Equiteq advises on four acquisitions in Americas and Asia
Equiteq, a London-headquartered global dealmaker for the professional services industry, has in the past two months closed four deals across the Americas and Asia.
Americas
In the US, Equiteq advised Integrated Solutions Management, a provider of IT consulting and a ServiceNow Elite partner in the government space in North America, on its sale to ASGN Incorporated. The transaction closed on 30th November 2020.
ASGN is one of the larger providers of IT and professional services in the technology, digital, creative, engineering and life sciences fields across commercial and government sectors. The addition of Tampa-based Integrated Solutions Management adds a 75-strong team to its ECS division.
Commenting on Equiteq’s role in the transaction, Marty Burke, President and Chief Revenue Officer of Integrated Solutions Management said: “In a tough market, Equiteq was able to deliver a series of great partner alternatives. The execution team was superb in responding to our needs always putting ISM’s interest first and delivering a great result.”
In South America, Equiteq advised Sophos Solutions on its sale to Advent International, a well-known private equity group with a significant presence in Latin America. “Sophos Solutions is a great company in a sector with enormous potential. We plan to promote its growth and internationalisation and foster its consolidation as a regional player,” said Mauricio Salgar, Managing Director of Advent International, on the investment.
Sophos Solutions is a Colombian technology company specialising in consulting services for the banking sector. Under the wings of Advent International, the firm aims to become a “world-class player in digital transformation in the region” said Mauricio Mosseri, CEO of Sophos Solutions.
Reflecting on the M&A support provided by Equiteq, he stated: “Their deep knowledge of the technology sector coupled with their comprehensive support and expertise in transacting in Latin America made them the ideal partner. Equiteq’s experience and proficiency in structuring transactions exceeded our expectations.”
Asia
In Asia, Equiteq closed two sell-mandates in November and December. The M&A specialist led the sale of Ryobi Geotechnique International (80% of its share capital) to SGS, and the sale of fellow Singapore-based iZeno to Logicalis, an international digital solutions provider, part of the Datatec Group.
Ryobi-G delivers a range of services encompassing soil investigation, instrumentation & monitoring, and related geotechnical engineering to its clients operating in both public and private sectors in the construction and infrastructure industry. The firm employs close to 500 engineers and technicians across Singapore and Malaysia.
iZeno meanwhile is a digital transformation and IT services firm focused on the South-East Asia market. Headquartered in Singapore, with a team of 85 professionals, iZeno has operations in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. The firm helps its clients with their digital transformation journey (including DevOps, hybrid cloud, customer experience) and has partnerships with vendors such as Atlassian, AWS, Google Cloud and Red Hat.
On the transaction support, Joseph Wang, who founded Ryobi-G in 2000, said: “I have been very pleased with the continuous and thorough support that we have received from Equiteq. Having such a highly professional team on our side has made a huge difference in a process which was often technically complex and at times challenging.”
In the iZeno deal, Equiteq acted as exclusive financial and strategic advisor. iZeno Co-Founder and Director Benny Ng said of the collaboration: “We started our journey with Equiteq in 2017 with a strategic review, and since then they have supported us effectively throughout our whole journey, helping us to navigate successfully through the many business, financial and legal challenges, and ultimately join Logicalis.”
Equiteq’s deal teams were led by Daniel Siller, Managing Director of the firm’s US division, and Jean-Louis Michelet, Managing Director of the Asia-Pacific practice.
