WESTMINSTER, Colo. and
NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Funds advised
by Apax Partners (the "Apax Funds") today announced they have
reached an agreement to acquire Coalfire, a provider of
cybersecurity advisory and assessment services, from The Carlyle
Group (NASDAQ: CG) and The Chertoff Group. The transaction is
expected to be completed in early 2020, subject to regulatory
approval. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Founded in 2001, Coalfire is a cybersecurity advisor that helps
organizations avert threats, close gaps, and effectively manage
cyber risk. By providing independent, tailored advice and services
that span the cybersecurity lifecycle, Coalfire helps
clients develop scalable programs that improve their security
posture. The company today has more than 1,800 government and
commercial clients and extensive cloud security experience, working
with seven of the top ten SaaS providers. Coalfire's more than 730
employees operate from 11 locations in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The investment from the Apax Funds will support Coalfire in
accelerating its growth. Rohan Haldea, Partner at Apax Partners,
said: "Coalfire is an established and highly-respected
cybersecurity advisory and assessment services firm that is
well-positioned for further growth due to cybersecurity trends and
the vision of its strong management team. The Apax Funds'
investment will assist the company in particular by increasing
Coalfire's investment in technology; continuing to invest in
thought leadership, especially with respect to securing cloud
environments; and deepening capabilities across assurance standards
while scaling its penetration testing and cyber risk services
business."
Tom McAndrew, Coalfire CEO, said:
"We are thrilled with our new partnership with Apax, which will
help drive our growth plans while continuing our commitment to our
customers, people, and core values. The leadership, support, and
investment provided by Carlyle, Chertoff, and Baird Capital have
been instrumental in our success over the last four years, and we
are excited to begin this new chapter."
Carlyle Managing Director Steve
Bailey said: "It has been a great pleasure working with Tom
and his team, along with The Chertoff Group, to support Coalfire's
tremendous growth over the past four years as we leveraged our
cybersecurity investing experience. We wish them much continued
success."
Haldea added: "We look forward to working with the Coalfire team
as they broaden their services to support customers in navigating
an environment that is characterized by an increasing range of
cybersecurity challenges." The Apax Funds have a successful track
record of partnering with tech-enabled services businesses,
including Engineering, EVRY, Fractal Analytics, GlobalLogic,
Lexitas, ThoughtWorks, and Zensar.
William Blair served as financial
advisor and Latham & Watkins served as legal advisor to
Coalfire. PwC served as accounting advisor to Carlyle. Kirkland
& Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to the Apax Funds.
The Carlyle Group invested in Coalfire in 2015 through its U.S.
Equity Opportunity Fund I, a $1.1
billion U.S. middle-market fund.
About Coalfire
Coalfire is the trusted cybersecurity advisor that helps private
and public-sector organizations avert threats, close gaps and
effectively manage risk. By providing independent and tailored
advice, assessments, technical testing, and cyber engineering
services, we help clients develop scalable programs that improve
their security posture, achieve their business objectives and fuel
their continued success. Coalfire has been a cybersecurity thought
leader for nearly 20 years and has offices throughout the United States and Europe. For more information, visit
www.coalfire.com.
About Apax Partners
Apax Partners is a leading global private equity advisory firm.
Over its more than 40-year history, Apax Partners has raised and
advised funds with aggregate commitments of c.$50 billion. The Apax Funds invest in companies
across four global sectors of Tech & Telco, Services,
Healthcare, and Consumer. These funds provide long-term equity
financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For more
information see: www.apax.com.
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 $222
billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2019, 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. The Carlyle Group employs more than 1,775 people in 33
offices across six continents.
About The Chertoff Group
The Chertoff Group is a global advisory services firm that
invests in and provides consulting, business development and
M&A advisory services for clients in the security, defense and
government services sectors. The Chertoff Group applies
security expertise, technology insights, and policy intelligence to
help clients build resilient organizations, gain competitive
advantage, and accelerate growth. Through its investment banking
subsidiary Chertoff Capital, the firm provides M&A advisory
services in global security markets and growth equity investments
in cyber and tech-enabled security and defense sector
companies. For more information, visit
www.chertoffgroup.com
About Baird Capital
Baird Capital makes venture capital, growth equity and private
equity investments in strategically targeted sectors around the
world. Having invested in more than 300 companies over its history,
Baird Capital partners with entrepreneurs and, leveraging its
executive networks, strives to build exceptional companies. Baird
Capital provides operational support to its portfolio companies
through teams on the ground in the United
States, Europe and
Asia, a proactive portfolio
operations team and a deep network of relationships, which together
strive to deliver enhanced shareholder value. Baird Capital is the
direct private investment arm of Robert W. Baird & Co. For more
information, please visit BairdCapital.com.
Media Contacts
For Coalfire
Global Media: Mike Gallo, Lumina
Communications | +1 212-239-8594 | luminacoalfire@luminapr.com
UK Media: Bryn Madden, Citypress
| +44 161 235 0338 | coalfire@citypress.co.uk
For Apax Partners
Global Media: Andrew Kenny, Apax
| +44 20 7 872 6371 | andrew.kenny@apax.com
USA Media: Todd Fogarty, Kekst CNC | +1 212-521-4854 |
apax@kekstcnc.com
UK Media: Matthew Goodman /
James Madsen, Greenbrook | +44 20
7952 2000 | apax@greenbrookpr.com
For The Carlyle Group
Christa Zipf, The Carlyle Group |
+1 212-813-4578 | christa.zipf@carlyle.com
For The Chertoff Group
Global Media: Meagan
Hawkins | +1 202-552-5243 |
meagan.hawkins@chertoffgroup.com
For Baird Capital
Rachel Kern | +1 414-298-5101 |
rkern@rwbaird.com
Notes to Editors
London-headquartered Apax
Partners (www.apax.com), and Paris-headquartered Apax Partners
(www.apax.fr) had a shared history but are separate, independent
private equity firms.
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SOURCE Apax Partners