sporades islands, Corsica, and the Minor Italian islands. Most recently The Thinking Traveller announced its expansion to Mallorca with a range of stunning and exclusive villas on the Balearic island.
Popular with multi-generational families, couples and groups of friends, the brand is renowned for its award-winning personal service and the expertise of its in-destination local managers. They provide clients with a 24-hour concierge service and a range of curated experiences to help make their holidays truly memorable, booking guided cultural tours and excursions, in-villa culinary experiences and chefs, yacht charters and yoga teachers.
Having spent the last two years getting to know each other, we have been impressed by their obsession of seeing everything through the lens of their clients and villa owners. It is an obsession that we share wholeheartedly! Impressively, the company’s customer satisfaction NPS is 87, validated by the business being voted Condé Nast Traveller readers’ Best Villa Rental Company for the last five years running.
The team also impressed us with their understanding of the needs of their villa owners, many of whom had been with them exclusively for over ten years and half of whom had never rented out their villa with anyone else. Above all else, owners chose to partner with The Thinking Traveller because they were proud to be associated with a brand that attracts the highest calibre of clients.
Piper’s minority investment will see Huw and Rossella continue to run The Thinking Traveller, remaining joint CEOs and majority shareholders. Our investment will help the business curate a broader selection of exclusive villas in new destinations around the Mediterranean through strategic acquisitions and partnerships as well as marketing the brand further in its core markets including the UK, Europe the US and Australia, and scale the team to ensure clients and owners continue to experience excellent service and support.
The Thinking Traveller has a great opportunity to exploit a hugely fragmented property rental market, made up of a longtail of small destination-specific operators alongside bigger marketplace aggregators, to grow a highly-curated pan-European villa brand. Although the travel industry has been badly hit by Covid, the research we did with their clients showed that they are as eager as ever to travel with them. The Thinking Traveller’s combination of home comforts and five-star services are exactly what clients will look for as we emerge from the pandemic.
If you want to escape this miserable lockdown, we would highly recommend clicking here and browsing their beautiful website. Enjoy!
GP Bullhound invested in game audio and music software platform Elias.
At GP Bullhound we believe the world is undergoing a generational shift where it is no longer enough to be entertained – but where consumers want to create their own entertainment, shifting from scripted entertainment to user-scripted entertainment. As we respect the complexity of sound as an art form – we also live in a world where art and technology are colliding.
Elias is a team of developers and composers bringing adaptive music and sound to user-scripted events. Through Elias, product developers are provided with a complete software platform that plugs directly into game engines, such as Unity, where they can create adaptive music and dynamic sound – significantly shortening the game development cycle by increasing workflow efficiency. The end-user results can already be experienced in games such as Rage 2, Mutant Year Zero and Way Out.
Kristoffer and Philip, Co-founders of Elias, commented: “As composers, audio designers, developers and most importantly gamers, we saw a clear opportunity to bring the relationship between music and gaming to the 21st century. Our unique understanding of both ends of the spectrum have allowed us to build a user-friendly platform without compromising on quality.”
Elias will raise SEK36m in total to fuel product development and international expansion.
Staffan Dahl, CEO of Elias, added: “We are thrilled to have GP Bullhound on board as our long-term strategic partner. GP Bullhound is an active and experienced investor in the music and game space and together we are now in pole position to expand our team to support delivering on our ambitious product roadmap. Our focus on truly adaptive game music and sound will remain, and the goal is to drastically improve sound designers’ and composers’ workflow and control of the creative process.”
Joakim Dal, Partner at GP Bullhound, said: “Gaming and music are two ecosystems that GP Bullhound holds close to heart and through our investments in Spotify, Tunigo, Unity and Quixel we have supported these industries since 2012. Our investment in Elias is the union of our previous experience and excitement about the future of music and gaming. We deeply believe we are just about to enter the final building block for true immersion!”
GP Bullhound is investing from GP Bullhound Fund V, focused on growth-stage businesses in the software industry.
GP Bullhound is a leading technology advisory and investment firm, providing transaction advice and capital to the world’s best entrepreneurs and founders. Founded in 1999, the firm today has offices in London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin, Manchester, Paris, Hong Kong, Madrid and New York. For more information, please visit www.gpbullhound.com
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced the acquisition of two industrial distribution properties in Texas totaling approximately 1.8 million square feet for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $171 million.
