Centerbridge Partners, L.P., a private investment firm, announced that it has completed the $1.26 billion (€1.05 billion) acquisition of enterprise software providers Syncsort Incorporated and Vision Solutions, Inc. from affiliates of Clearlake Capital Group, L.P.
As previously announced, Clearlake, which acquired Syncsort in 2015 and Vision in 2016, is retaining a minority ownership stake in the combined company.
Headquartered in Pearl River, NY, the new company benefits from a dramatic increase in global presence, as well as significantly expanded product offerings, afforded by the combination. It now serves more than 6,000 enterprise customers worldwide. Vision CEO, Nicolaas Vlok, will assist with the transition and become a senior advisor with the new company.
“We are pleased to open an exciting new chapter in Syncsort’s rich history, and execute strategies to capitalise on the many growth opportunities provided by the combination of Syncsort’s market-leading Big Iron to Big Data platform and Vision’s leading business resilience software solutions,” said Jared Hendricks, a senior managing director at Centerbridge.
“Given the innovation and talent that the teams contribute to this combination, the laser focus on high-value use cases and strategic partnerships to drive significant organic growth, and a proven track record executing acquisitions, the future is extremely bright at Syncsort. We are excited about the prospects for the new company and continuing participation from our partners at Clearlake.”
“We are thrilled to officially welcome the talented Vision team, the thousands of customers that rely on Vision’s trusted leadership in IBM i and AIX Power Systems, and an impressive, world-class partner ecosystem to the new Syncsort,” said Josh Rogers, CEO, Syncsort.
“This milestone in our business comes at a time when virtually every large enterprise in the world is focused on optimising existing data infrastructure, and liberating mission-critical data from traditional systems, to make it available in next-generation analytic environments for trusted business insights.
Together with Centerbridge and Clearlake, we are creating a Big Iron to Big Data platform that addresses the most critical, complex data management challenges that leading enterprises across all major industries will face for at least the next decade. We are pleased to take this logical next step in our strategy.”
“I am delighted to be supporting Centerbridge and the new Syncsort as a senior advisor to continue to help develop a global Big Iron to Big Data leader,” said Nicolaas Vlok, CEO of Vision Solutions. “There is significant potential to generate more value for our customers, partners, employees and investors as we execute on the growth strategy of the combined business.”
Syncsort is a recognised global leader in Big Iron to Big Data solutions, a fast-growing segment within the data management space that industry analyst Wikibon forecasts to be growing at 25% a year to $2.3 billion by 2020. Syncsort’s proven software efficiently delivers all critical enterprise data assets with the highest integrity for Big Data analytics, on premise or in the cloud. With its acquisition of Trillium Software in late 2016, the company is also now home to market-leading data quality software and expertise.
The Vision portfolio provides leading business resilience solutions for IBM i and AIX Power Systems platforms. Its software solutions are designed to protect data, minimise downtime and maximise resources for the modern data centre.
The recent acquisition of Enforcive Systems, an IT security and compliance management solutions provider, drives a unique convergence of high availability, disaster recovery and security capabilities to protect an organisation’s data. With the addition of the Vision portfolio, Syncsort is well positioned to capitalise on significant investments being made across the industry in tuning Power Systems to serve next-generation machine learning use cases, on premise or in the cloud.
Evercore and Jefferies served as financial advisors to Syncsort and Vision Solutions. Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse served as financial advisors to Centerbridge. Financing for the transaction was provided by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Antares Capital, Golub Capital, Jefferies and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
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