Category Archives: News

HealthComp Announces Partnership with New Mountain Capital

New Mountain Capital

Investment Firm to Support Leading Independent Third-Party Administrator’s Client Offerings and Growth 

FRESNO, Calif. and NEW YORK – November 9, 2020 – HealthComp Holding Company LLC (“HealthComp” or “the Company”), a leading independent Third Party Administrator (TPA) of healthcare benefits for self-funded employers, announced today that the Company has partnered with New Mountain Capital, a leading growth-oriented investment firm with $28 billion in assets under management.

Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Fresno, California, HealthComp is the largest independent Third-Party Administrator (TPA) of healthcare benefits in the U.S., serving more than 400,000 members in the self-funded employer industry. The Company offers best in class technology for healthcare benefits administration, payment integrity and care management services to address the “dual mandate” in the U.S. healthcare system: reducing costs and improving clinical outcomes and experience for employees. As part of the transaction, HealthComp’s CEO and management team will remain in place and invested in the company.

“HealthComp is dedicated to transforming benefits management into an experience that employees and employers love, and we are excited to partner with New Mountain Capital to recognize our full potential as a market leader,” said HealthComp CEO Jose Rivero. “We expect to benefit from the team’s deep sector knowledge, growth-oriented philosophy, and highly relevant industry relationships, to set the stage for our continued growth acceleration. We thank Alpine Investors for their fantastic partnership, and we look forward to continuing to build the HealthComp platform with the support and strategic guidance of New Mountain Capital.”

“HealthComp’s strong track record of cost containment and unwavering commitment to improving clinical outcomes for employee populations creates the opportunity to build a leading, scaled platform in an attractive, growing market with significant upside potential,” said Matt Holt, Managing Director and President, Private Equity at New Mountain Capital. “New Mountain Capital’s deep experience in healthcare cost containment will allow HealthComp to capitalize on an unparalleled opportunity to leverage institutional knowledge to drive business building and increase value for customers.”

Kyle Peterson, Managing Director at New Mountain Capital, said, “HealthComp’s scale, track-record, and market reputation make it the ideal platform for the development of a next generation TPA model. We see significant opportunity to leverage New Mountain’s capabilities in data and analytics to drive core platform competencies and a unique commercial strategy. Further investment in an already robust technology platform with the expansion of cost and clinical management capabilities will drive best-in-class cost containment and employee experience for self-funded employers and their employees.”

TripleTree LLC served as exclusive financial advisor and Wilson Sonsini served as legal counsel to HealthComp in the transaction. Ropes & Gray LLP provided legal counsel to New Mountain.

About HealthComp 

For more than 25 years, HealthComp has been dedicated to transforming benefits administration. Bringing together concierge-level service, operational excellence, powerful analytics and cost management, HealthComp has built a solution that integrates seamlessly with any benefits ecosystem. HealthComp has offices in California, Illinois, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Visit healthcomp.com.

About New Mountain Capital 

New Mountain Capital is a New York-based investment firm that emphasizes business building and growth, rather than debt, as it pursues long-term capital appreciation. The firm currently manages private equity, public equity, and credit funds with $28 billion in assets under management. New Mountain seeks out what it believes to be the highest quality growth leaders in carefully selected industry sectors and then works intensively with management to build the value of these companies. For more information on New Mountain Capital, please visit www.newmountaincapital.com 

Press Release Contacts

HealthComp 

Joy Scott
Phone: 818.610.0270
joy@scottpublicrelations.com

New Mountain Capital 

Dana Gorman / Claire Walsh
Abernathy MacGregor
(212) 371-5999
dtg@abmac.com / cw@abmac.com

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LLR Engages Blair Jeffery as Executive in Residence to Support Investment in B2B Payments

LLR Partners

LLR Partners has engaged Blair Jeffery, an experienced leader in the payments industry, as an Executive in Residence on behalf of LLR Equity Partners VI, L.P., a $1.8 billion private equity fund closed in October 2020. In this role, Jeffery will leverage his insights and experience from 20+ years in payments to help LLR identify, evaluate and manage new investment opportunities in the business-to-business (B2B) payments space.

Jeffery served as Chief Operating Officer of Noventis from 2010 through the acquisition by WEX Inc. in January 2019.  During his tenure at Noventis, Jeffery was responsible for all operations and managed a network of more than 5,000 bank relationships and 250,000 suppliers. Prior to Noventis, he held senior operations and business development roles with established payment industry players including First Data and high growth FinTech firms including Paymetric (acquired by WorldPay) and Textura (acquired by Oracle).

