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Francisco Partners

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Francisco Partners Management, L.P.
Company typePrivate
IndustryPrivate equity
FoundedAugust 1999; 25 years ago (1999-08) in Menlo Park, California, U.S.
Founders
  • Dipanjan Deb
  • Benjamin Ball
  • Neil Garfinkel
  • Sanford Robertson
  • David Stanton
Headquarters
Letterman Digital Arts Center, San Francisco, California, U.S.
Key people
  • Dipanjan Deb (CEO)
  • David Golob (CIO)
  • Ezra Perlman (co-president)
  • Deep Shah (co-president)
  • Tom Ludwig (COO)
AUMUS$41.9 billion (2023)
Number of employees
116 (2023)
SubsidiariesThe Weather Company
Websitefranciscopartners.com
Footnotes / references
[1]: 9-10 

Francisco Partners Management, L.P., doing business as Francisco Partners, is an American private equity firm focused exclusively on investments in technology and technology-enabled services businesses.[2] It was founded in August 1999 and based in San Francisco with offices in London and New York City.[3][4]

In June 2022, Francisco Partners were ranked 20th in Private Equity International's PEI 300 ranking of the largest private equity firms in the world.[5][6]

History

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1999–2011

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Francisco Partners was founded in August 1999,[7] in Menlo Park, California, during the emergence of dedicated technology buyout firms.[8] Founders Sanford Robertson, Dipanjan Deb, David Stanton, Benjamin Ball, and Neil Garfinkel came from a variety of private equity firms. Robertson had been the founder of the technology-focused investment bank Robertson Stephens, while Deb left TPG Capital in August 1999,[9] in order to help found the firm.[8] Among its notable early investments, in 2000 the firm paid $375 million in cash to purchase 90% of Advanced Micro Devices' communications products division.[10] Francisco Partners then raised $800 million in 2002 to purchase 90% of Global eXchange Services, a unit of the General Electric Company[11][12] handling sales operations for about 30,000 multinational companies.[11]

The firm purchased NPTest in 2003, the semiconductor-testing unit of Schlumberger,[13] and by the following year Francisco Partners had more than 30 active portfolio companies.[14] Francisco Partners purchased Smart Modular from the Solectron Corporation in 2004, with Smart Modular going public two years later.[15] From 2005 until 2010 the firm owned the software company RedPrairie.[16] In 2006 the company led a leveraged buyout of Metrologic Instruments, which makes laser and holographic-based scanners,[17] and also purchased WatchGuard.[18] The firm purchased API Healthcare in 2008,[16] and by 2010 Francisco Partners' other healthcare holdings included AdvancedMD, Healthland, QuadraMed, and T-System.[19]

2012–2015

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By 2012, the Francisco Partners' funds had about $7 billion in capital and invested "exclusively in technology companies across sectors including semiconductors, capital equipment and electronics components."[20] That year the company acquired the software company Ichor from American Industrial Partners,[21] as well as Plex Systems,[22] and Kewill.[23] The firm invested in Paymetric in 2013,[24] selling the company to Vantiv in Atlanta, Georgia four years later.[25] After acquiring the e-commerce services company Avangate in 2013,[26] in 2014 the firm invested in the software company Prosper, with Francisco Partners' executive David Golob becoming a Prosper director.[27] Also in 2014, Francisco Partners invested in the information technology company CoverMyMeds,[2] and paid $120 million for a majority stake,[28][29] in the controversial spy company NSO Group,[30][28] sold in 2019.[31] The firm completed raising about $2.9 billion for its fourth fund in 2015.[32] That year, the firm also purchased the California-based analytics company Procera Networks for $240 million and the Israeli workplace management company ClickSoftware Technologies for $438 million.[33] The firm invested in GoodRx in 2015 as well.[34]

2016–2019

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Francisco joined with Elliott Management in June 2016 to buy the SonicWall,[18] as well as Quest Software,[35] subsidiaries from Dell as part of the spinoff of Dell Software.[18][36] The SonicWall investment attracted some controversy in the press, as Francisco Partners had also invested in the competitor WatchGuard, going against norms in the private equity industry.[18] Also in 2016, the firm sold Aesynt to Omnicell for $275 million and took Ichor Holdings public with an initial public offering.[35][37] In late 2016, Francisco Partners launched its Agility fund, raising approximately $600 million of committed capital to focus on smaller technology deals.[38] Shortly afterwards, Francisco Partners invested in Dynamo Software,[39] Pet Circle,[40] Discovery Education,[41] and myON, the latter of which was sold in 2018.[42] Additional investments in 2016 and 2017 included companies such as SmartBear Software,[43] iconectiv, and others.[44][45][46][35]

