Francisco Partners
Type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Private equity |
Founded | 1999 |
Founders | Dipanjan Deb, Benjamin Ball, Neil Garfinkel, Sanford R. "Sandy" Robertson, David Stanton |
Headquarters | |
Key people | Dipanjan Deb (CEO), David Golob (CIO), Ezra Perlman and Deep Shah (Co-Presidents), Tom Ludwig (COO) |
AUM | $25 billion (2020)[1] |
Number of employees | 80[2] (2019) |
Website | www |
Francisco Partners is an American private equity firm focused exclusively on investments in technology and technology-enabled services businesses.[3] Founded in August 1999 and based in San Francisco with offices in London and New York, Francisco Partners Management L.P. has raised approximately USD $24 billion in committed capital as of June 2020 when the firm raised nearly $10 billion for tech company investments.[4][5] As of 2020, Francisco Partners had more than $25 billion in assets under management[6] and invested in over 300 companies in the technology sector.[7] Noteworthy acquisitions and investments include GoodRx,[8][9] BeyondTrust,[10] Renaissance Learning,[11] MyHeritage,[12][13] Forcepoint,[14][15] Redis Labs,[16] and Verifone.[17]
History[]
1999–2011[]
Francisco Partners was founded in August 1999[18] in Menlo Park, California, during the emergence of dedicated technology buyout firms.[19] Founders Sanford Robertson, Dipanjan Deb, David Stanton, Benjamin Ball, and Neil Garfinkel came from a variety of private equity firms. Robertson had been the founder of the technology-focused investment bank Robertson Stephens, while Deb[20] left TPG Capital in August 1999 to help found the firm.[19] Among its notable early investments, in 2000 the firm paid $375 million in cash to purchase 90% of Advanced Micro Devices' communications products division.[21] Francisco Partners then raised $800 million in 2002 to purchase 90% of Global eXchange Services, a unit of the General Electric Company[22][23] handling sales operations for about 30,000 multinational companies.[22]
The firm purchased NPTest in 2003, the semiconductor-testing unit of Schlumberger,[24] and by the following year Francisco Partners had more than 30 active portfolio companies.[25] Francisco Partners purchased Smart Modular from the Solectron Corporation in 2004, with Smart Modular going public two years later.[26] From 2005 until 2010 the firm owned the software company RedPrairie.[27] In 2006 the company led a leveraged buyout of Metrologic Instruments, which makes laser and holographic-based scanners,[28] and also purchased WatchGuard.[29] The firm purchased API Healthcare in 2008[27] and by 2010 Francisco Partners' other healthcare holdings included AdvancedMD, Healthland, QuadraMed, and T-System.[30]
2012–2015[]
By 2012, the Francisco Partners' funds had about $7 billion in capital and invested "exclusively in technology companies across sectors including semiconductors, capital equipment and electronics components."[31] That year the company acquired the software company Ichor from American Industrial Partners,[32] as well as Plex Systems[33] and Kewill.[34] The firm invested in Paymetric in 2013,[35] selling the company to Vantiv in Atlanta, Georgia four years later.[36] After acquiring the e-commerce services company Avangate in 2013,[37] in 2014 the firm invested in the software company Prosper, with Francisco Partners' executive David Golob becoming a Prosper director.[38] Also in 2014 Francisco Partners invested in the information technology company CoverMyMeds[3] and paid $120 million for a majority stake[39][40] in the controversial spy company NSO Group,[41][39] sold in 2019.[42] The firm completed raising about $2.9 billion for its fourth fund in 2015.[43] That year the firm also purchased the California-based analytics company Procera Networks for $240 million and the Israeli workplace management company ClickSoftware Technologies for $438 million.[44] The firm invested in GoodRx in 2015 as well.[45]
2016–2019[]
Francisco joined with Elliott Management in June 2016 to buy the SonicWall[29] and Quest Software[46] subsidiaries from Dell as part of the spinoff of Dell Software.[29][47] The SonicWall investment attracted some controversy in the press, as Francisco Partners had also invested in the competitor WatchGuard, going against norms in the private equity industry.[29] Also in 2016, the firm sold Aesynt to Omnicell for $275 million and took Ichor Holdings public with an initial public offering.[46][48] In late 2016, Francisco Partners launched its Agility fund, raising approximately $600 million of committed capital to focus on smaller technology deals.[49] Shortly afterwards, Francisco Partners invested in Dynamo Software,[50] Pet Circle,[51] Discovery Education,[52] and myON, the latter of which was sold in 2018.[53] Additional investments in 2016 and 2017 included companies such as SmartBear Software,[54] iconectiv,[55] Connecture Inc.,[56] Betterment,[57] and Sintec Media.[46]
