Monday, August 25, 2008

ABRY Partners pays $361M for Q9

By Mass High Tech Staff

Local private equity firm ABRY Partners LLC plans to acquire Canadian data center provider Q9 Networks Inc. in a deal worth about $361 million.

ABRY Partners affiliate CDC Acquisition Corp. will pay Q9 shareholders $17.05 per common share, for a 38 percent premium on the 30-day average closing price on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Both an approval from the Ontario Supreme Court of Justice and an October Q9 shareholders’ meeting will determine the outcome of the planned buyout, though it has already received complete support from the Q9 board of directors, the company said.

ABRY Partners was named a top recapitalization/financing dealmaker in 2007 by Mass High Tech and ACG Boston.

In April, the private equity firm announced it had bought East Coast data center operator Hosted Solutions, which operates a facility in Charlestown formerly owned by Boston Datacenters Inc., for $140 million.

In January 2007, it teamed with Thurston Group of Chicago in the purchase of health-care technology company Companion Technologies Corp. in Columbia, S.C., from Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina.

ABRY provides financing for media and communications companies, claiming $21 billion worth of transactions since its inception in 1989, and representing investments in more than 500 media and business properties. Portfolio companies include Boston-based service provider Atlantic Broadband LLC, Florida background music provider Musak LLC and Canadian aviation information technology provider Navtech.

ABRY was co-founded by former Bain & Co. partners Andrew Banks and Royce Yudkoff.