In 2017, Francisco Partners sold CoverMyMeds to McKesson Corporation,[47] and Paymetric to Vantiv,[48] and also sold PayLease[49] and Corsair Gaming.[50] Francisco Partners bought, and subsequently sold, James Allen.com in 2017.[51] In June 2017, Francisco Partners also acquired Sandvine, a Canadian public company that was combined with Procera,[52] for $444 million.[53] Francisco Partners was named Private Equity Firm of the Year by Mergers & Acquisitions in 2017.[35] The firm's fifth fund, Francisco Partners V, was formed at the end of 2017 with approximately $4 billion of committed capital.[54] The year after Francisco Partners V's launch, the firm acquired Bomgar Corporation,[55] Renaissance Learning,[56] and LegalZoom.[57] In June 2018, Francisco Partners purchased VeriFone for $3.4 billion.[58] Also in 2018, Blackstone Inc.'s Strategic Capital Group and Goldman Sachs' Petershill program acquired a minority stake in Francisco Partners.[54]

On September 30, 2019, Francisco Partners announced its intent to acquire Orchard Software Corporation, a privately-owned company specializing in medical laboratory software.[59]

2020–2021

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In 2020, Francisco Partners joined Diligent Corporation's Modern Leadership Initiative and pledged to create five new board roles among its portfolio companies for gender or ethnically diverse candidates.[60][61]

On October 26, 2020, Francisco Partners announced the acquisition of Forcepoint, a cybersecurity company formerly owned by Raytheon Technologies.[62] Shortly thereafter, the firm bought MyFitnessPal from Under Armour for $345 million.[63] The acquisition completed on December 1, 2020.[64]

On August 31, 2020, the deal closed for Francisco Partners to buy LogMeIn,[65] most known for LastPass password manager, for $4.3 billion together with Evergreen Coast Capital Corp.,[66] a private equity affiliate of Elliott Management. In September 2020, Francisco Partners investment GoodRx went public on the Nasdaq, with a market cap of about $19.4 billion.[67]

On January 11, 2021, Francisco Partners completed acquisition of Forcepoint.[68] In March 2021, the firm entered into a partnership with Zenefits that gave them full control of the company.[69]

Also in early 2021, Francisco Partners acquired MyHeritage for a reported $600 million.[70] In May 2021, Francisco Partners and TPG Capital agreed to acquire cloud-based integration business Boomi from Dell for $4 billion.[71] In July 2021 Francisco Partners acquired STARLIMS from Abbott Informatics.[72] They also completed an acquisition for the EHR vendor OfficeAlly in December 2021.[73][74]

2022–2024

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On January 21, 2022, Francisco Partners acquired health data assets from IBM's Watson Health unit. These assets included Health Insights, MarketScan, Clinical Development, Social Program Management, Micromedex, and imaging software offerings.[75] The assets were valued at a reported $1 billion.[76]

Also in 2022, Francisco Partners announced the acquisition of bswift from CVS Health. bswift is a provider of software and services for benefits and human resources administration.[77]

In May 2023, Francisco Partners completed the acquisition of Sumo Logic for $1.7 billion.[78]

In July 2023, together with TPG Inc., Francisco Partners agreed to acquire web tracking and analytics firm New Relic in an all-cash deal valued at $6.5 billion.[79]

In August 2023, IBM agreed to sell The Weather Company to Francisco Partners for an undisclosed sum.[80] The sale was finalized on February 1, 2024.[81]

Business model

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Francisco Partners specializes in financing divisional buyouts, take privates of public companies, sponsored mergers and acquisitions, growth equity financing, recapitalizations, and restructurings. The firm primarily invests in maturing or mature[7] technology and technology-related companies[32] in areas such as software, internet,[33] healthcare, communications, hardware, and technology services. The firm typically acquires a majority or controlling stake in its portfolio companies, but will occasionally acquire a minority interest in a company with board representation.[7] Specializing in technology buyouts, Francisco has acquired former venture capital-backed companies, as well as many divisions of large conglomerates and IT companies worldwide.[14]

