For Immediate Release
01/15/2007
New York, NY. January 15, 2007 – A consortium of three U.S.-based private equity firms, Oak Hill Capital Partners, GenNx360 Capital Partners and Knox Lawrence International, today announced that they have reached a definitive agreement to acquire Vertex Data Science Limited (“Vertex”), a business process outsourcing subsidiary, from United Utilities PLC (“United Utilities”), based in the United Kingdom.
The acquiring company is VTX Holdings Limited (“VTX”), a newly formed entity. Total consideration for the sale is £217.5 million, comprising cash, the repayment of intra-group debt and the assumption of certain liabilities of Vertex.
“Vertex has strong partnerships with leading customers built on a commitment to high quality service, distinctive expertise and the intelligent application of technology. We look forward to working with our partners to build on that success,” said Doug Kaden, a Principal at Oak Hill Capital Partners.
“There is potential to refine and expand on the already successful Vertex business platform. The Vertex commitment to customers and application-specific domain knowledge mixed with our partners’ expertise provides a unique growth opportunity,” stated Jim Shepard, a Managing Partner at GenNx360 Capital Partners.
Nana Baffour, a Managing Principal of Knox Lawrence International, said, “We are delighted to have played a significant role in developing and executing on this opportunity. And, we are very excited to partner with Oak Hill and GenNx360 in the acquisition of Vertex. We believe VTX creates an excellent platform to continue to provide world class business process outsourcing to Vertex’s existing clients as well as to new clients.”
Completion of the sale is expected by the end of March 2007, subject to satisfying appropriate regulatory requirements.VTX was advised by Rodman & Renshaw, LLC, a New York based investment bank.