Kennet Partners, a leading international growth equity investor focused on the technology sector, has completed a $6m financing round in STS, a supplier of wireless audio chips for the consumer audio market.
STS was founded in 2003 by CEO Reinier Winter and CTO Hans Van Leeuwen, to develop and market proprietary wireless audio chipsets to consumer electronics manufacturers. The company has demonstrated expertise in developing high bandwidth, low latency chips and modules which deliver multi-channel uncompressed audio to wireless headsets, speakers and iPod docking stations. STS chipsets underpin some of the most innovative wireless audio equipment available on the market and have been incorporated into new products that will hit the shelves of prominent retailers in the coming months.
Over 40 million integrated DVD systems, portable audio docking systems, amplifiers and speakers are sold annually, with just a fraction incorporating wireless capability, representing a significant untapped market for STS.
"STS is an excellent example of the kind of company Kennet seeks. With very little capital, the STS team has successfully designed and brought highly innovative wireless audio semiconductors to market. The company has design wins with the leading brand names in the home audio equipment market." said Eileen Tanghal, Director at Kennet Partners.
"We are delighted to welcome Kennet as our new financial partner to STS. This investment will enable us to further accelerate our growth, while expanding our portfolio of high performance, low-cost, low power, integrated chips supporting all current and nascent wireless audio applications," commented Reinier Winter, CEO of STS.
Kennet is the first institutional investor in STS. As part of the investment, Michael Elias and Eileen Tanghal of Kennet will join the board of directors of STS’s parent company, Wireless Audio IP BV.
STS is the leading specialist for Plug & Play, Real Time wireless solutions for consumer audio applications. STS' modern, universal and flexible RF technology has revolutionized the wireless communication industry. Founded in 2003, the company is the industry leader, offering a superior digital and radio silicon platform that supports the complete range of wireless products including home, portable and automotive applications. STS, headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, is rapidly expanding, with offices in Europe, USA, Singapore and Japan.
For more information: www.sts.nl
Kennet Partners is a leading international private equity firm that invests in growth companies providing information technology products and business services that leverage technology. Kennet provides expansion capital to businesses that want to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value in partnership with an experienced investor. Kennet Partners acts as an advisor to Kennet I, a Jersey-based fund and to Kennet II and Kennet III, both Guernsey-based funds. Kennet Partners is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
For more information: www.kennet.com
ARMONK, NY -- December 5, 2006: IBM today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Consul risk management, Inc., a privately-held software company headquartered in Delft, Netherlands with a principal office in Herndon, Virginia. Financial details were not disclosed. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and is anticipated to close in the first quarter of the 2007 calendar year. Upon approval, Consul will become part of IBM's Tivoli software unit.
Consul is a leading provider of compliance and security audit software that helps clients track, report and investigate non-compliant behavior, such as unauthorized activity by information technology (IT) administrators or other users.
This acquisition strengthens IBM's Service Management initiative by adding key data governance and compliance monitoring, auditing and reporting capabilities across mainframe and distributed environments, a unique capability unmatched by other competitors.
Many companies are unclear which of their employees need access to certain sensitive information sources, such as personal health records or a company's finances. According to a recent industry report, 86 percent of internal security incidents are perpetrated by a company's most privileged and technical users - such as IT administrators, vendors, consultants, or other users. [1] Left unchecked, privileged user activities can violate compliance policies and potentially lead to incidents of identity theft.
Consul provides an "auditor-in-a-box" for compliance initiatives by using a single management technology dashboard. Consul's monitoring and auditing capabilities cover a wide array of systems, applications and resources, including IBM's mainframe environment. The technology provides powerful visibility of insider threats and specific reporting designed to help address customer's compliance activities related to various regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA [2].This technology complements IBM's existing security information and event management capabilities to offer clients a portfolio of solutions that can monitor, audit and report on both users and technology.
The software monitors business compliance processes for compliance, automatically providing alerts when information or technology assets are at risk, when data is inappropriately accessed, or if compliance processes have been breached. Increasingly, security, risk, audit and compliance functions within companies are relying on business compliance technology to investigate abnormal activity or simply test whether they are compliant with government regulations. For example, a technology company could detect when an unauthorized identity accesses a system containing future product design concepts, or an online retailer could be notified if an abnormally high number of customer records are accessed.
"Consul is uniquely capable of rounding out the IBM portfolio to help clients more fully address compliance around access to private information to help reduce risk in their organizations," said Al Zollar, general manager, IBM Tivoli Software. "Together, IBM and Consul will be able to offer integrated security management and powerful user activity monitoring across the entire IT infrastructure from devices and systems to applications in both traditional and service oriented architectures."
"With today's high volume of compliance activity, auditors typically want to know that organizations have control of privileged user activities," said Joe Sander, CEO, Consul. "Beyond knowing who has the right to access specific data, companies need to ensure that only appropriate individuals are doing so, without hindering business productivity. Consul software is one of the industry's first solutions to address the intersection of audit and policy compliance efforts with information security and operational risk."
The product uses patent pending "W7" methodology (Who, did What, When, Where, Where from, Where to and on What) to consolidate and analyze vast amounts of user and system activity. It enables customers to consolidate, normalize and analyze vast amounts of user activity via native security logs; delivering instant alerts and reports on who touches what information and how those actions may violate external regulations or internal security policies. Additionally, Consul offers an array of solutions that enable easy user administration on the mainframe, adding depth to IBM's identity management capabilities.