The newly acquired properties are located in the major markets of Dallas and Houston. Both are state of the art fulfillment centers with an average vintage 2019. The properties were 100% leased at acquisition to two different investment grade tenants on a long-term basis. The properties were acquired from Hines, the international real estate firm, which developed the assets.
“As more consumers migrate to shopping online and expect a seamless delivery experience, the demand for modern logistics real estate in major markets continues to grow,” said Roger Morales, KKR Partner and Head of Commercial Real Estate Acquisitions in the Americas. “We are excited to help meet that demand by increasing our footprint in the Dallas and Houston markets with the addition of these two high-quality, stable assets.”
The two properties are the latest industrial assets acquired by KKR’s core plus real estate strategy, growing its total industrial real estate portfolio to approximately 7.2 million square feet. Across its funds, KKR owns over 20 million square feet of industrial property in strategic locations across major metropolitan areas in the U.S.
Since launching a dedicated real estate platform in 2011, KKR has grown real estate AUM to approximately $14 billion across the U.S., Europe and Asia as of September 30, 2020. The global real estate team consists of over 90 dedicated investment professionals, spanning both the equity and credit businesses.
About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, credit and real assets, with strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital markets business. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.
NEW YORK, December 4, 2020 — Blackstone (NYSE:BX) today announced that private equity funds managed by Blackstone (“Blackstone”) have completed their previously announced acquisition of Ancestry® from Silver Lake, GIC, Spectrum Equity, Permira, and other equity holders for a total enterprise value of $4.7 billion. Current Ancestry investor GIC will continue to retain a significant minority stake in the company.
Ancestry is the global leader in digital family history services, operating in more than 30 countries. The company has over 3.6 million subscribers, with annual revenue of over $1 billion. The company harnesses the information found in family trees and historical records to help people gain a new level of understanding about their lives. Ancestry also operates a market-leading consumer genomics business, which informs consumers about their heritage and key health characteristics.
David Kestnbaum, a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, and Sachin Bavishi, a Managing Director at Blackstone, said: “We are very excited about Ancestry’s future, as the company continues to demonstrate strong growth as the industry leader. We look forward to partnering with Ancestry in the years ahead to help the company further expand its product offerings and drive ongoing technology innovation so that an even greater number of families can discover more about their histories and themselves.”
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as lead financial advisor to Ancestry. Barclays also served as a financial advisor to Ancestry. BofA Securities, Credit Suisse, and JPMorgan served as financial advisors to Blackstone. Latham & Watkins LLP is serving as legal advisor to Ancestry and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is serving as legal advisor to Blackstone. Dechert LLP is serving as legal advisor to GIC.
CEO Transition
Margo Georgiadis, Ancestry President & CEO, has announced that she has informed the board that she plans to depart the company at the end of 2020. The company expects to announce a new CEO in early 2021 who will drive the next phase of the company’s ongoing growth. Ms. Georgiadis will remain available for a period of time after her departure to assist in a smooth transition.
“I’m so proud of the collective accomplishments of the Ancestry team and am confident in the company’s continued success,” said Georgiadis. “In partnership with Blackstone and Ancestry’s deep bench of management talent, the company is well positioned for continued growth, delivering on its mission to empower journeys of personal discovery for millions of people around the world.”
Eric Wilmes, Head of Private Equity, Americas at GIC, and Stephen Evans, a Managing Director at Silver Lake, said, “Margo has made a tremendous impact on this organization, and we are grateful for her many contributions. She has created a best-in-class leadership team and led a process of rebuilding and strengthening our products and our business. On behalf of the entire board, we wish Margo the very best in her next chapter.”
About Blackstone
Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $584 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.
About Ancestry®
Ancestry®, the global leader in family history and consumer genomics, empowers journeys of personal discovery to enrich lives. With our unparalleled collection of 27 billion records and over 18 million people in our growing DNA network, customers can discover their family story and gain actionable insights about their health and wellness. For over 30 years, we’ve built trusted relationships with millions of people who have chosen us as the platform for discovering, preserving and sharing the most important information about themselves and their families.
About GIC
GIC is a leading global investment firm established in 1981 to manage Singapore’s foreign reserves. A disciplined long-term value investor, GIC is uniquely positioned for investments across a wide range of asset classes, including equities, fixed income, private equity, real estate and infrastructure. In private equity, GIC invests through funds as well as directly in companies, partnering with its fund managers and management teams to help world class businesses achieve their objectives. Headquartered in Singapore, GIC employs over 1,700 people across 10 offices in key financial cities worldwide. For further information on GIC, visit www.gic.com.sg.