“Blair brings a unique track record of successfully building and leading high performing teams, driving growth, product vision and execution,” said Ryan Goldenberg, Principal at LLR Partners. “The B2B payments ecosystem is at an inflection point as technology adoption continues to accelerate,” added Mitchell Hollin, Partner at LLR Partners. “We are thrilled to partner with Blair as we continue LLR’s 20-year history of investing in the payments ecosystem, backing growth companies and supporting top tier management teams.”

LLR’s areas of focus for investment in B2B Payments include:

  • Accounts payable automation
  • Accounts receivable automation
  • Closed loop networks
  • Cross-border payments
  • Business expense management
  • Virtual card gateway
  • Enterprise and recurring billing
  • Accounting software

The firm’s rich history of investment in the payments space includes Heartland Payment Systems (IPO in 2006, acquired by Global Payments in 2016), Fleet One (acquired by WEX Inc.), Phreesia (IPO in 2019), CompoSecure, Midigator and Celero Commerce.

For more of LLR’s perspective on the B2B payments space, check out our GrowthBit highlighting B2B Payments as an Underpenetrated Market at an Inflection Point, part of LLR’s blog series on growth opportunities in FinTech. Look for our next fintech GrowthBit coming soon.

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Alpine’s HealthComp Announces Partnership With New Mountain Capital

Alpine

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Alpine Investors (“Alpine”), a middle-market private equity firm that focuses on investing in people to build enduring companies, today announced that HealthComp Holding Company, LLC (“HealthComp”), a leading independent Third Party Administrator (TPA), is partnering with New Mountain Capital, a leading growth-oriented investment firm with $28 billion in assets under management. As part of the transaction, Alpine is exiting its investment in HealthComp.

Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Fresno, California, HealthComp is the largest independent Third-Party Administrator (TPA) of healthcare benefits in the U.S., serving more than 400,000 members in the self-funded employer industry. The Company offers best in class technology for healthcare benefits administration, payment integrity and care management services to address the “dual mandate” in the U.S. healthcare system: reducing costs and improving clinical outcomes and experience for employees. As part of the transaction, HealthComp’s CEO and management team will remain in place and invested in the company.

“Through our partnership with Alpine, HealthComp has been able to address the ‘dual mandate’ in U.S. healthcare of reducing costs and improving the member experience,” said Jose Rivero, CEO at HealthComp. “We thank Alpine Investors for their fantastic partnership, and we look forward to continuing to build the HealthComp platform with the support and strategic guidance of New Mountain Capital.”

“We are proud of what we have accomplished with HealthComp over the past four years. Jose’s people-driven leadership, innovation, and focus on operational excellence have created the leading independent TPA in the country. We’re excited to see HealthComp’s growth continue as a result of its partnership with New Mountain Capital,” said Will Adams, Partner at Alpine Investors.

TripleTree, LLC served as the exclusive financial advisor to HealthComp for the transaction and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati served as legal counsel.

About Alpine Investors

Alpine Investors is a people-driven private equity firm that is committed to building enduring companies by working with, learning from, and developing exceptional people. Alpine specializes in investments in middle-market companies in the software and services industries. Its PeopleFirst™ strategy includes a CEO-in-Residence program which allows Alpine to bring proven leadership to situations where additional or new management is needed post-transaction. Alpine is currently investing out of its $1 billion seventh fund. For more information, visit http://www.alpineinvestors.com.

About HealthComp Holding Company, LLC

For more than 25 years, HealthComp has been dedicated to transforming benefits administration. Bringing together concierge-level service, operational excellence, powerful analytics and cost management, HealthComp has built a solution that integrates seamlessly with any benefits ecosystem. HealthComp has offices in California, Illinois, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. For more information, visit healthcomp.com.

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Zix Acquires Leading Cloud-Based Backup and Recovery Provider CloudAlly

Truewind

DALLAS, November 9, 2020 /BUSINESS WIRE/— Zix Corporation (Zix), (Nasdaq: ZIXI), a leading provider of cloud email security, productivity and compliance solutions, has acquired privately-held CloudAlly Ltd., an industry leader in cloud-based data backup and recovery for business.

