• ConvergeOne, a provider of communications solutions and managed services to global enterprises, announced today that it was being acquired by Clearlake Capital, a private equity firm.
• ConvergeOne is currently a portfolio company of Genstar Capital, which first invested in ConvergeOne in 2007.
• Financial information for the transaction was not disclosed.

Active Players in an Active Space

• Trading Places: This deal continues a trend of secondary PE buyouts, seen most recently with yesterday’s acquisition of Peak 10 by GI Partners from Welsh Carson. Genstar oversaw a period of mostly organic growth for ConvergeOne in the past seven years, and now Clearlake is looking to continue the momentum while growing its own investment.
• Growing Demand: ConvergeOne is one of the largest Avaya channel partners worldwide and has an increasing presence in UCaaS. We’re seeing a continued demand for this type of cloud-based communication and with that a growing amount of competition in the space. The sector is becoming increasingly crowded with traditional manufacturers like Cisco, Brocade, Siemens, and Alcatel Lucent all vying to remain relevant while companies from Microsoft and Google to 8×8 and Evolve IP continue to challenge the status quo.
• A History of IT Investment: Both Clearlake and Genstar have a history of involvement and recent investment in the IT space. Genstar, which has approximately $3 billion in capital under management, recently sold its interest in TravelClick, a cloud-based solution for hotel companies. Clearlake, which through a subsidiary acquired communications solutions provider Veramark in 2013, merged it with two other firms to create Calero Software.

For more information, click here for the press release. martinwolf was not the advisor in this transaction.