Press Contacts
For Blackstone:
Matt Anderson
Matthew.Anderson@blackstone.com
+1 518 248 7310
For Ancestry:
Julie Miller
mediarelations@ancestry.com
+858 232-5609
FMG Suite, a SaaS company specializing in marketing software and services for financial advisors and insurance agents, announced it has completed the acquisition of Twenty Over Ten, a company delivering a SaaS-based digital marketing platform for financial professionals.
“We’re impressed with what Twenty Over Ten has built in a relatively short time and we look forward to integrating our solutions to deliver the products and services we know are most sought after today by financial professionals, RIAs, and independent broker-dealers,” said Scott White, FMG Suite CEO. “This acquisition is a strategic investment in the future of our platform––websites that generate leads, personalized automations, and fully customizable content,” he added.
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Known industry-wide for its innovative marketing strategies and solutions, Twenty Over Ten’s talented team of designers, developers, and marketers will be retained by FMG Suite. Together, the companies will pool their resources to offer financial advisors the most modern lead-generation and marketing solutions with award-winning client service.
“When we launched Twenty Over Ten, we had a simple desire to make beautiful professional websites for an industry that desperately needed it,” said Ryan Russell, Twenty Over Ten Co-Founder. “Four short years later, we have a large and growing community of engaged advisors and we take seriously our responsibility to continue to develop innovative solutions that redefine marketing in our industry. FMG Suite is a great next chapter in our story because the team shares our vision to give financial professionals the very best user experience and marketing tools to grow their businesses,” he added.
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Twenty Over Ten will continue to operate its business as usual until plans are announced to integrate the companies’ best-of-breed solutions to better serve the industry. Every effort will be made to minimize business disruptions, and clients of both entities will benefit from combined capabilities, content, and campaigns to improve interactions with their investor clients at every stage.
“At Advisor Group, we pride ourselves on partnering with the best to deliver the highest value services and solutions to our advisors. Today we partner with both FMG Suite and Twenty Over Ten,” said Advisor Group CMO Susan Theder. “We can’t wait to see the level of innovation that will come from this pairing, as they combine their talents to deliver the next generation of advisor marketing solutions.”
With this agreement, FMG Suite will acquire Twenty Over Ten’s customer base, reinforcing its leading market share position. The sixth acquisition in four years, the purchase agreement represents a continuation of FMG Suite’s expansion strategy.
Leading software investor to acquire majority stake in Flexera a second time
Itasca, IL – December 3, 2020 Flexera, the company that helps organizations turn technology into a competitive advantage whether they make it or use it, today announced it has agreed to sell a majority interest in the company to Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm focused on the software and technology-enabled services sectors. Flexera’s existing shareholders TA Associates and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers’) will continue to hold a meaningful stake in the business. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Flexera, headquartered in suburban Chicago, uniquely serves companies that use technology and those that produce it. The company’s Flexera division provides IT management solutions that help enterprises maximize business value from their technology investments. The company’s Revenera division provides solutions that help technology companies build better products, accelerate time to value and monetize what matters.
Growth and innovation
“This is a resounding vote of confidence in the growth Flexera has shown and the strategic initiatives we’ve undertaken to address the exponential challenges faced by organizations today,” said Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Flexera.
“In order to give enterprises the insight and tools to control their rapidly expanding IT ecosystems, we’re rolling out Flexera One,” continued Ryan. “Flexera One is our SaaS-based IT management solution designed with and for organizations with highly complex hybrid environments. With Flexera One, IT leaders can visualize their entire estate and make data-driven IT decisions from on-premises to SaaS to the cloud—all from a single user interface.
“Our Revenera division continues to post amazing growth quarter after quarter,” Ryan added, “fueled by innovative solutions that help technology companies drive recurring revenue. To cite just one example, this year Revenera became the first vendor to successfully combine software usage analytics and monetization in a single platform.
“The performance of our Flexera and Revenera divisions,” noted Ryan, “brought our former investors at Thoma Bravo back a second time.”