CloudAlly Overview

Founded in 2011, Israel based CloudAlly is a pioneer of enterprise-grade, software-as-a-service (SaaS) cloud backup and recovery solutions. The company offers a robust suite of award-winning, ISO 27001 certified and GDPR/HIPAA compliant solutions for Microsoft Office 365, Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), SharePoint, OneDrive, Salesforce, Box and Dropbox. CloudAlly is a channel-first provider, serving more than 5,000 customers, 250,000 users and supported by 600 Managed Service Provider (MSP) partners. For the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020, CloudAlly is projecting to generate on a standalone basis approximately $8.0 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR).

Acquisition Summary and Rationale

CloudAlly expands Zix’s product suite into Microsoft Office 365 backup, filling growing demand from AppRiver’s MSP channel and Zix’s value-added reseller and direct channels.
Complementary and synergistic go-to-market motions and end markets with no overlap in the companies’ MSP partner bases.

CloudAlly enables Zix to enter the cloud backup and recovery market. MarketsandMarkets estimates the cloud back up market as a $1.3 billion market growing 25%.

“Our acquisition of CloudAlly greatly enhances the Zix suite of solutions and will provide our partners and customers with another robust tool to drive further cloud adoption in their digital transformation journeys,” said David Wagner, Zix’s Chief Executive Officer. “With CloudAlly, we can now directly address the growing demand we’ve seen from partners, customers and prospects alike for an enterprise-grade cloud backup offering with a best-in-class solution. In fact, through a recent survey of our MSP partner base, we found that at least 45% confirmed they would purchase a backup solution from Zix if it became available. Cloud backup being our number one product adjacency, coupled with our proven success attaching additional products to our customer base, gives us a high level of confidence that we can leverage CloudAlly to become a greater business than just the sum of its parts. With CloudAlly, we can greatly enhance our Secure Cloud platform and also mitigate concerns around ransomware which has become a large industry focus. With this transaction completed, Zix will be better positioned for profitable growth, higher attach rates, scaled customer retention, and with the opportunity to capture a greater share of the multi-billion-dollar business communications market.”

Avinoam Katz, CloudAlly’s Chief Executive Officer, commented: “A comprehensive data protection plan is more important than ever as companies around the world are focusing on cybersecurity for their remote workforce. We’re extremely excited to join forces with Zix at this time and feel that our industry leading cloud backup service will be a complementary and valuable addition to their recently announced Secure Cloud Platform, an integrated suite of productivity, security and compliance services. This suite of services will give our rapidly growing combined customer and partner base around the world the tools they need to protect their critical cloud assets across an evolving distributed workforce.”

Financing Terms

In connection with the acquisition, Zix modified its existing senior secured term loan led by Truist Bank by adding additional borrowings of $35.0 million, bringing the total outstanding amount of the term loan to $212.2 million. The maturity date remains February 20, 2024 and carries the same interest rate (currently LIBOR plus 3.25%), which is subject to future step-downs as Zix’s leverage reduces. Additionally, Zix intends to use a portion of the additional term loan borrowing to repay all existing draws under its revolving credit facility, which will leave Zix with $25.0 million of capacity under its revolver.

On a pro forma basis, taking into effect the CloudAlly acquisition, as of December 31, 2020, Zix expects to have over $20.0 million of cash and cash equivalents and total long-term debt of $212.1 million.

“Beyond the direct benefits from an operational standpoint, our acquisition of CloudAlly should also be highly accretive from a financial perspective,” said Dave Rockvam, Zix’s Chief Financial Officer.” Its 100% subscription business and favorable profitability profile provide us with predictable adjusted EBITDA and cash flow to augment our already-robust financial base. We sought out CloudAlly because of the strong, born-in-the-cloud business they have today, but we believe that what it could be in the future represents an even more attractive ROI for Zix. Longer-term, our strong, unlevered free cash flow generation capabilities, aided by CloudAlly, have us on solid footing to comfortably service our debt obligations over time.”

Zix management will provide additional details on the CloudAlly acquisition and the company’s outlook on its third quarter 2020 conference call scheduled for today, Monday, November 9, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Transaction Advisors

Baker Botts and Gornitzky & Co. acted as legal advisors to Zix. Clairfield International acted as financial advisor and Gross Kleinhendler Hodak acted as legal advisor to CloudAlly.

