M&A Deal Summary

Blackhawk Network Acquires Parago

On September 25, 2014, Blackhawk Network acquired marketing company Parago from TH Lee Putnam Ventures and Icarus Investments for 290M USD

Acquisition Highlights
  • This is Blackhawk Network’s 1st transaction in the Marketing sector.
  • This is Blackhawk Network’s largest (disclosed) transaction.
  • This is Blackhawk Network’s 4th transaction in the United States.
  • This is Blackhawk Network’s 2nd transaction in Texas.

M&A Deal Summary
Date 2014-09-25
Target Parago
Sector Marketing
Buyer(s) Blackhawk Network
Sellers(s) TH Lee Putnam Ventures
Icarus Investments
Deal Type Add-on Acquisition
Deal Value 290M USD
Advisor(s) Raymond James - Investment Banking (Financial)
K&L Gates LLP (Legal)

Target

Parago

Lewisville, Texas, United States
website
Parago provides a proprietary, promotional marketing technology platform that helps clients reduce promotional program costs, increase sales, and enhance customer relationships. The company?s products, PromoCenter, ValueRewards, and KnowledgeCenter, have all been developed collectively with the objective of leveraging Internet-based technology, processes and resources to make promotional marketing programs more efficient and effective resulting in an improved bottom line and happier customers for our clients.

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Buyer(S) 1

Buyer

Blackhawk Network

Pleasanton, California, United States

website

Category Company
Founded 2001
Sector Information Technology
Employees2,331
Revenue 1.8B USD (2016)
DESCRIPTION

Blackhawk Network is a global financial technology company and a leader in connecting brands and people through branded value solutions. Blackhawk platforms and solutions enable the management of stored value products, promotions and rewards programs in retail, ecommerce, financial services and mobile wallets. Blackhawk’s Hawk Commerce division offers technology solutions to businesses and direct to consumers. The Hawk Incentives division offers enterprise, SMB and reseller partners an array of platforms and branded value products to incent and reward consumers, employees and sales channels. Headquartered in Pleasanton, Calif., Blackhawk operates in 26 countries.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 5 of 15
Sector (Marketing) 1 of 1
Type (Add-on Acquisition) 5 of 13
State (Texas) 2 of 2
Country (United States) 4 of 13
Year (2014) 2 of 2
Size (of disclosed) 1 of 4
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2014-09-15 CardLab

Dallas, Texas, United States

CardLab, Inc. is an online provider of customizable prepaid incentive and rewards cards. It is a one-stop shop offering popular retail gift cards, VisaIncentive Cards and e-Gift cards, which can be delivered by email or text message.

Buy -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2015-06-30 Achievers

San Francisco, California, United States

Achievers is a provider of employee recognition and rewards solutions designed to help companies increase employee engagement. Achievers delivers an Employee Success Platform™ that enables social recognition, which dramatically increases employee engagement and drives business success.

Buy $110M

Seller(S) 2

SELLER

TH Lee Putnam Ventures

New York, New York, United States

website

Category Growth Capital Firm
Founded 1999
PE ASSETS 1.1B USD
Size Large
Type Sector Focused
DESCRIPTION

TH Lee Putnam Ventures (THLPV) is a technology-focused private equity firm affiliated with Thomas H. Lee Partners and Putnam Investments. THLPV's primary focus is on later-stage venture investments, but the firm will also consider public entities, middle market buyouts, recapitalizations and spinouts of corporate divisions. A typical investment is between $20 and $50 million. TH Lee Putnam Ventures was formed in 1999 and is based in New York City.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 9 of 9
Sector (Marketing) 2 of 2
Type (Add-on Acquisition) 6 of 6
State (Texas) 2 of 2
Country (United States) 8 of 8
Year (2014) 1 of 1
Size (of disclosed) 2 of 3
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2013-02-04 Velocity Express

Stafford, Texas, United States

Velocity Express Corp. is a provider of time critical supply chain solutions. Velocity and has one of the largest nationwide networks and provides a national footprint for customers desiring same day delivery and logistics services throughout the United States.

Sell -
SELLER

Icarus Investments

Dallas, Texas, United States

website

Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 1997
Size Small
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

Icarus Investments is a private equity firm focused on acquiring/investing in businesses in out of favor industries. Icarus will consider opportunities in a variety of sectors and looks to make acquisitions in partnership with management. Icaurus Investments was formed in 1997 and is based in Dallas, Texas.

DEAL STATS #
Overall 3 of 3
Sector (Marketing) 2 of 2
Type (Add-on Acquisition) 2 of 2
State (Texas) 3 of 3
Country (United States) 3 of 3
Year (2014) 1 of 1
Size (of disclosed) 1 of 1
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2007-11-05 Vertical Alliance

Dallas, Texas, United States

Vertical Alliance, Inc. (VA) develops and markets online ticketing and contact management software for sports and entertainment industries. The company’s software offers customer relationship and content management, ecommerce, order and payment history tracking, ticket exchanging and reprinting, event auditing, and credit card payment services. Additionally, it provides advertisement campaign and brand management, kiosk set up, ticket forwarding, and customer verification services. The company’s products find application in stadiums, theatres, and sport venues.

Sell -
Mergr

Product

Company

Legal