Re-establishing a partnership
Thoma Bravo had previously acquired a majority interest in the company in 2008, when Flexera was spun off from then-parent company Macrovision. “We know Jim and his executive team very well,” said Thoma Bravo Managing Partner Seth Boro, “and we support Flexera’s ambitious vision. The company’s management team has accomplished a great deal over the past 12 years.
“Jim and his team have positioned Flexera for sustained growth by focusing on the strategic challenges enterprises face with complex IT infrastructures,” Boro continued. “Flexera One is the first solution that gives IT executives the ability to see and manage their assets seamlessly across on-premises, SaaS and cloud.
“And the Revenera division is extremely successful at recognizing and delivering what technology companies need to understand and monetize usage,” Boro added.
“We’re thrilled at this chance to ‘get the band back together,’” concluded Boro. “And we want all this great work not only to continue, but to accelerate.”
A future full of promise
Thoma Bravo has helped build some of the world’s leading companies in software applications, infrastructure and cybersecurity.
Flexera is the largest homegrown technology company in the Chicago area, with more than 1,300 employees and offices on four continents. The company was named to Inc. magazine’s 2020 Best Workplaces list and has been named a Top Workplace by the Chicago Tribune for nine consecutive years.
“We have had a productive partnership with Flexera over the last nine years during which time the company has become a leader in its key segments while experiencing consistent growth in recurring revenue and profitability,” said Karen Frank, Senior Managing Director of Equities at Ontario Teachers’. “We look forward to working with the company’s management and our co-shareholders Thoma Bravo and TA Associates in supporting Flexera’s next stage of growth.”
“It is a pleasure to welcome Thoma Bravo as an investor in Flexera,” said Harry D. Taylor, a Managing Director at TA Associates. “We have enjoyed our partnership with the Flexera management team and Ontario Teachers’ over the past three years, helping Flexera to execute on its impressive growth strategies. We look forward to continuing to support the Flexera team and work alongside our fellow investors.”
“We’re grateful for the continued partnership, support and guidance TA Associates and Ontario Teachers’ provide,” Ryan stated. “And we look forward to this exciting next step with Thoma Bravo and to expanding the ways we will deliver for our customers.”
UBS is acting as financial advisor to Thoma Bravo, and Kirkland & Ellis is serving as legal counsel. BofA Securities and Barclays are acting as financial advisors, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges as legal advisor to Flexera, TA Associates and Ontario Teachers’. Goodwin Procter is serving as separate counsel to TA Associates.
CALGARY, AB, Canada and London, UK: 3 December 2020 – Benevity, Inc. (“Benevity”), a global leader in corporate purpose cloud software, today announces that it has secured an investment from Hg, a leading global software investor. Hg’s investment is expected to further accelerate and scale Benevity’s pioneering leadership in this category.
Hg will lead the investment, which will be made from the Hg Saturn 2 Fund, in partnership with Benevity’s current investors, General Atlantic and JMI Equity, who will remain significant investors in the business, alongside the Benevity management team.
This investment comes at a time when ESG (Environment, Social, Governance), corporate purpose and stakeholder capitalism are taking root in companies of all sizes across the globe and as employee, consumer and public expectations grow for business to help solve the complex issues facing society. Benevity’s all-in-one, global platform enables purpose-driven brands to engage these stakeholders in supporting the causes and issues they care about through a database of nearly 2 million vetted nonprofit organizations worldwide.
The Benevity platform has driven more than 34 million hours in volunteer time and talent, 275,000 positive actions, over one million grants and more than $6 billion in donations to date. Benevity’s 650 clients and their 19 million employees support issues ranging from food insecurity, human rights, diversity and inclusion, racial equity, mental health — and everything in between. Around half of the businesses named on the 2021 Forbes Just 100 Ranking – which recognizes “America’s Most JUST Companies” – use Benevity to power their corporate purpose programs[1].
Benevity has helped transform the nonprofit sector from manual processing, technological lag and fragmentation to automation, aggregation and efficiency. With 90% of all donation funds being sent electronically to nonprofits, Benevity boasts the highest payment success rate in the industry, ensuring that more dollars reach those in need, more accurately and reliably than any other software provider.
“For the last decade, Benevity has been transforming the way businesses engage stakeholders in social impact initiatives, evolving them from passively transactional investments to empowered, personalized experiences.
By embracing a grassroots approach to goodness — that is supported by scalable software — companies create more meaningful purpose-driven cultures and consumer-facing brands, helping them truly do well by doing good. We are thrilled to have Hg on board, whose global profile and expertise in software and SaaS will enable us to scale our reach to even more companies across a spectrum of industries, sizes and geographies, helping more people create a sense of connection to purpose and impact than ever before.”
