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- Climb's M&A Weekly: TeamViewer, Microsoft, and Atlasview all feature
Climb's M&A Weekly: TeamViewer, Microsoft, and Atlasview all feature
MSFT sells Metaswitch, TeamViewer completes $720 million acquisition, Orbus Software expands in the APAC market
Climb Advisors Weekly
December 15, 2024
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Unbelievable how quickly the year is wrapping up!
Want to again highlight an update from our side to start the newsletter this week —
Given our deal recent momentum + positive M&A sentiment in the markets, we are having many inbound conversation re: M&A. Therefore, we are launching two new advisory services for sellers.
“Quick Shop” - Think of this as a “test the waters” type process to see interest. We will run outreach to a limited pool of highly relevant strategic and financial buyers to determine real time market interest & valuation in your business. Process takes ~1 month start to finish.
“Retained Advisory” - For companies interested in selling 12-24 months out, we will prepare your data room, manage all inbound interest, prepare draft of CIM and identify areas to improve and prescribe advice based on our knowledge of latest market trends.
If either of these engagement models pique your interest, or if you’re looking to run a full-scale exit process, please do get in touch.
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Teamviewer acquires 1E for $720 million
Overview: German company TeamViewer acquires software detection company 1E, for $720 million. 1E’s products reduce the cost of running software, typically across desktop PCs on corporate networks. TeamViewer’s remote-work software similarly provides software support. This strategic move aims to integrate 1E's autonomous IT platform with TeamViewer's existing remote access solutions, creating a comprehensive offering for IT operations and endpoint management. Read more here.
Climb Comment: With 1E reporting $77 million in ARR as of September 2024, almost entirely via enterprise customers, we see a deal just a hair shy of 10x. Teamviewer trades on the Frankfurt stock exchange (was largest European IPO of 2019) at around a €1.7B market cap, making this a very material acquisition. As seen in other recent deals around the sector, focus here (beyond adding $77m in ARR) is around reducing compute costs & increasing efficiency for customers in a ‘one-stop’ cloud environment.
Atlasview Equity Partners portco announces acquisition in the Canadian market
Overview: Soutron Global, a leading provider of cloud-based library, archive, and knowledge management software, has acquired Vancouver based MINISIS, a company renowned for its archive, library, and museum management solutions. This strategic acquisition aims to enhance Soutron's service offerings by integrating MINISIS's expertise and technology. MINISIS was established by the Canadian government in the 1970’s and went private in 2000. This deal aligns with Atlasview’s strategy of targeting niche acquisition opportunities in the archive, legal and government sector. Read more here.
Climb Comment: Kudos to Atlasview team on a great add-on for Soutron. The library market is known for being quite sticky - perfect ecosystem to run the vertical saas playbook and with addition of MINISIS, with strong archive & museum capabilities offers additional avenues for growth outside of the public sector.
Alianza announces acquisition of Microsoft partner, Metaswitch
Overview: Alianza, a cloud based communication platform has reached an agreement with Microsoft to acquire Metaswitch. The strategic acquisition will further Alianza mission to deliver cloud hosted, AI powered communications to its customers in the near future. With the integration of Metaswitch’s capabilities in voice and communication software Alianza will be able to provide operators with benefits such as revenue growth and simplifying operations. Read more here.
Climb Comment: Quick turnaround here for MSFT, having acquired Metaswitch in 2020. Have to assume there is some sort of extended back-license agreement for MSFT - interesting to see them rely on partners to service key capabilities in non-core markets. Without getting too technical on the Telecom side - Metaswitch offers voice & data connectivity across wireless networks - the 21st century version of old-time switchboard operators. With Alianza offering a full suite of products to global telcos it makes sense that they’d carry the torch forward with Metaswitch.
Broad Sky Partners purchases Frontline Managed Services
Overview: Broad Sky Partners, a private equity firm based in New York City, has acquired Frontline Managed Services, one of the largest managed service providers for the legal industry, from BV Investment Partners. Frontline Managed Services supports over 800 law firms globally with IT services and revenue cycle management, employing 1,000 people worldwide. The acquisition aligns with Broad Sky’s focus on investing in middle-market companies providing essential services to business and consumer markets. Read more here.
Climb Comment: Kudos to all parties here - Frontline for executing on a great growth playbook, BV for capital & strategic support during the hold period, & Broad Sky on acquiring a market leader in a growing and valuable sector. Legal is a great vertical to sell critical services such as IT into because the clientele tends to be well-funded, busy, and pragmatic. Attorneys don’t want to interview a dozen IT service providers, they want to hire the best team as quickly as possible and move on to billable work. Tons of growth opportunity here both vertically & horizontally.
Orbus Software completes a deal for Australian firm Capsifi
Overview: Orbus Software, a provider of enterprise transformation software, has acquired Australian software firm Capsifi in a move to enhance its OrbusInfinity platform with Capsifi’s business architecture capabilities. The acquisition strengthens Orbus’s position in the enterprise architecture market, offering a more comprehensive suite of tools for global clients, while expanding its reach into the APAC market. This integration positions Orbus to better support enterprise transformation initiatives worldwide. Read more here. Read more here.
Climb Comment: Orbus offers enterprise transformation software - unifying and organizing data across organizations in a secure manner while providing secure access across IT endpoints. Orbus offers digital twin software to enable devops teams to experiment with different structures in real-time without operational risk. Capsifi’s software architecture expertise will enable greater capabilities there leading to improved client outcomes.
Quote of the week
A bit of inspirational wisdom from one of the greats as we close out the year:
Thanks for following along & hope you found something useful or interesting. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you’re considering a sale as we move towards 2025 - we’re always glad to chat & share perspective.
All the best,
Nick