About CloudAlly

Founded in 2011, CloudAlly provides ISO 27001 certified and GDPR/HIPAA compliant SaaS backup and recovery solutions. CloudAlly comprehensively protects Microsoft Office 365, Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), Salesforce, Dropbox, and Box SaaS data with secure automated cloud-to-cloud backup and easy recovery from any point-in-time with unlimited data retention. Additionally, CloudAlly offers unlimited storage and tier-one customer service. For more information, visit www.cloudally.com.

About Zix Corporation

Zix Corporation (Zix) is a leader in email security. Trusted by the nation’s most influential institutions in healthcare, finance and government, Zix delivers a superior experience and easy-to-use solutions for email encryption and data loss prevention, advanced threat protection, unified information archiving and bring your own device (BYOD) mobile security. Focusing on the protection of business communication, Zix enables its customers to better secure data and meet compliance needs. Zix is publicly traded on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol ZIXI. For more information, visit www.zixcorp.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this release that are not purely historical facts or that necessarily depend upon future events, including projections of CloudAlly’s future standalone financial performance, statements about future business combination and/or related financing transactions, forecasts of sales, revenue, EBITDA, ARR, earnings, earnings per share or similar financial measures, potential benefits of future business combination transactions or strategic relationships, or other statements about anticipations, beliefs, expectations, hopes, intentions or strategies for the future, may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based upon information available to Zix on the date this release was issued. Zix undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Any forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or results described in the forward-looking statements, including but not limited to risks or uncertainties related to the acquisition and integration of newly acquired companies and businesses, the company’s taking on new indebtedness, market acceptance of both existing and new Zix solutions, changing market dynamics resulting from technological change and innovation as well as ongoing customer migration of IT solutions to the “cloud”, how privacy and data security laws may affect demand for Zix data protection solutions and uncertainty and market instability stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and governmental actions related thereto. Zix may not succeed in addressing these and other risks. Further information regarding factors that could affect Zix financial and other results can be found in the risk factors section of Zix’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as those risk factors may be supplemented in subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

Contacts
Zix Company Contact
Geoff Bibby
1-214-370-2241
gbibby@zixcorp.com

Zix Investor Contact
Matt Glover and Tom Colton
Gateway Investor Relations
1-949-574-3860
ZIXI@gatewayir.com

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Blackstone Announces Majority Stake in the Largest Logistics Park in China’s Greater Bay Area

Blackstone

HONG KONG, November 10, 2020 – Blackstone (NYSE: BX) today announced the acquisition of a majority stake in the Greater Bay Area’s largest urban logistics park for US$1.1 billion from R&F Group, expanding Blackstone’s China logistics portfolio by approximately one-third. Blackstone Real Estate’s opportunistic funds will acquire a 70% stake in the 1.2 million-square-meter logistics park located in Guangzhou, China.

Justin Wai, a Blackstone Real Estate Managing Director based in Hong Kong, said: “Logistics remains among our highest conviction global investment themes and we continue to see strong momentum driven by e-commerce trends. This transaction represents a continuation of Blackstone’s strategy to acquire high quality logistics located in tier-one distribution hubs with ongoing tenant demand. The investment also complements our existing Chinese logistics portfolio geographically, which will total 53 million square feet and give us a presence in 23 cities once the acquisition is complete.”

Cliff Chen, a Blackstone Real Estate Managing Director based in Shanghai, said: “The Greater Bay Area is rapidly emerging as a financial, technology and transportation hub and one of China’s biggest logistics markets. Our scale, expertise in logistics, and the support of dedicated teams on the ground enable us to drive our plans for the park’s future growth including constructing additional cold storage facilities and institutional-quality warehouses to cater to rising demand.”

The Greater Bay Area is a fast-growing metropolitan area comprising 11 cities including Shenzhen, Macau, and Hong Kong. The logistics park is located 15km from Guangzhou International Airport and houses blue-chip tenants across sectors such as third-party logistics (SF Express, YTO Express), e-commerce (Tmall, JD.com), pharmaceuticals (Sinopharm, CR Pharma), and telecommunications (China Mobile, China Telecom).

Blackstone Real Estate operates around the globe and has approximately US$174 billion in investor capital under management. Since 2010, Blackstone has acquired more than 1 billion square feet of logistics globally in more than 200 distinct transactions. In 2019, it announced the largest-ever private real estate transaction globally with the acquisition of U.S. logistics assets from GLP.