Bryan de Lottinville, Benevity Founder and CEO.
“It is truly exciting to partner with an organization that enables such positive impact to society, and we passionately believe in what Bryan, Kelly and their team are creating. Benevity is already a robust, high-growth business with a trusted platform for some of the world’s largest global brands looking to boost their purpose-driven activities. We look forward to working with the team to become even more pervasive and impactful.”
Nic Humphries, Senior Partner and Head of the Hg Saturn team
“Benevity has created a system of giving, volunteering and mission engagement that is more impactful and efficient for the business world, driving up employee participation rates, increasing employee engagement and retention, and resulting in higher impact to those in society that need it most. It’s great to be backing another business based in North America and we look forward to using our experience in scaling software champions, to reinforce their mission across the globe.”
The Saturn team’s Justin Von Simson, Managing Partner, Thorsten Toepfer, Partner and Gero Wittemann, Partner and co-lead of Hg’s New York team
“We are strong believers in Benevity’s mission to empower enterprises and employees alike to support the causes they care about. Over the three years of our partnership with Benevity, the company has demonstrated the resonance of its platform as it has added premier clients – becoming the backbone for their corporate giving and employee engagement programs – and enabled giving on a global scale. We are proud to welcome a trusted partner in Hg in the company’s next phase of growth.”
Alex Crisses, Managing Director at General Atlantic
The terms of the transaction were not disclosed and closing of the transaction is expected in January 2021.
For further details:
Hg
Tom Eckersley
+44 (0)20 8396 0930
Brunswick UK
Diana Vaughton and Samantha Chiene
+44 (0)207 404 5959
Hg is a leading European investor in software and services, focused on backing businesses that change how we all do business. Deep technology expertise, complemented by vertical application specialisation and dedicated operational support, provides a compelling proposition to management teams looking to scale their businesses. Hg has funds under management of over $30 billion, with an investment team of over 140 professionals, plus a portfolio team of more than 30 operators, providing practical support to help our businesses to realise their growth ambitions. Based in London, Munich and New York, Hg has a portfolio of over 30 software and technology businesses, worth over $50 billion aggregate enterprise value, with over 35,000 employees globally. For further details, please visit the Hg website: https://hgcapital.com/.
About Benevity
Benevity, a certified B Corporation, is a leader in global corporate purpose software, providing the only integrated suite of community investment and employee, customer and nonprofit engagement solutions. A finalist in Fast Company’s 2020 World Changing Ideas Awards, many iconic brands rely on Benevity’s cloud solutions to power their purpose in ways that better attract, retain and engage today’s diverse workforce, embed social action into their customer experiences and positively impact their communities. With software that is available in 20 languages, Benevity has processed more than 6 billion dollars in donations and 34 million hours of volunteering time, 275,000 positive actions and awarded over one million grants to 300,000 nonprofitsworldwide. For more information, visit www.benevity.com.
About General Atlantic
General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for growth companies. Established in 1980, General Atlantic combines a collaborative global approach, sector specific expertise, a long-term investment horizon and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great entrepreneurs and management teams to build market-leading businesses worldwide. General Atlantic has more than 175 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Greenwich, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore. For more information on General Atlantic, please visit the website: www.generalatlantic.com.
About JMI Equity
JMI Equity is a growth equity firm focused on investing in leading software companies. Founded in 1992, JMI has invested in over 150 businesses in its target markets, successfully completed over 100 exits and raised more than $4 billion of committed capital. JMI partners with exceptional management teams to help build their companies into industry leaders. For more information visit jmi.com.
Eurazeo Patrimoine, the real assets division of the Group, has reached an agreement with Derwent London for the acquisition of the Johnson Estate (“the Estate”), an office complex of 4 adjacent buildings – including The Johnson Building – and totaling 194,000 sq ft (18,000 sqm).
The buildings are located in the Farringdon district, an up and coming area for office space especially appealing to tenants from the fast-growing TMT sector. It is only a 4-minute walk from the Farringdon Over- and Underground train station which will soon, with the inauguration of the Elizabeth Line, be part of London’s Crossrail network.