In 2017, Francisco Partners sold CoverMyMeds to McKesson[58] and Paymetric to Vantiv,[59] and also sold PayLease[60] and Corsair.[61] Francisco Partners bought, and subsequently sold, James Allen.com in 2017.[62] In June 2017, Francisco Partners also acquired Sandvine, a Canadian public company that was combined with Procera,[63] for $444 million.[64] Francisco Partners was named Private Equity Firm of the Year by Mergers & Acquisitions in 2017.[46] The firm's fifth fund, Francisco Partners V, was formed at the end of 2017 with approximately $4 billion of committed capital.[65] The year after Francisco Partners V's launch, the firm acquired Bomgar Corporation,[66] Renaissance Learning,[67] and LegalZoom.[68] In June 2018 Francisco Partners purchased VeriFone[17] for $3.4 billion. Also in 2018, Blackstone’s Strategic Capital Group and Goldman Sachs’ Petershill program acquired a minority stake in Francisco Partners.[65]
On September 30, 2019, Francisco Partners announced its intent to acquire Orchard Software Corporation, a privately owned company specializing in medical laboratory software.[69]
2020[]
In 2020, Francisco Partners joined Diligent Corporation's Modern Leadership Initiative and pledged to create five new board roles among its portfolio companies for gender or ethnically diverse candidates.[70][71]
On October 26, 2020, Francisco Partners announced the acquisition of Forcepoint, a cybersecurity company formerly owned by Raytheon Technologies.[72] The firm, shortly thereafter, bought MyFitnessPal from Under Armour for $345 million.[73] The acquisition completed on December 1, 2020.[74]
On August 31, 2020, the deal closed for Francisco Partners to buy LogMeIn,[75] most known for LastPass password manager, for $4.3 billion together with Evergreen Coast Capital Corp.,[76] a private equity affiliate of Elliot Management Corp.
In September 2020, Francisco Partners investment GoodRx went public on the Nasdaq, with a market cap of about $19.4 billion.[77]
2021[]
On January 11, 2021, Francisco Partners completed acquisition of Forcepoint.[78] Also in early 2021, Francisco Partners acquired MyHeritage for a reported 600 million dollars.[79]
In May 2021, Francisco Partners and TPG Capital agreed to acquire cloud-based integration business Boomi from Dell for $4 billion.[80]
Business model[]
Francisco Partners specializes in financing divisional buyouts, "take privates" of public companies, sponsored mergers and acquisitions, growth equity financing, recapitalizations, and restructurings. The firm primarily invests in maturing or mature[18] technology and technology-related companies[43] in areas such as software, internet,[44] healthcare, communications, hardware and technology services. The firm typically acquires a majority or controlling stake in its portfolio companies, but will occasionally acquire a minority interest in a company with board representation.[18] Specializing in technology buyouts, Francisco has acquired former venture capital-backed companies as well as many divisions of large conglomerates and IT companies worldwide.[25]
Offices and employees[]
The firm is based in San Francisco, California with an additional office in London, United Kingdom.[41][18] Francisco Partners is currently led by CEO Dipanjan Deb, one of the firm's founders,[43] along with Ezra Perlman and Deep Shah, co-presidents, and David Golob, chief investment officer.[20]
List of investments[]
Top-ranked in 2020 among tech specialist private equity firms,[81][82] Francisco Partners has a list of portfolio companies that changes frequently. Though not a comprehensive list, noteworthy acquisitions and investments include GoodRx,[8][9] BeyondTrust,[10] Renaissance Learning,[11] MyHeritage,[12][13] Forcepoint,[14][15] Redis Labs,[83] and Verifone.[17]
In the past Francisco Partners has held, among others, investments or ownership of ClickSoftware Technologies,[84][44] Comodo,[85] Connecture,[84][56] Discovery Education,[84] iconectiv,[84][55] LogMeIn,[86][87] Perforce (50% ownership),[88] Redis Labs,[89] Sandvine[63] (formerly Procera),[84] and SmartBear Software.[84][54]