About Blackstone Real Estate
Blackstone is a global leader in real estate investing. Blackstone’s real estate business was founded in 1991 and has $174 billion of investor capital under management. Blackstone is one of the largest property owners in the world, owning and operating assets across every major geography and sector, including logistics, multifamily and single family housing, office, hospitality and retail. Our opportunistic funds seek to acquire undermanaged, well-located assets across the world. Blackstone’s Core+ strategy invests in substantially stabilized real estate globally through regional open-ended funds focused on high-quality assets and Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. (BREIT), a non-listed REIT that invests in U.S. income-generating assets. Blackstone Real Estate also operates one of the leading global real estate debt businesses, providing comprehensive financing solutions across the capital structure and risk spectrum, including management of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE: BXMT).

Media Contact:
Ellen Bogard
Ellen.Bogard@Blackstone.com
Tel: +852 3651 7737

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Adobe to Acquire Workfront

JMI Equity

Acquisition Brings Leading Work Management Platform for Marketers to Adobe Experience Cloud

SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Workfront, the leading work management platform for marketers, for $1.5 billion, subject to customary purchase price adjustments. With more than 3,000 customers and one million users, Workfront is the solution marketers rely on every day to efficiently manage content, plan and track marketing campaigns, and execute complex workflows across teams.

Adobe solutions are at the nexus of creativity and customer experience management and mission-critical to marketers, creatives, analysts, and now, operations managers. Adobe Creative Cloud provides the world’s best creative apps and services to everyone, from students, to social media influencers, to professional photographers, filmmakers, and designers. Adobe Experience Cloud is the most comprehensive solution for content and commerce, customer journey management, and customer data and insights, all built on an open platform, enabling businesses of every size across every industry to deliver exceptional customer experiences at scale.

Satisfying the increasing expectations of B2B and B2C customers today requires large volumes of content and personalized marketing campaigns delivered at lightning speed and scale. This must be accomplished across increasingly dispersed teams, as remote work becomes prevalent in today’s environment and the future of work is redefined. The combination of Adobe Experience Cloud and Workfront will bring efficiency, collaboration, and productivity gains to marketing teams currently challenged with siloed work management solutions.

Workfront has deep leadership in orchestrating marketing workflows. Workfront’s platform is agile and uniquely architected for the enterprise, with extensive integration capabilities that can be easily configured to meet the varied needs of companies of all sizes.

Adobe and Workfront are longstanding partners with strong product synergies and a growing base of over 1,000 shared customers. Workfront is equipped with APIs that enable a seamless connection to Adobe Creative Cloud and Adobe Experience Cloud. Shared Adobe and Workfront customers include Deloitte, Under Armour, Nordstrom, Prudential Financial, T-Mobile, and The Home Depot.

“Adobe is the undisputed leader in content creation, management, delivery, and measurement and a trusted partner to digital leaders around the globe,” said Anil Chakravarthy, executive vice president and general manager, Digital Experience Business and Worldwide Field Operations, Adobe. “The combination of Adobe and Workfront will further accelerate Adobe’s leadership in customer experience management, providing a pioneering solution that spans the entire lifecycle of digital experiences, from ideation to activation.”

“Adobe and Workfront share a common affinity to help the modern marketer thrive in an ever-evolving, increasingly demanding setting,” said Alex Shootman, CEO, Workfront. “We’re excited to join Adobe and believe this will be a tremendous opportunity for our customers and partners.”

Upon close, Workfront CEO Alex Shootman will continue to lead the Workfront team, reporting to Anil Chakravarthy, executive vice president and general manager, Digital Experience Business and Worldwide Field Operations.

The transaction, which is expected to close during the first quarter of Adobe’s 2021 fiscal year, is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. Until the transaction closes, each company will continue to operate independently.

Forward-Looking Statements Disclosure

This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities law. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements relate to future events and future performance and reflect Adobe’s expectations regarding the ability to extend its leadership in the experience business through the combination of Adobe Experience Cloud’s capabilities in content creation, management, delivery and measurement, with Workfront’s work management products and other anticipated benefits of the transaction. Forward-looking statements involve risks, including general risks associated with Adobe’s and Workfront’s business, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those referred to in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: Adobe’s ability to further integrate Workfront technology into Adobe Experience Cloud; the effectiveness of Workfront technology; potential benefits of the transaction to Adobe and Workfront customers; the ability of Adobe and Workfront to close the announced transaction; the possibility that the closing of the transaction may be delayed; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to Adobe and are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. For a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, individuals should refer to Adobe’s SEC filings. Adobe does not assume any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements or other statements included in this press release.