Offices and employees

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The firm is based in San Francisco, California, with additional offices including one in London, United Kingdom.[30][7] Francisco Partners is currently led by CEO Dipanjan Deb, one of the firm's founders,[32] along with Ezra Perlman and Deep Shah, co-presidents, and David Golob, the chief investment officer.[9]

Investments

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Top-ranked in 2020 among tech specialist private equity firms,[82][83] Francisco Partners has a list of portfolio companies that changes frequently. Francisco Partners has invested in or acquired companies including GoodRx,[84][85] BeyondTrust,[86] Renaissance Learning,[87] and MyHeritage.[88][89][90][91][92][58]

In the past, Francisco Partners has held, among others, investments or ownership of ClickSoftware Technologies,[93][33] Comodo Group,[94] and Connecture.[93][45][44][95][96][97][98][52][43]

References

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  1. ^ Francisco Partners (March 31, 2022). "Form ADV - Uniform Application for Investment Adviser Registration and Report by Exempt Reporting Advisers" (PDF). United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Suttell, Scott (November 9, 2014), CoverMyMeds receives 'growth investment' from California-based FranciscoPartners, Crain's Cleveland Business
  3. ^ Cooper, Laura; Louch, William (June 2, 2020). "Francisco Partners Raises Nearly $10 Billion for Tech Deals". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
  4. ^ "Francisco Partners Raises Almost $10 Billion In Capital For Tech Investments". San Francisco News. June 5, 2020. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
  5. ^ "PEI 300 2022: KKR beats the crowd to claim PE’s throne". Private Equity International, June 1, 2022.
  6. ^ "PEI 300". Private Equity International, June 1, 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d Company Overview of Francisco Partners Management LLC, Bloomberg
  8. ^ a b "You ain't seen nothing yet". EDN Network. January 1, 2000. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  9. ^ a b Executive Team, FranciscoPartners.com
  10. ^ "Company News; Advanced Micro to Sell Most of Communications Unit". New York Times. May 23, 2000. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  11. ^ a b Deutsch, Claudia (June 25, 2002). "G.E. Is Selling Off Most of Electronic Commerce Business". New York Times. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  12. ^ "Citing a Tight Bond Market, G.E. Makes a Loan to a Buyer". New York Times. September 28, 2002. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  13. ^ Company News; Schlumberger to Sell Semiconductor-Testing Unit, Bloomberg, June 25, 2003
  14. ^ a b Rivlin, Gary (May 15, 2004). "Bring Us Your Small, Unloved Start-Ups". The New York Times. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  15. ^ "Smart Modular Technologies in $645 Million Buyout", The New York Times, April 26, 2011
  16. ^ a b Bolton, Guy (August 14, 2010), Firm's tracking software attracted new CEO, Journal Sentinel
  17. ^ "Francisco Partners to Lead Metrologic Buyout", The New York Times, September 13, 2006
  18. ^ a b c d Gillian Tan (July 12, 2016). "How's This for a Private Equity Conflict?".
  19. ^ Xavier, Jon (October 25, 2010), PE firm buys Quantros majority, Silicon Valley Business Journal
  20. ^ UPDATE 1-PE firm Francisco Partners to buy Kewill for 89.5 mln stg, Reuters, May 2, 2012
  21. ^ Siemers, Erik (January 5, 2012), Francisco Partners acquires Tualatin's Ichor Systems, Portland Business Journal
  22. ^ Empson, Rip (December 18, 2012), Plex Systems Lands $30M From Accel To Help Global Manufacturing Transition To The Cloud, TechCrunch
  23. ^ Wembridge, Mark (May 2, 2012). "Kewill agrees to US private equity buyout". Financial Times. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  24. ^ Karkaria, Urvaksh (August 28, 2013), San Francisco Partners Takes Majority, Atlanta Business Chronicle
  25. ^ Hudson, Phil W. (April 26, 2017), Francisco Partners backed Atlanta tech company Paymetric to be acquired by Vantiv, Atlanta Business Chronicle
  26. ^ Lara-Cinisomo, Vincent (October 7, 2013), Francisco Partners acquires Avangate, Silicon Valley Business Journal
  27. ^ J. de la Merced, Michael (May 4, 2014), "Prosper, a Peer-to-Peer Lender, Raises $70 Million", The New York Times
  28. ^ a b "Secretive cyber warfare firm NSO Group explores sale: sources". Reuters. November 2, 2015.
  29. ^ Yadron, Danny (August 1, 2014). "Can This Israeli Startup Hack Your Phone?". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2016-08-25.