References[]
- ^ Francisco Partners (March 29, 2019). "Form ADV - Uniform Application for Investment Adviser Registration and Report by Exempt Reporting Advisers" (PDF). United States Securities and Exchange Commission. p. 9 (Item 5D(f)). Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ Francisco Partners (March 29, 2019). "Form ADV - Uniform Application for Investment Adviser Registration and Report by Exempt Reporting Advisers" (PDF). United States Securities and Exchange Commission. p. 8 (Item 5A). Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Suttell, Scott (November 9, 2014), CoverMyMeds receives 'growth investment' from California-based FranciscoPartners, Crain's Cleveland Business
- ^ Cooper, Laura; Louch, William (June 2, 2020). "Francisco Partners Raises Nearly $10 Billion for Tech Deals". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
- ^ "Francisco Partners Raises Almost $10 Billion In Capital For Tech Investments". San Francisco News. June 5, 2020. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
- ^ "FORM ADV UNIFORM APPLICATION FOR INVESTMENT ADVISER REGISTRATION". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 2020. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
- ^ I-Chun Chen (July 27, 2020). "GAINSystems receives investment from Francisco Partners". Chicago Business Journal. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Staff (September 22, 2020). "GoodRx sells shares above target in latest U.S. IPO success". Reuters. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Bursztynsky, Jessica (September 23, 2020). "GoodRx closes up 53% in market debut". CNBC. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Shoorbajee, Zaid (September 13, 2018). "Bomgar to acquire fellow access management company BeyondTrust". CyberScoop. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Cavanagh, Sean (May 7, 2018). "Renaissance Acquired by Francisco Partners, and New CEO Takes Helm". EdWeek. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Berkovitz, Uri (February 24, 2021). "Francisco Partners to buy Israeli co MyHeritage". Globes. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Orbach, Meir (February 24, 2021). "Francisco Partners to acquire genealogy company MyHeritage in $600 million deal". CTECH. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Thompson, Paul (October 28, 2020). "Austin cybersecurity company Forcepoint to be bought by California investment firm". Austin Business Journal. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Harris, David (October 27, 2020). "Raytheon Unloads Security Subsidiary Forcepoint To Private Equity". CRN. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (2019-02-19). "Redis Labs raises $60 million for its NoSQL database". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2019-03-02.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c "Francisco Partners to Take VeriFone Private for $3.4 Billion". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d Company Overview of Francisco Partners Management LLC, Bloomberg
- ^ Jump up to: a b "You ain't seen nothing yet". EDN Network. January 1, 2000. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Executive Team, FranciscoPartners.com
- ^ "Company News; Advanced Micro to Sell Most of Communications Unit". New York Times. May 23, 2000. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Deutsch, Claudia (June 25, 2002). "G.E. Is Selling Off Most of Electronic Commerce Business". New York Times. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
- ^ "Citing a Tight Bond Market, G.E. Makes a Loan to a Buyer". New York Times. September 28, 2002. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
- ^ Company News; Schlumberger to Sell Semiconductor-Testing Unit, Bloomberg, June 25, 2003
- ^ Jump up to: a b Rivlin, Gary (May 15, 2004). "Bring Us Your Small, Unloved Start-Ups". The New York Times. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
- ^ "Smart Modular Technologies in $645 Million Buyout", The New York Times, April 26, 2011
- ^ Jump up to: a b Bolton, Guy (August 14, 2010), Firm's tracking software attracted new CEO, Journal Sentinel
- ^ "Francisco Partners to Lead Metrologic Buyout", The New York Times, September 13, 2006
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d Gillian Tan (July 12, 2016). "How's This for a Private Equity Conflict?".
