News 2011
BlueArc Sold to Hitachi
Azini Capital is pleased to announce that portfolio company BlueArc Corporation has been acquired by Hitachi Data Systems Corporation (HDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT).
A number of sources have reported that Hitachi paid an estimated $600 million in cash to acquire the company. Azini Capital acquired a minority interest in BlueArc from Apax Partners in October 2010 as a part of a broader portfolio of companies.
BlueArc is Azini Capital’s fifth significant portfolio company sale in the past 14 months. For further information, visit here.
About BlueArc
BlueArc develops and sells clustered NAS systems for storing and managing digital content and unstructured (file-based) data. The company’s products use a scalable file system that allows for multiple storage appliances (nodes) to be managed as a single pool. As customer capacity requirements grow, new storage nodes can be added and legacy storage systems can be incorporated into the BlueArc namespace for better utilization of assets. BlueArc’s products are important for high-end file repositories, such as media and entertainment, genomics, Web 2.0, eDiscovery and oil and gas exploration. BlueArc has been increasingly positioning its branded products toward mainstream enterprise virtualization environments.
About Hitachi Data Systems
Hitachi Data Systems provides best-in-class information technologies, services and solutions that deliver compelling customer ROI, unmatched return on assets (ROA) and demonstrable business impact. With a vision that IT must be virtualized, automated, cloud-ready and sustainable, Hitachi Data Systems offers solutions that improve IT costs and agility. With more than 4,900 employees worldwide, Hitachi Data Systems does business in more than 100 countries and regions. Hitachi Data Systems products, services and solutions are trusted by the world’s leading enterprises, including more than 70% of the Fortune 100 and more than 80% of the Fortune Global 100. Hitachi Data Systems believes that data drives our world – and information is the new currency.
Sale of Digital Fuel to VMware
Azini Capital is pleased to announce that it has sold its shareholding in Digital Fuel to VMware, Inc. a U.S. software company that provides cloud and virtualization software and services
Azini Capital’s shareholding in Digital Fuel was one of a portfolio of interests that were acquired from Apax Partners in October 2010. Terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.
Digital Fuel is the second significant sale from Azini Capital’s second fund which was raised in October 2010 with investment from Lexington Partners. Portfolio company, Streamserve was acquired by OpenText Corporation in November 2010.
Nick Habgood of Azini Capital said; “We are very pleased with the highly successful sale of Digital Fuel to VMware and would like to thank Digital Fuel’s CEO, Yisrael Dancziger, the management team and all of the staff for their commitment and hard work. We wish them the very best of luck as Digital Fuel enters a new and exciting phase of development within VMware”.
About Digital Fuel
Digital Fuel Technologies, Inc. provides easy to use and fast to deploy IT Financial Management SaaS solutions that plan, bill, and optimize IT cost and value. Digital Fuel’s customers include BASF, BBC, BT, Capita, Capital One, Capgemini, Cisco, CSC, Cummins, Dell, Deutsche Bank, First Horizon, GE, Hospira, IBM, Independence Blue Cross, Nationwide, Nestle, Procter & Gamble, Siemens, Sprint, Starwood, Steria, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Telus, Telefonica, Unisys, Volkswagen, Wipro, and many more.
About VMware
VMware delivers virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions that enable IT organizations to energize businesses of all sizes. With the industry leading virtualization platform - VMware vSphere(R) - customers rely on VMware to reduce capital and operating expenses, improve agility, ensure business continuity, strengthen security and go green. With 2010 revenues of $2.9 billion, more than 250,000 customers and 25,000 partners, VMware is the leader in virtualization, which consistently ranks as a top priority among CIOs. VMware is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the world. More information can be found at www.vmware.com
Azini Capital invests in OB10
Azini Capital announces that it has co-led a round of investment into OB10, the leading global e-Invoicing network.
The funding, which was jointly led by Azini Capital, Cargill and Fleming Family and Partners, raised a total of $6.4 million of new capital which will be used to support the on-going growth and development of the company - specifically regional expansion and product development.
The investment comes on the back of significant growth in 2010 in which revenues grew by 30 percent and transaction volumes by 54 percent.
“The e-Invoicing market is experiencing a period of significant change with many more firms realising both the financial and efficiency gains to be made by switching from paper to electronic,” commented Stefan Foryszewski, SVP Business and Product Development, OB10. “This latest investment clearly highlights the confidence from our investors in our future business growth and positions us well to take on the expanding marketplace.”