About Workfront

Workfront is the leader in enterprise work management, trusted by more than 3,000 companies, one million users, and 10 out of 10 of the world’s top brands. Workfront was founded to help people, teams, and companies do their best work. For more information, visit www.workfront.com.

About Adobe

Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.

© 2020 Adobe. All rights reserved. Adobe and the Adobe logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Contacts

Public relations contact
Ashley Levine
Adobe
aslevine@adobe.com

Investor relations contact
Jonathan Vaas
Adobe
ir@adobe.com

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FPE Capital invests to accelerate growth at Togetherall, a leading digital mental health platform

FPE Capital

nvestment is eighth from FPE’s software and services focussed Fund II

FPE Capital LLP (‘FPE’), the software & services focused lower mid-market growth investor, announces that it has invested in Togetherall, a leading mental health SaaS platform.

This marks the eighth investment from FPE Fund II. Togetherall joins other SaaS product focussed investments Questionmark, Masstech, Kallik and MaxContact in FPE’s portfolio.

Togetherall is the leading digital mental health community, delivering 24/7, clinically moderated support to low acuity users via its SaaS-delivered platform. The business has a strong existing position in Higher Education and is rapidly expanding into the Corporate and Public Health verticals. In the last twelve months the platform has supported over 85,000 members across its key geographies in the UK, USA and Canada.

FPE’s growth capital investment is largely into primary funding to support the business in accelerating its rapid growth in North America. This echoes the driver of growth in FPE’s successful exits of Fund I investments Small World Financial Services and Creditcall where US expansion was a key element of equity value. FPE will support the business in its growth journey through its own domain experience and the introduction of functional experts and complementary executive talent.

David Barbour, Managing Partner at FPE, commented:

 

“FPE is delighted to have completed this growth investment into Togetherall. Our expertise is focussed on investing in high quality companies operating in large markets where we can support the team in their growth ambitions. We look forward to working with Henry and his management team in the coming years.”

 

Henry Jones, CEO of Togetherall, added:

 

“We are excited to be partnering with experienced technology investors in FPE. Their experience in SaaS really sets them apart, and we are pleased to have them on board as we accelerate our growth into North America.”

 

FPE joins LGT IVUK as investors in Togetherall. FPE’s investment will make it the largest shareholder in the business. Henry Sallitt and Llewellyn John will join the Board from completion.

The FPE investment was led by Henry Sallitt, Llewellyn John and Chris Kay. FPE was advised on the transaction by Stephenson Harwood (Legal), Luminii Consulting (Commercial), Dow Schofield Watts (Financial and Tax), Intechnica (Technical DD), and Continuum Ventures (Management).

Togetherall was advised by EY Corporate Finance and Taylor Vinters.

-ENDS-

Media inquiries:

FPE

David Barbour

Managing Partner

+44 (0) 203 912 8801

Togetherall

Henry Jones

CEO

+44 (0) 7958 754 880

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The Carlyle Group Acquires Leading Pet Health and Nutrition Provider Manna Pro Products from Morgan Stanley Capital Partners

Carlyle

NEW YORK – The Carlyle Group today announced that it has acquired a majority stake in Manna Pro Products (“Manna Pro”) from investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Capital Partners (“MSCP”). Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Manna Pro, a St. Louis-based manufacturer and marketer of specialty pet care products, provides food, treats, and a wide assortment of high-quality health and wellness products for companion pets and hobby animals. With roots dating back to 1842, Manna Pro has a long history of excellence in pet nutrition. Today, Manna Pro has developed into an industry leader providing nutritionally wholesome products for dogs, cats, backyard chickens and other companion pets. A leader in the fields of pet health and nutrition, the Company is well known for its innovative product development and commitment to sustainable practices.

“We are grateful to have partnered with the extraordinary management team at Manna Pro during a period of tremendous growth as they advanced their position as a leading provider of pet health and nutrition,” said Aaron Sack, Head of Morgan Stanley Capital Partners. “During MSCP’s ownership, Manna Pro built on its long history with strong organic growth and benefited from several critical companion pet acquisitions, including Fruitables, Hero Pet and most recently Doggie Dailies, that expanded Manna Pro’s online presence and created opportunities to reshape the supply chain and operations. We’re excited for Manna Pro to continue this positive trajectory as they enter a new phase with the exceptional team at Carlyle. ”

“We’re excited to partner again with John Howe and the talented Manna Pro management team, as we have known many of the key business leaders for more than six years,” said David Basto, a Carlyle Managing Director. “Our prior partnership with Manna Pro was a great success, and the business’ momentum has only continued. Strong recent organic growth and the relative fragmentation in the categories in which the Company plays give us a high degree of confidence in the opportunities ahead for Manna Pro.”

