• Private equity firm New State Capital Partners announced today a majority investment in NWN Corporation, an IT solutions and cloud provider.
• Founded in 2000, NWN has served more than 2,600 customers in 49 states across multiple verticals. The company has strategic relationships with Cisco, HP, Microsoft, NetApp, EMC, Intel and VMware and was one of the first US companies to achieve Cisco’s Master Cloud Builder Specialization. Since 2005, it has acquired four other IT companies.
• New State Capital Partners has more than $250M in assets under management, focusing on companies in the business services, healthcare services and industrials verticals. This is its first technology investment.

Adding Gas to the Fire

• From Big to Bigger: In an interview with CRN, NWN CEO Mont Phelps announced that this deal will be key to NWN’s goal of becoming a $1 billion cloud services company. Currently, the company is ranked No. 72 on the CRN Solution Provider 500 list and has revenues of approximately $350 million. The company experienced 20 percent organic sales growth in 2014 and expects “double-digit” growth for 2015 as well. 
• Continuing as a Cloud Differentiator: NWN has achieved success in several current cloud initiatives. Its NCloud hosted VoIP services has grown at 100 percent for three consecutive years, and the company is the only systems integrator competing with AT&T and Verizon as a voice and data services provider for public utilities in the state of California under the CALNET3 contract. This acquisition provides additional capital with which to grow these cloud initiatives both organically and inorganically.
• Perfectly Placed: NWN is an attractive asset as a private equity platform, combining a strong management team (which will remain in place and retain significant ownership), established vendor partnerships and proven scale. It is only the latest large solution provider to turn to private equity to effect its transition and ensure it remains positioned to address changing technology requirements.

For more information about this transaction, click here to read the press release.