- ^ Xavier, Jon (October 25, 2010), PE firm buys Quantros majority, Silicon Valley Business Journal
- ^ UPDATE 1-PE firm Francisco Partners to buy Kewill for 89.5 mln stg, Reuters, May 2, 2012
- ^ Siemers, Erik (January 5, 2012), Francisco Partners acquires Tualatin's Ichor Systems, Portland Business Journal
- ^ Empson, Rip (December 18, 2012), Plex Systems Lands $30M From Accel To Help Global Manufacturing Transition To The Cloud, TechCrunch
- ^ Wembridge, Mark (May 2, 2012). "Kewill agrees to US private equity buyout". Financial Times. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
- ^ Karkaria, Urvaksh (August 28, 2013), San Francisco Partners Takes Majority, Atlanta Business Chronicle
- ^ Hudson, Phil W. (April 26, 2017), Francisco Partners backed Atlanta tech company Paymetric to be acquired by Vantiv, Atlanta Business Chronicle
- ^ Lara-Cinisomo, Vincent (October 7, 2013), Francisco Partners acquires Avangate, Silicon Valley Business Journal
- ^ J. de la Merced, Michael (May 4, 2014), "Prosper, a Peer-to-Peer Lender, Raises $70 Million", The New York Times
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Secretive cyber warfare firm NSO Group explores sale: sources". Reuters. November 2, 2015.
- ^ Yadron, Danny (August 1, 2014). "Can This Israeli Startup Hack Your Phone?". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2016-08-25.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Thomas Fox-Brewster (August 25, 2016). "Everything We Know About NSO Group: The Professional Spies Who Hacked iPhones With A Single Text".
- ^ "Israeli Cyberattack Firm NSO Bought Back by Founders at $1b Company Value". Haaretz.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Porter, Kiel (May 22, 2017), Francisco Said to Target More Than $3 Billion for Tech Buyouts, Bloomberg
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Chen, Angela (30 April 2015). "ClickSoftware to Be Bought by Francisco Partners for $438 Million". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
- ^ Term Sheet -- Thursday, October 8, Fortune, October 8, 2015
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Francisco Partners earns Private Equity Firm of the Year". Mergers & Acquisitions. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
- ^ "Francisco Partners and Elliott Management to Acquire the Dell Software Group". DELL. 20 June 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
- ^ Francisco Partners to sell Aesynt for $275m. Pitchbook, November 2, 2015
- ^ Term Sheet -- Monday, October 24, Francisco Partners, October 24, 2016
- ^ Term Sheet -- Tuesday, October 3, Fortune, October 3, 2017
- ^ Term Sheet -- Tuesday, November 14, Fortune, November 14, 2017
- ^ Discovery to shed education business for $120M as it prepares to leave Silver Spring, Washington Business Journal, February 27, 2018
- ^ Renaissance Learning Turns the Page with Purchase of Minnesota Firm, Xconomy, March 22, 2018
- ^ Jump up to: a b Martin, Dylan. "Boston Startups That Were Acquired or Shut Down in May". BostInno. BostInno. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ Jump up to: a b UPDATE 1-Ericsson says Francisco Partners to invest $200 mln in iconectiv, Reuters, March 7, 2017
- ^ Jump up to: a b Kirchen, Rich (March 14, 2016), Connecture receives $52M investment from Francisco Partners-led group, Milwaukee Business Journal
- ^ Chparro, Frank (July 21, 2017), Betterment just landed an $800 million valuation, Business Insider
- ^ Columbus-based CoverMyMeds to be acquired by McKesson for $1.1 billion, Cleveland.com, March 1, 2018
- ^ Francisco Partners backed Atlanta tech company Paymetric to be acquired by Vantiv, Atlanta Business Chronicle, April 26, 2017
- ^ Vista Equity Partners Invests in Paylease, San Diego Business Journal, July 3, 2017
- ^ Term Sheet -- Wednesday, July 26, Fortune, July 26, 2017