The Estate will be the second investment of the partnership set up with Arax Properties in March 2019 with the acquisition of Euston House, a multi-let office building totaling 119,000 sq ft (11,000 sqm) located in Central London. Eurazeo equity investment commitment amounts to around €80 million. It is 94%-leased, therefore generating day-1 income with a strong rental reversion potential. The partners will actively manage and invest in the asset to fully capture the Estate’s rental potential.
Renaud Haberkorn, Managing Partner of Eurazeo, Head of Eurazeo Patrimoine, said:
“This second acquisition in London reflects our capacity to source opportunities in complex environments and our strong convictions in the London real estate market which we believe offers today very interesting value opportunities. The Johnson Estate features significant upside potential associated with a safety net arising from day-1 income generation and we will endeavor to capture rental reversion in the coming years for this well connected property which is ideally located for companies from the fast-growing TMT sector.”
Giles Morse, Partner of Arax Properties, said:
“Arax Properties is delighted to be undertaking this investment with our partners Eurazeo Patrimoine. As with Euston House, the Johnson Estate offers the joint venture the ability to capture the momentum of a burgeoning submarket with improving infrastructure whilst having excellent downside protection. We look forward to another successful partnership.”
About Eurazeo
Eurazeo is a leading global investment company, with a diversified portfolio of €18.8 billion in assets under management, including €13.3 billion from third parties, invested in over 430 companies. With its considerable private equity, real estate and private debt expertise, Eurazeo accompanies companies of all sizes, supporting their development through the commitment of its nearly 300 professionals and by offering in-depth sector expertise, a gateway to global markets, and a responsible and stable foothold for transformational growth. Its solid institutional and family shareholder base, robust financial structure free of structural debt, and flexible investment horizon enable Eurazeo to support its companies over the long term.
Eurazeo has offices in Paris, New York, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, London, Luxembourg, Frankfurt, Berlin and Madrid.
Eurazeo is listed on Euronext Paris.
ISIN: FR0000121121 – Bloomberg: RF FP – Reuters: EURA.PA
EURAZEO
EURAZEO CONTACTS
PIERRE BERNARDIN
HEAD OF INVESTOR RELATIONS
email: pbernardin@eurazeo.com
Tel: +33 (0)1 44 15 16 76
VIRGINIE CHRISTNACHT
HEAD OF COMMUNICATIONS
mail: vchristnacht@eurazeo.com
Tel:
+33 (0)1 44 15 76 44
NuWave Solutions Acquires BigBear, a Leading Provider of
Big Data Analytics Solutions to the National Security Community
WASHINGTON DC, December 3, 2020 – NuWave Solutions (“NuWave”), a leading provider of data management, advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, cloud solutions and technologies to the federal government, announced today that it has acquired BigBear Inc. (“BigBear” or “the Company”), a leading provider of cloud-based big data analytics solutions to the national security community within the U.S. Government. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
This is the first acquisition completed by NuWave since being acquired by AE Industrial Partners, LP (“AEI”) in June 2020. AEI is a private equity firm specializing in Aerospace, Defense & Government Services, Power Generation, and Specialty Industrial markets.
Founded in 2008, BigBear specializes in big data computing and analytics, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, geospatial information systems, data mining and systems engineering to customers in the U.S. defense and intelligence communities. The Company combines comprehensive technology solutions with its BigBear Platform to create entirely private, secure, and unique cloud environments that helps organizations enable big data computing, machine learning and improved decision-making while better managing risk. BigBear specializes in helping customers make sense of their data by delivering the most advanced customized data analytics solutions available today. BigBear is headquartered in San Diego, California, with additional offices in Reston, Virginia and Charlottesville, Virginia.
“BigBear’s data and analytics solutions bolster our existing capabilities to address the entire spectrum of information superiority,” said Dr. Reggie Brothers, CEO of NuWave. “Making better decisions from data while mitigating risk is a top priority for our government customers, and we look forward to working with the BigBear team as we supplement our capabilities to meet growing demand.”
“NuWave is building a unique business and we are excited to be a part of a larger company that shares the same culture of innovation and mission focus,” said BigBear CEO Frank Porcelli, who will remain with the Company. “We are enthusiastic for the opportunities we can pursue together moving forward.”
Brian Levy, President and CTO of BigBear, who will also remain with the Company added, “This partnership enables us to diversify our capabilities across a broad collection of mission partners and commercial markets, allowing us to offer our customers differentiated, end-to-end solutions.”