“Strong execution and enduring category tailwinds are driving exceptional growth for Manna Pro, and we believe there is meaningful runway for continued expansion, both domestically and internationally,” said Jay Sammons, Carlyle’s Head of Global Consumer, Media & Retail. “With multiple avenues for future value creation, including growing the core business and increasing the scale of acquisitions, we look forward to supporting the Company’s growth plans with our differentiated global capabilities and resources.”

“We are pleased to be working again with the team at Carlyle as we build on the substantial growth we’ve experienced in partnership with MSCP,” said John Howe, CEO, Manna Pro. “Our business has evolved significantly over the past three years with the expansion of our high quality product offering, increased investment in brand building, improved operations, and intense focus on growth and sustainability. With increasing demand for products that help pet parents care for and nurture their pets, we appreciate MSCP’s support in achieving our leadership position and look forward to working with Carlyle again as we continue our mission.”

The investment in Manna Pro is a continuation of Carlyle’s long-term global commitment to Consumer, Media & Retail, in which it has invested more than $21.5 billion of equity since inception. Equity capital for the investment will come from Carlyle Partners VII, an $18.5 billion fund that makes majority and strategic minority investments primarily in the U.S. in targeted industries, including Consumer, Media & Retail.

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP acted as legal advisor to MSCP. Kirkland & Ellis acted as legal advisor to The Carlyle Group and William Blair & Company acted as financial advisor to Manna Pro, with co-advisory support from Lincoln International.

About The Carlyle Group
The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global investment firm with deep industry expertise that deploys private capital across four business segments: Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Credit and Investment Solutions. With $230 billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2020, Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, portfolio companies and the communities in which we live and invest. Carlyle employs more than 1,800 people in 30 offices across six continents. Further information is available at www.carlyle.com. Follow Carlyle on Twitter @OneCarlyle.

About Morgan Stanley Capital Partners
Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, the middle-market focused private equity business of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, has invested capital in a broad spectrum of industries for over two decades. Morgan Stanley Capital Partners focuses on privately negotiated equity and equity-related investments in North America and seeks to create value in portfolio companies primarily through operational improvement. For further information about Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, please visit to  www.morganstanley.com/im/capitalpartners.

Media
Morgan Stanley Media Relations
Lauren Bellmare
212.761.5303
Lauren.bellmare@morganstanley.com

The Carlyle Group Media Relations
Brittany Berliner
212.813.4839
brittany.berliner@carlyle.com

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IK Investment Partners to acquire ALBA Baving Group

ik-investment-partners

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK Small Cap II Fund has reached an agreement to acquire a majority stake in ALBA Baving Group (“ALBA” or “the Company”) from its founding family. ALBA is a leading provider of infrastructure cleaning and maintenance services for municipalities and B2B customers in Germany. Financial terms are not disclosed and the completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

Founded in 1964 by Albert and Hans Baving in Neuenkirchen, ALBA has developed into one of Germany’s largest service providers for municipal infrastructure services. The Company provides street sweeping, sink box cleaning, road and highway maintenance and other infrastructure services as well as winter and greenspace maintenance and swept material recycling services. ALBA sweeps more than 2,000 kilometres of road per day in over 120 German cities and municipalities, cleans over 500,000 sink boxes annually, and contributes to the maintenance, cleanliness and safety of critical infrastructure for municipalities and B2B customers. IK will be acquiring a majority stake from Dr. Jörg Baving and Claus Baving who became shareholders and took roles as Managing Partners after a generational change in 1999. Today the business is led by CEO Philipp Wernsmann, and following the transaction, Dr. Jörg Baving and Claus Baving will continue to support ALBA in an advisory role.

IK will work with the management to accelerate the Company’s organic growth strategy, expand its service offering and further invest into its operations to support ALBA’s continued development into a full-service provider of infrastructure services.

Claus Baving, shareholder of ALBA, said: “ALBA has developed into a leading service provider for municipal services in Germany. We are very proud of this growth, the loyalty of our customers and our trusted and qualified employees. We look forward to embarking on a new chapter together with IK and continuing to expand our market position further.”