Nick Habgood of Azini Capital said; “In order to support the current levels of growth, it is critical that OB10 continues to invest in product development and customer support. This funding demonstrates the shareholders’ commitment to the company.”
About OB10
OB10 is the leading global B2B e-Invoicing network. OB10 simplifies and streamlines the complex invoice-to-pay processes. Neither client organizations nor their suppliers are required to implement any hardware or software, and OB10 is independent of data file formats. OB10 can reduce the cost of paper invoice processing by typically 60 percent and can deliver a return on investment of less than a year if the programme follows OB10’s best practice guidelines. Operational across Europe, North America and Asia, OB10 is compliant with the requirements of VAT, tax and e-Invoicing legislation and receives invoices from suppliers across 137 countries. To ensure unrivalled and rapid supplier enrolment, each new customer’s suppliers are supported by an implementation services team responsible for getting them up and running on the OB10 network.
For more information visit www.OB10.com.
Azini Sells Two Software Businesses
Azini Capital is pleased to announce that it has successfully completed sale of two AIM listed software business which, together have returned 70% of the drawn capital in its first fund.
Focus Solutions plc, which was listed on AIM, provides software and consultancy solutions that enable large financial services organisations to automate the sale and delivery of financial products and services - including life assurance, mortgages, pensions and investments - to their customers across multiple distribution channels. The company's customers included HSBC, Barclays, Prudential, Aviva and Axa.
Azini 1 acquired interests in Focus Solutions between May 2008 and December 2008 to become the company's largest shareholder with a holding of just under 30%. The company was acquired by Standard Life plc in January 2011 for approximately $76million.
Portrait Software plc. was also AIM listed. Its software solutions allow large organisations to engage with customers at an individual and person level to deliver improved customer profitability, increased retention, reduced risk, and outstanding customer experiences. Portrait's customers include Tesco Bank, Chelsea Building Society, Merrill Lynch, T Mobile and Dell.
Azini 1 built a stake in the business between March 2008 and May 2008 to became Portrait's second largest shareholder with a 20% holding. Portrait Software was sold to Pitney Bowes Inc. in July 2010 for approximately $72million.
Return on investment - Together Azini 1's investments in Focus Solutions and Portrait Software have delivered a 4x return on investment and an IRR in excess of 70%. With 3 years elapsed, these proceeds have allowed Azini 1 to return 70% of the drawn capital to its investors - Lexington Partners and Greenpark Capital. The fund retains holdings in a further 7 companies.
Richard Stephenson, Chief Executive of Focus Solutions said “Nick (Habgood of Azini Capital) joined the board of Focus in January 2009 and has made a really positive contribution. He is challenging and constructive in board meetings; engaged and hard working outside of the boardroom." "Nick was directly involved in all aspects of the sale of the company to Standard Life. His involvement – with the company and the sale process - made a significant difference to the timing and value of the outcome."
Azini Capital acquires OneSpin Solutions
Azini Capital today announced it has completed the acquisition of OneSpin Solutions GmbH from founding investors Apax Partners and Infineon AG.
Azini has also completed an additional investment in OneSpin to accelerate the company's growth and development. OneSpin is a leading supplier of formal verification solutions for detecting all errors in the design of complex integrated circuits (semiconductor chips).
Headquartered in Munich, OneSpin was established in May 2005 as a commercial EDA company by Infineon AG and Apax Partners. It leverages more than 270 engineer-years of formal verification technology development and application service experience gained at Infineon and Siemens. The company’s award-winning solutions let customers dramatically reduce their verification effort and costs, avoid costly redesigns and respins, and significantly decrease time-to-market.
“Our decision to invest in OneSpin underlines our confidence in the future of the company, based on the growth the business is seeing for its verification solutions,” said Paul Hill, Partner of Azini Capital. “We have no doubt that the dynamics in the semiconductor market at large will drive growing demand for OneSpin’s products, and that we can help OneSpin fulfill its potential.”
“We’re delighted to have attracted an investor with such expertise,” said Peter Feist, president and CEO of OneSpin. “Azini has rapidly demonstrated its understanding of both the challenges facing the company and OneSpin’s considerable potential. I am confident that with Azini’s support, we will be able to achieve our ambitions for the company.”
About OneSpin Solutions
Electronic Design Automation (EDA) company OneSpin Solutions delivers innovative formal verification solutions that ease and speed the functional verification of complex ASIC and FPGA designs. Market-leading telecommunications, automotive, consumer electronics, and embedded systems companies rely on OneSpin's award-winning products to substantially reduce verification effort and achieve the industry’s highest-possible verification quality.
For further information visit the OneSpin website.