- ^ Signet Buys James Allen; Comp Sales Rise, jckonline.com, August 24, 2017
- ^ Jump up to: a b Pender, Terry (2017-07-17). "Sandvine accepts $562M takeover bid". TheRecord.com. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
- ^ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-11/sandvine-use-to-block-belarus-internet-rankles-staff-lawmakers
- ^ Jump up to: a b Goldman, Blackstone Buy Minority Stake in Francisco Partners, Bloomberg, July 13, 2018
- ^ Term Sheet -- Tuesday, April 3, Fortune, April 3, 2018
- ^ Renaissance Learning to Get New Private Equity Owner, Change CEOs, Xconomy, May 4, 2018
- ^ LegalZoom reaches $2 billion valuation, L.A. Biz
- ^ "Francisco Partners to Acquire Orchard Software". Francisco Partners. 2019-09-30. Retrieved 2021-06-11.
- ^ Gara, Antoine (2020-09-17). "Inside The Massive New Effort To Get Minorities On Corporate Boards". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
- ^ "Modern Governance Requires Modern Leadership". diligent.com. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
- ^ "Francisco Partners to Acquire Forcepoint from Raytheon Technologies".
- ^ Low, Cherlynn (October 30, 2020). "Under Armour is selling MyFitnessPal for $345 million". Engadget. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
- ^ "Under Armour Completes Sale Of The MyFitnessPal Platform To Francisco Partners". bloomberg.com. 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
- ^ "Francisco Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital Complete Acquisition of LogMeIn". GlobeNewswire. 17 February 2021.
- ^ "LogMeIn agrees to be acquired by Francisco Partners and Evergreen for $4.3B". December 17, 2019.
- ^ Bursztynsky, Jessica (September 23, 2020). "GoodRx closes up 53% in market debut". CNBC. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
- ^ "Francisco Partners Completes Acquisition of Forcepoint". 11 January 2021.
- ^ "Francisco Partners is acquiring MyHeritage, sources say for $600M".
- ^ Gottfried, Miriam (May 2, 2021). "Dell Reaches Deal to Sell Boomi to TPG, Francisco Partners". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
- ^ Staff (January 27, 2021). "Francisco Partners tops 2020 HEC-DowJones Private Equity Performance Ranking". Private Equity Wire. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
- ^ Mendonça, Elisângela (January 25, 2021). "Francisco Partners crowned 2020's top money maker". Private Equity News. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (2019-02-19). "Redis Labs raises $60 million for its NoSQL database". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2019-03-02.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "Investments". Francisco Partners. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
- ^ "Francisco Partners Announces Acquisition of Comodo's Certificate Authority (SSL) Business". www.businesswire.com. 31 October 2017. Retrieved 2017-10-31.
- ^ "LogMeIn, Inc. - LogMeIn Enters into Definitive Agreement to be Acquired by Affiliates of Francisco Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital for $86.05 per Share in Cash". 2019-12-17. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
- ^ "LogMeIn agrees to be acquired by Francisco Partners and Evergreen for $4.3B". 2019-12-17. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
- ^ "Francisco Partners, Clearlake link on Perforce deal". pitchbook.com. 2019-05-01. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (2019-02-19). "Redis Labs raises $60 million for its NoSQL database". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2019-03-02.
External links[]
- Financial services companies established in 1999
- Privately held companies based in California
- Private equity firms of the United States
- 1999 establishments in California
- Companies based in San Francisco