Dr. Jörg Baving, shareholder of ALBA, commented: “IK shares our vision for ALBA as a full-service provider of infrastructure services. Their support and experience will bring value for us and for the continuous strategic development of the Company and its service offering.”

Nils Pohlmann, Partner at IK Investment Partners and advisor to the IK SC II Fund, said: “ALBA represents more than 50 years of cleaning services for communities across Germany. We are impressed by its sustainable and successful development, its professional set-up and operational and digitalised processes. ALBA is an attractive platform investment for IK, and we look forward to actively supporting the management team and shareholders to further grow the Company.”

Philipp Wernsmann, CEO of ALBA, added: “With IK we found the right partner to support our strategic growth ambitions. We are impressed by IK’s experience, capabilities and motivation, and look forward to developing ALBA together.”

Parties involved with transaction:

Buyside

IK Investment Partners: Nils Pohlmann, Ingmar Bär, Florian Kofler
Buyer commercial due diligence: h&z Unternehmensberatung (Dr. Markus Contzen, Sascha Tagliaferri)
Buyer financial due diligence: Ernst & Young (Hinrich Grunwaldt)
Buyer legal advisor: Ernst & Young Law (Dr. Jan Philipp Feigen)
Buyer tax advisor: Ernst & Young (Thorsten Krummheuer)

Sellside

Seller: Claus Baving, Dr. Jörg Baving
Seller M&A advisor: MCF Corporate Finance (Stefan Mattern)
Seller legal advisor: Renzenbrink & Partner (Dr. Ulf Renzenbrink)
Seller tax advisor: DWL Döcker und Partner (Peter Göcking, Bernward Wigger)

For further questions, please contact:

ALBA
Philipp Wernsmann, CEO
+49 5973 94 99 0 

IK Investment Partners:
Charles Barker Corporate Communications
Tobias Eberle
+49 69 794 090 24
Tobias.Eberle@charlesbarker.de

Maitland/AMO:
James McFarlane
Phone: +44 (0) 7584 142 665
jmcfarlane@maitland.co.uk

About IK Investment Partners

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a Pan-European private equity firm focused on investments in the Benelux, DACH, France, Nordics and the UK. Since 1989, IK has raised more than €13 billion of capital and invested in over 135 European companies. IK supports companies with strong underlying potential, partnering with management teams and investors to create robust, well-positioned businesses with excellent long-term prospects. For more information, visit www.ikinvest.com

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Hg agrees the sale of Eucon to VHV Group

HG Capital

Münster, Germany and London, United Kingdom – 6 November 2020: Hg, Europe’s leading software investor, today announces that it has agreed the sale of Eucon Group to VHV Group, a leading German insurance group. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to customary anti-trust approvals and closing is expected later this year.

Eucon is a leading provider of best-in-class information and data-based systems for efficient product management in the automotive aftermarket. Customers include car manufacturers and suppliers, as well as a variety of workshop chains. For insurers, Eucon digitalises claims management and is one of the sector leaders for digital platform solutions for data and document processing. In addition, Eucon offers digital solutions for the real estate industry for efficient and transparent invoice management.

“Together with Hg, we have written a great success story over the last five years. We would like to thank Benedikt Joeris and his team for their partnership and trusting cooperation. We have been successfully cooperating with the VHV Group for some time now and therefore could not have hoped for a better new investor. By providing platform solutions, we help our customers tap the digital potential of their industry and ensure sustainable access to the key technologies they require. With VHV as a robust, powerful and innovative partner, we can achieve this goal even more effectively and ensure that this open platform strategy is available to our customers for the long term.”

Sven Krüger, CEO of the Eucon Group

“It has been a real privilege to work with Sven, the founders and entire team at Eucon. Today we part ways after five very productive years of working together. Eucon’s business sits at the intersection of two growth drivers in which Hg has built substantial experience: the value of big data in the automotive sector and the increasing digitalisation of the insurance and real estate industry – and together we have built a great business in these areas. We are delighted that the team will be able to continue this journey with VHV, a true leader in insurance across Germany. We’re also pleased to see the strength of our networks and our track record continue to drive value in small and medium enterprises across Germany.”

Benedikt Joeris, Director at Hg

“Eucon can look back on a very successful few years of development alongside Hg. Our collaboration has been very valuable to the business and we enjoyed working closely together. We look forward to continuing Eucon’s growth with VHV.”

The founders of Eucon Group, Maurice and Marcel Oosenbrugh

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