“When AEI invested in NuWave earlier this year, we stated our commitment to build a world-class advanced analytics and artificial intelligence platform, and the addition of BigBear is a great first step in that journey,” said Jeffrey Hart, Principal at AEI. “We remain focused on adding more companies with specialized technology that complement NuWave’s existing capabilities and expand its roster of premier government customers.”
“Predictive technologies and data analytics are critical in helping government organizations reduce risk and identify opportunities,” said Kirk Konert, Partner at AEI. “We believe NuWave is well positioned to take advantage of these growing demands.”
Akerman LLP served as legal advisor and Ernst & Young LLP served as financial advisor to NuWave. King & Spalding LLP and Foundry General Counsel, PLLC served as legal advisors and Baird served as financial advisor to BigBear.
About NuWave
Based in the Washington, D.C. metro area, NuWave is a leading provider of data management, advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud solutions that delivers anticipatory intelligence and advanced decision support solutions and technologies to the U.S. Government. NuWave provides innovative, customized solutions through development, selection, and integration of leading technologies. NuWave has unmatched expertise in advanced technologies across the analytics and data management lifecycle and applies its expertise and teamwork to give customers the ability to solve complex problems, communicate, and manage information. For more information, please visit https://www.nuwavesolutions.com.
About BigBear
BigBear, Inc. is a leading provider of cloud-based, big data and analytics solutions for government customers, helping them make sense of big data. The Company specializes in big data computing and analytics, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, geospatial information systems, data mining and systems engineering. To learn more about BigBear, visit: http://bigbear.io.
About AE Industrial Partners
AE Industrial Partners is a private equity firm specializing in Aerospace, Defense & Government Services, Power Generation, and Specialty Industrial markets. AE Industrial Partners invests in market-leading companies that can benefit from its deep industry knowledge, operating experience, and relationships throughout its target markets. AE Industrial Partners is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investing. Learn more at www.aeroequity.com.
Sovereign Capital Partners, the UK private equity Buy & Build specialist, is delighted to announce that it has completed a significant investment in Zenitech, a successful strategic business consulting and technology services provider. Sovereign has partnered with Zenitech’s management team to significantly scale the business to meet the increasing demand for its services in this rapidly growing UK and international market.
News
Zenitech provides consulting, technology and product innovation services with a focus on building and scaling mission-critical products and systems for blue-chip clients. The company empowers its clients to future proof their businesses by providing end-to-end digital transformation capabilities to create new digital products, increase revenue and market share, streamline operations and reduce costs.
Established in 2015, the business has c.200 employees across three offices in the UK, Romania and Lithuania. The successful combination of Zenitech’s high-quality strategic consultancy and technical software development capabilities is reflected in its rapidly growing and deeply embedded multi-year client relationships.
Sovereign is backing the founders of the business Christopher Lacy-Hulbert, formerly Director of Engineering at Yahoo, Edward Batrouni, previously Senior Head of Technology Outsourcing at Betfair and Associate Director at CapGemini, and Csaba Suket, formerly Director of Technology at Betfair. The team have a deep level of industry experience and a proven track record of delivering their strategic plans.
Jonathan Thorne, Director, Sovereign Capital Partners said: ‘We are delighted to be backing this highly capable and entrepreneurial management team who we have got to know over the last three years. Zenitech operates in a high growth and fragmented market, with digital transformation becoming of ever-increasing strategic importance to businesses. Given the outstanding quality of Zenitech’s proposition we believe its success to date is set to continue into the future, and we look forward to supporting Christo, Ed and Csaba to deliver the company’s next stage of growth.’
Edward Batrouni, co-founder of Zenitech commented: ‘We have come a long way since we set up our business just five years ago. This is an exciting market and we have achieved fast yet solid growth without compromise to the quality of our offering. We have the privilege of working with fantastic clients that value the services we provide. This was the right time for us to seek an investor and in Sovereign we believe we have found a partner that will help us to further scale and develop our services to help clients meet their own business goals and ambitions.’
Christopher Lacy-Hulbert, Zenitech co-founder said of the transaction: ‘This is a huge milestone for us and really helps to set the foundation for an ambitious programme of growth and expansion. We are committed to maintaining an extremely high bar in both calibre and quality of expertise within our business. Investing in the right parts of our company will allow us to do that as we bring our offering to even larger, mission critical customers.’