  30. ^ a b Thomas Fox-Brewster (August 25, 2016). "Everything We Know About NSO Group: The Professional Spies Who Hacked iPhones With A Single Text".
  31. ^ "Israeli Cyberattack Firm NSO Bought Back by Founders at $1b Company Value". Haaretz.
  32. ^ a b c Porter, Kiel (May 22, 2017), Francisco Said to Target More Than $3 Billion for Tech Buyouts, Bloomberg
  33. ^ a b c Chen, Angela (30 April 2015). "ClickSoftware to Be Bought by Francisco Partners for $438 Million". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  34. ^ Term Sheet -- Thursday, October 8, Fortune, October 8, 2015
  35. ^ a b c d "Francisco Partners earns Private Equity Firm of the Year". Mergers & Acquisitions. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
  36. ^ "Francisco Partners and Elliott Management to Acquire the Dell Software Group". DELL. 20 June 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  37. ^ Francisco Partners to sell Aesynt for $275m. Pitchbook, November 2, 2015
  38. ^ Term Sheet -- Monday, October 24, Francisco Partners, October 24, 2016
  39. ^ Term Sheet -- Tuesday, October 3, Fortune, October 3, 2017
  40. ^ Term Sheet -- Tuesday, November 14, Fortune, November 14, 2017
  41. ^ Discovery to shed education business for $120M as it prepares to leave Silver Spring, Washington Business Journal, February 27, 2018
  42. ^ Renaissance Learning Turns the Page with Purchase of Minnesota Firm, Xconomy, March 22, 2018
  43. ^ a b Martin, Dylan. "Boston Startups That Were Acquired or Shut Down in May". BostInno. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  44. ^ a b UPDATE 1-Ericsson says Francisco Partners to invest $200 mln in iconectiv, Reuters, March 7, 2017
  45. ^ a b Kirchen, Rich (March 14, 2016), Connecture receives $52M investment from Francisco Partners-led group, Milwaukee Business Journal
  46. ^ Chparro, Frank (July 21, 2017), Betterment just landed an $800 million valuation, Business Insider
  47. ^ Columbus-based CoverMyMeds to be acquired by McKesson for $1.1 billion, Cleveland.com, March 1, 2018
  48. ^ Francisco Partners backed Atlanta tech company Paymetric to be acquired by Vantiv, Atlanta Business Chronicle, April 26, 2017
  49. ^ Vista Equity Partners Invests in Paylease, San Diego Business Journal, July 3, 2017
  50. ^ Term Sheet -- Wednesday, July 26, Fortune, July 26, 2017
  51. ^ Signet Buys James Allen; Comp Sales Rise, jckonline.com, August 24, 2017
  52. ^ a b Pender, Terry (2017-07-17). "Sandvine accepts $562M takeover bid". TheRecord.com. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
  53. ^ "U.S. Company Faces Backlash After Belarus Uses Its Tech to Block Internet". Bloomberg.com. 11 September 2020.
  54. ^ a b Goldman, Blackstone Buy Minority Stake in Francisco Partners, Bloomberg, July 13, 2018
  55. ^ Term Sheet -- Tuesday, April 3, Fortune, April 3, 2018
  56. ^ Renaissance Learning to Get New Private Equity Owner, Change CEOs, Xconomy, May 4, 2018
  57. ^ LegalZoom reaches $2 billion valuation, L.A. Biz
  58. ^ a b "Francisco Partners to Take VeriFone Private for $3.4 Billion". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-06-25.
  59. ^ "Francisco Partners to Acquire Orchard Software". Francisco Partners. 2019-09-30. Retrieved 2021-06-11.
  60. ^ Gara, Antoine (2020-09-17). "Inside The Massive New Effort To Get Minorities On Corporate Boards". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  61. ^ "Modern Governance Requires Modern Leadership". diligent.com. Archived from the original on 2021-08-17. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  62. ^ "Francisco Partners to Acquire Forcepoint from Raytheon Technologies".
  63. ^ Low, Cherlynn (October 30, 2020). "Under Armour is selling MyFitnessPal for $345 million". Engadget. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
  64. ^ "Under Armour Completes Sale Of The MyFitnessPal Platform To Francisco Partners". Bloomberg.com. 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  65. ^ "Francisco Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital Complete Acquisition of LogMeIn". GlobeNewswire (Press release). 17 February 2021.
  66. ^ "LogMeIn agrees to be acquired by Francisco Partners and Evergreen for $4.3B". December 17, 2019.
  67. ^ Bursztynsky, Jessica (September 23, 2020). "GoodRx closes up 53% in market debut". CNBC. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  68. ^ "Francisco Partners Completes Acquisition of Forcepoint". 11 January 2021.
  69. ^ Feldman, Amy. "Zenefits, Once Worth $4.5 Billion, Does Deal With Private-Equity Firm That Gives It Control". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-12-16.
