Secondary Buyout • Information Technology

Vista Equity Partners Acquires TransFirst

On October 13, 2014, private equity firm Vista Equity Partners acquired information technology company TransFirst from Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe and American Capital

Acquisition Context
  • This is Vista Equity Partners’ 6th transaction in the Information Technology sector.
  • This is Vista Equity Partners’ 43rd transaction in the United States.
  • This is Vista Equity Partners’ 3rd transaction in New York.
Investment Fate
  • TransFirst was sold to a publicly-traded strategic buyer in 2016 for 2.4B USD.

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M&A Deal Summary

Date October 13, 2014
Target TransFirst
Sector Information Technology
Buyer(s) Vista Equity Partners
Sellers(s) Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe
American Capital
Deal Type Secondary Buyout
Advisor(s) Goldman Sachs
BofA Securities
J.P. Morgan Securities
Deutsche Bank Corporate & Investment Banking
Evercore Group
SunTrust Robinson Humphrey
William Blair
Wells Fargo Securities
Raymond James - Investment Banking
Credit Suisse Investment Banking
Financial Technology Partners - FT Partners (Financial)
Ropes & Gray (Legal)

Target Company

TransFirst

Hauppauge, New York, United States
TransFirst LLC is a provider of secure transaction processing services and payment enabling technologies.
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Buyer Overview 1

Buyer

Vista Equity Partners

Austin, Texas, United States

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor


Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 2000
PE ASSETS 100.0B USD
Size Mega
Type Sector Focused
DESCRIPTION
Entrance to Frost Bank Tower, Vista Equity's main office in Austin, Texas.
Entrance to Frost Bank Tower, Vista Equity's main office in Austin, Texas.

Vista Equity Partners is a mega-sized asset management firm focused on private equity, public equity, credit, and other strategies. The Firm's private equity group looks to invest in and acquire software and technology enabled services companies. Specific areas of interest include software, software-as-a-service (SaaS), technology-enabled business services, and technology-enabled information services. Vista can commit up to $700 million per transaction and will consider a variety transaction situations, including management/leveraged buyouts, growth or acquisition financings, recapitalizations or restructurings, spinouts, and take privates. Vista Equity Partners was formed in 2000 and is based in Austin, Texas.


Deal Context for Buyer #
Overall 47 of 155
Sector: Information Technology 6 of 21
Type: Secondary Buyout 10 of 39
State: New York 3 of 13
Country: United States 43 of 143
Year: 2014 8 of 10
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2014-10-02 MicroEdge

New York, New York, United States

MicroEdge LLC, is a provider of IT solutions to the grantmaking community, including private foundations, corporate philanthropy and employee giving programs, community foundations and various other giving organizations. The Company’s suite of products streamlines the full grantmaking lifecycle, from upfront submission through back-end evaluation and measurement, freeing up foundation staff to focus on issues more central to their organization’s mission.

Sell $160M
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2014-10-14 NAVEX

Lake Oswego, Oregon, United States

NAVEX is a provider of ethics and compliance software, content and services helps organizations protect their people, reputation and bottom line. NAVEX was founded in 2012 and is based in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

Buy -

Seller Profiles 2

SELLER

Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe

New York, New York, United States

Investor Investor Investor Investor Investor


Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 1979
PE ASSETS 31.0B USD
Size Mega
Type Sector Focused
DESCRIPTION

Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe (WCAS) is a mega-sized, specialist private equity firm focused on investments in growth-oriented companies operating within the healthcare and technology/tech-enabled services industries. WCAS will consider small and large transactions; including venture investments, growth equity investments, buy-and-build transactions, public-to-private acquisitions, and corporate carve-outs. The Firm prefers control situations and generally seeks opportunities in the US. Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe was formed in 1979 and is based in New York City.


Deal Context for Seller #
Overall 48 of 76
Sector: Information Technology 8 of 12
Type: Secondary Buyout 5 of 16
State: New York 4 of 5
Country: United States 46 of 73
Year: 2014 6 of 7
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2014-10-01 GlobalCollect BV

Hoofddorp, Netherlands

GlobalCollect BV is a payment service provider of local e-payment solutions for international Customer Not-Present (CNP) channels such as internet, mail and telephone orders, and specialized in a wide range of industries such as travel, ticketing, telecommunications, retail, publishing, portals, online gaming, and digital content.

Sell €820M
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2014-11-11 Revel Systems

San Francisco, California, United States

Revel Systems is a provider of mobile point-of-sale solutions to small and medium-sized business and enterprise merchants. Revel Systems was founded in 2010 and is based in San Francisco, California.

Buy -
SELLER

American Capital


Category Private Equity Firm
Founded 1997
PE ASSETS 22.0B USD
Size Mega
Type Sector Agnostic
DESCRIPTION

American Capital was a publicly traded buyout and mezzanine investment firm. American Capital invested in buyouts, growth capital financings, acquistion financings, and recapitalizations. The Firm looked to finance businesses with at least $4 million in EBITDA and valued between $20 and $500 million. American Capital ws a generalist firm with broad interest in traditional industries such as manufacturing, distribution, and services. American Capital's European investment affiliate is European Capital. European Capital looked to invest $10 to $600 million of equity, mezzanine, and/or senior debt in similar opportunities across Europe. American Capital was formed in 1997 and in January 2017, merged with Ares Capital Management.


Deal Context for Seller #
Overall 161 of 194
Sector: Information Technology 9 of 10
Type: Secondary Buyout 54 of 71
State: New York 8 of 8
Country: United States 156 of 186
Year: 2014 11 of 13
PREVIOUS DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2014-09-30 Unwired Technology

Woodbury, New York, United States

Unwired Technology LLC is engages in the designer and supplier of high-speed USB connectivity modules and wireless headphone systems for the global automotive industry.

Sell -
FOLLOWING DEAL
DATE TARGET DEAL TYPE VALUE
2014-10-23 Wausau Financial Systems

Mosinee, Wisconsin, United States

Wausau Financial Systems, Inc. is a provider of fully-bundled software and hardware technology solutions for remittance and check processing.

Sell $90M