Francisco Partners

Francisco Partners
Private
Industry Private equity
Founded 1999 (1999)
Founders David Stanton, Dipanjan Deb, Benjamin Ball, Neil Garfinkel, Sanford R. "Sandy" Robertson
Headquarters Letterman Digital Arts Center
San Francisco, California, United States
Key people
 Dipanjan Deb, CEO
Ezra Perlman, Co-President
Deep Shah, Co-President
AUM $14 billion
Number of employees
 35 investment professionals
Website www.franciscopartners.com

Francisco Partners is an American private equity firm focused exclusively on investments in technology and technology-enabled services businesses. Francisco Partners Management LLC was founded in August 1999. As of 2016, it was based in San Francisco and London.[1] From its inception until 2017, the firm raised over $14 billion in committed capital across four funds and built an investment portfolio including over 85 companies.[2]

History

Francisco was founded in 1999 as the emergence of dedicated technology buyout firms began.[3] The founders of the firm came from a group of private equity firms including TPG Capital, together with the founder of technology-focused investment bank Robertson Stephens.

In 2017, Francisco Partners was named Private Equity Firm of the Year by Mergers & Acquisitions magazine.[4]

Investments

Francisco Partners specializes in financing divisional buyouts, "take privates" of public companies, sponsored mergers and acquisitions, growth equity financing, recapitalizations, and restructurings. It prefers to invest in mature or maturing technology and technology-related companies. The firm invests in software, internet, healthcare technology, communications, hardware and technology services. It prefers to invest in companies with enterprise values ranging from $25 million to $2 billion. The firm makes equity investments ranging from less than $25 million to over $500 million. It typically acquires a majority or controlling stake in its portfolio companies, but will be a minority investor with board of director representation.

Francisco Partners has more than 30 active portfolio companies. Francisco has acquired former venture capital-backed companies as well as many divisions of large conglomerates and IT companies worldwide.[5]

In 2016, Francisco Partners' portfolio company NSO Group was accused of helping governments hack smartphones and persecute human rights activists.[1] It was also criticized for investing in direct competitors, WatchGuard and SonicWall, a practice frowned upon in the private equity industry.[6]

Francisco Partners has invested in or purchased the following companies:[7]

Company NameStatus
aconexExited
ADERANTExited
AdvancedMD SoftwareExited
AesyntExited
AKQAExited
Allston TradingCurrent
AMI SemiconductorExited
API HealthcareExited
AttachmateExited
AttentiExited
AvalonCurrent
AvangateCurrent
Barracuda NetworksCurrent
BettermentCurrent
Blue CoatExited
City IndexCurrent
C-MAC MicroTechnologyExited
Dell Software[8]Current
Comodo[9] Current
CorsairCurrent
CrossMatchCurrent
CoverMyMedsCurrent
DextrysCurrent
ClickSoftware Technologies[10]Current
EFJohnsonExited
efrontExited
Ex Libris GroupExited
Foundation 9 EntertainmentExited
FrontRange SolutionsExited
Grass ValleyExited
GXSExited
HealthlandCurrent
HypercomExited
ichor systemsCurrent
K2Current
BluJay SolutionsCurrent
LegerityExited
LumataCurrent
LYNX Medical SystemsExited
masternautExited
Metaswitch NetworksCurrent
Metrologic InstrumentsExited
MinicomExited
Mitel NetworksCurrent
NexTech EMR & PMCurrent
NextTraqExited
NPTestExited
NSO GroupCurrent[11]
NumonyxExited
OfficeTigerExited
PayLeaseCurrent
paymetricCurrent
Plex SystemsCurrent
PrimaveraExited
Procera Networks Current
ProsperCurrent
QuadramedExited
QuantrosCurrent
R2NetExited
RedPrairieExited
Sandvine Current[12]
SintecMediaCurrent
Smart FocusCurrent
SMART Modular TechnologiesExited
SmartBear Software[13]Current
Source PhotonicsCurrent
Specific MediaExited
Therapeutic Research CenterCurrent
T-SystemCurrent
Ultra Clean TechnologyExited
VendavoCurrent
Verifone Current[14]
WatchGuardCurrent
WebtrendsCurrent
XcelleNetExited

References

  1. 1 2 Thomas Fox-Brewster (August 25, 2016). "Everything We Know About NSO Group: The Professional Spies Who Hacked iPhones With A Single Text".
  2. ↑ "Francisco Partners - About". www.franciscopartners.com. Retrieved 2017-07-10.
  3. ↑ http://www.edn.com/Home/PrintView?contentItemId=4359902
  4. ↑ "Francisco Partners earns Private Equity Firm of the Year". Mergers & Acquisitions. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
  5. ↑ Bring Us Your Small, Unloved Start-Ups. May 15, 2004
  6. ↑ Gillian Tan (July 12, 2016). "How's This for a Private Equity Conflict?".
  7. ↑ http://www.franciscopartners.com/investments
  8. ↑ "Francisco Partners and Elliott Management to Acquire the Dell Software Group". DELL. 20 June 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Francisco Partners Announces Acquisition of Comodo’s Certificate Authority (SSL) Business". www.businesswire.com. Retrieved 2017-10-31.
  10. ↑ Chen, Angela (30 April 2015). "ClickSoftware to Be Bought by Francisco Partners for $438 Million". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  11. ↑ "Secretive cyber warfare firm NSO Group explores sale: sources". Reuters. November 2, 2015.
  12. ↑ Pender, Terry (2017-07-17). "Sandvine accepts $562M takeover bid". TheRecord.com. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
  13. ↑ Martin, Dylan. "Boston Startups That Were Acquired or Shut Down in May". BostInno. BostInno. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  14. ↑ "Francisco Partners to Take VeriFone Private for $3.4 Billion". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-06-25.


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