  70. ^ "Francisco Partners is acquiring MyHeritage, sources say for $600M". 24 February 2021.
  71. ^ Gottfried, Miriam (May 2, 2021). "Dell Reaches Deal to Sell Boomi to TPG, Francisco Partners". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  72. ^ "Francisco Partners to Acquire STARLIMS". www.businesswire.com. 2021-07-07. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  73. ^ "Francisco Partners - Investments - Office Ally". www.franciscopartners.com. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  74. ^ "Francisco Partners - News - Francisco Partners Acquires Office Ally to Accelerate Growth". www.franciscopartners.com. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  75. ^ Ron Miller (January 21, 2022). "Francisco Partners scoops up bulk of IBM's Watson Health unit". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  76. ^ Davis, Michelle F.; Deveau, Scott; Davalos, Jackie (2022-01-23). "IBM Sells Some Watson Health Assets for More Than $1 Billion". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  77. ^ "Francisco Partners acquires bswift from CVS Health".
  78. ^ "Francisco Partners Completes Acquisition of Sumo Logic" (Press release). Sumo Logic. May 12, 2023 – via GlobeNewswire.
  79. ^ Rogoway, Mike (July 31, 2023). "New Relic, a major Portland tech employer, sells to private equity for $6.5 billion". The Oregonian.
  80. ^ Field, Hayden (August 22, 2023). "IBM selling The Weather Channel and the rest of its weather business". CNBC. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  81. ^ "Francisco Partners Completes Acquisition of The Weather Company" (Press release). Francisco Partners. February 1, 2024. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  82. ^ Staff (January 27, 2021). "Francisco Partners tops 2020 HEC-DowJones Private Equity Performance Ranking". Private Equity Wire. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  83. ^ Mendonça, Elisângela (January 25, 2021). "Francisco Partners crowned 2020's top money maker". Private Equity News. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  84. ^ Staff (September 22, 2020). "GoodRx sells shares above target in latest U.S. IPO success". Reuters. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  85. ^ Bursztynsky, Jessica (September 23, 2020). "GoodRx closes up 53% in market debut". CNBC. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  86. ^ Shoorbajee, Zaid (September 13, 2018). "Bomgar to acquire fellow access management company BeyondTrust". CyberScoop. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  87. ^ Cavanagh, Sean (May 7, 2018). "Renaissance Acquired by Francisco Partners, and New CEO Takes Helm". EdWeek. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  88. ^ Berkovitz, Uri (February 24, 2021). "Francisco Partners to buy Israeli co MyHeritage". Globes. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  89. ^ Orbach, Meir (February 24, 2021). "Francisco Partners to acquire genealogy company MyHeritage in $600 million deal". CTECH. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  90. ^ Thompson, Paul (October 28, 2020). "Austin cybersecurity company Forcepoint to be bought by California investment firm". Austin Business Journal. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  91. ^ Harris, David (October 27, 2020). "Raytheon Unloads Security Subsidiary Forcepoint To Private Equity". CRN. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  92. ^ Wiggers, Kyle (2019-02-19). "Redis Labs raises $60 million for its NoSQL database". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2019-03-02.
  93. ^ a b "Investments". Francisco Partners. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  94. ^ "Francisco Partners Announces Acquisition of Comodo's Certificate Authority (SSL) Business". www.businesswire.com. 31 October 2017. Retrieved 2017-10-31.
  95. ^ "LogMeIn, Inc. - LogMeIn Enters into Definitive Agreement to be Acquired by Affiliates of Francisco Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital for $86.05 per Share in Cash". 2019-12-17. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  96. ^ "LogMeIn agrees to be acquired by Francisco Partners and Evergreen for $4.3B". 2019-12-17. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  97. ^ "Francisco Partners, Clearlake link on Perforce deal". pitchbook.com. 2019-05-01. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
  98. ^ Wiggers, Kyle (2019-02-19). "Redis Labs raises $60 million for its NoSQL database". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2019-03-02.
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