Spotlight
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The martinwolf team tracks noteworthy mergers and acquisitions, and offers
commentary on issues that impact our industry.
"Our initial investors played an important role in helping us establish our business and brand and funding our growth."
-Jeff VonDeylen, Ensono CEO
April 15,2021
KKR to Acquire Ensono in $1.7 Billion Deal
Financial Information ($USD)
- Enterprise Value: $1.7 Billion
Transaction Details
- Global investment firm KKR & Co, Inc. (NYSE: KKR) is acquiring leading hybrid IT services provider Ensono from private equity firms Charlesbank Capital Partners and M/C Partners.
- While financials have not been disclosed, the transaction is valued at $1.7 billion inclusive of debt, according to Reuters.
- Headquartered in Chicago with more than 2,400 employees worldwide, Ensono is a proven leader in optimizing and transforming complex IT systems in cloud, mainframe and hybrid infrastructure with expertise in Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services.
- Terms of the deal were not publicly disclosed, but it is expected to close within the next 60 days. The reported value would make this one of the largest MSP acquisitions in recent memory.
martinwolf Analysis
- Following a Proven Model: Ensono achieved rapid growth under private equity owners Charlesbank and M/C Partners, which initially acquired Ensono for up to $190 million in 2015 when it was a division of Acxiom. Given the rapidly growing cloud industry and the resources of KKR, Ensono is poised for continued success.
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PE Involvement: Ensono sellers Charlesbank and M/C Partners are active players in the managed and infrastructure services space with multiple recent acquisitions. In 2019, Charlesbank acquired part of Cleveland-based Park Place Technologies and Google Cloud space company DoiT International. M/C Partners acquired Ascend Technologies, who with the help of martinwolf acquired both Doextra and cyber security leader Infogressive last year. The firm also acquired Thrive Networks in 2016 (martinwolf advised Staples on its sale of Thrive in 2014).
- Hot Space + Heavyweight Deal: The rumored $1.7 billion price tag on the deal continues to illustrate the growing interest of equity firms in MSPs and MSSPs. Private equity demand for both has increased noticeably in the last year as capital firms recognize the value provided by MSPs allowing clients to focus on their business rather than on IT.
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Acquiring Capabilities: Ensono announced an acquisition of Amido earlier this month, adding a previously absent capability of cloud-native application development. The Amido transaction was Ensono’s fourth acquisition since its spinoff from Acxiom in 2015.
For more information about this transaction, click here to read the press release from KKR.
*Enterprise Value from Reuters.
martinwolf was not the advisor in this transaction.