More than 350 customers around the world rely on Consul to accelerate their security audit and compliance efforts, including Ford, Kroger, Office Depot, Hanes and Fidelity Bank
Kennet Partners Ltd, a leading international growth equity investor focused on the technology sector, today announces the sale of its portfolio company Aspective Limited, a leading application service provider, to Vodafone UK. Vodafone UK has signed a conditional contract to acquire Aspective and the transaction is expected to close by the end of the calendar year.
Aspective was launched in 1999 with funding from Kennet to create the first European provider of hosted front-office, e-commerce and mobile applications. With continuing support from Kennet and other investors, Aspective made numerous acquisitions and grew into a leading provider of managed services delivering CRM, analytics and mobile field sales applications to blue-chip customers across the UK.
Aspective's unique expertise in mobilizing enterprise applications makes it a strong fit for Vodafone's recently announced strategy to offer seamless mobility solutions to its customers.
Kennet Managing Director David Carratt was instrumental in the foundation of Aspective in 1999. He was succeeded on Aspective’s Board of Directors in early 2005 by Kennet director Maximilian Bleyleben, who commented, "Aspective has been leading the market since its foundation, initially as one of the first European Application Service Providers for front-office solutions, and later in implementing some of the largest mobile field applications in the market. We are delighted that Aspective has found a good match for its ambitions within Vodafone."
Aspective CEO, Javaid Aziz, said "This is a great result for Aspective and its employees. The acquisition by Vodafone UK is a testament to the intrinsic quality of the business we have built over the years with the support of our investors."
Note: Vodafone UK means Vodafone UK Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc.
Kennet Partners is a leading international private equity firm which invests in growth companies providing information technology products and business services that leverage information technology. Kennet provides expansion capital to businesses that want to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value in partnership with an experienced investor. Kennet acts as an advisor to Kennet I LP, a Jersey limited partnership and to Kennet II LP, a Guernsey limited partnership. Kennet Partners is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Vodafone UK has 16.2 million customers and is part of the world’s leading international mobile telecommunications Group, offering a wide range of voice and data communications. The company is committed to providing mobile solutions that allow both consumer and business customers to make the most of now. In addition, Vodafone connects customers across the globe with roaming agreements worldwide. It provides 3G roaming in 29 countries and offers great roaming value with Vodafone Passport. For more information, please visit www.vodafone.co.uk
Aspective is a specialist in the mobilisation of enterprise applications such as CRM and Field Sales Automation – an area in which Vodafone UK is seeing increasing demand from its enterprise customers. Through its acquisition of Aspective Vodafone UK will be able to provide a broader set of skills and capabilities to support customers in the areas of business process consulting, solution design, implementation and managed services.
Global private equity firm The Carlyle Group and technology investor Kennet Partners today announce that they have acquired FRS Global from S1 Corporation (NASDAQ: SONE). Financial terms are not disclosed.
At the same time, FRS Global is pleased to announce the appointments of Steven Husk, formerly President of the Trading & Risk division of SunGard Data Systems, as Executive Chairman of the company, and Alain Tayenne, who successfully led the company as General Manager, as Chief Executive Officer. Husk and Tayenne will work closely together enabling FRS Global to reinforce its position as market leader in financial regulatory and compliance reporting.
FRS Global is headquartered in Belgium and employs 190 people. It has the largest installed customer base in the sector, with over 900 customers worldwide, including HSBC, Citibank, JP Morgan, HBOS, Wachovia, Bank of Montreal, BBVA, BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Canada, and UBS among others. FRS is the only company to provide software to automate the process of regulatory reporting in more than 25 countries around the world and for multiple regulatory regimes including Basel II, Sarbanes-Oxley and IFRS. FRS provides its solutions on a subscription basis, enabling customers to respond instantly to changes in the regulatory environment and to remain compliant in their worldwide operations.
Michael Wand, Director, The Carlyle Group said, "FRS is the leading regulatory and compliance software vendor in the financial services industry. With an evermore complex risk and compliance market, driven by a continuous wave of regulation in the financial services sector, we believe this market is critical for the industry. FRS provides an outstanding technology-driven 'knowledge' service to enable financial institutions to manage their regulatory reporting and compliance activities, and we believe the business will continue to grow significantly in the coming years."
Maximilian Bleyleben, Director, Kennet Partners said, "Increasingly, banks around the world find that the only way to control the spiraling costs of compliance is to standardise the management of operational and financial data. FRS enables them to maintain a single, robust source of financial data and provides end-to-end applications for regulatory reporting, Basel II compliance, operational risk management and business performance management. As the only company in its sector to provide global regulatory coverage, FRS is uniquely positioned to be a leader in the financial compliance and analytics market."
Alain Tayenne, CEO of FRS said: "We are delighted that The Carlyle Group and Kennet Partners have chosen to invest in FRS. Over the past years we have delivered consistent growth and have successfully marketed industry-leading solutions and expanded into new geographies. This investment reflects Carlyle and Kennet's support for our strategy and commitment to becoming the premier provider of compliance, risk and reporting solutions for financial institutions."
Executive Chairman Steve Husk commented on his appointment: "I am delighted to join FRS and work with an experienced and devoted team that has not only proven its ability to build a highly flourishing business globally, but also has the vision and capability to merge regulatory risk and performance requirements into a single solution."
This is Carlyle's fifth investment from its dedicated European technology fund, Carlyle Europe Technology Partners L.P. (CETP), which closed in May 2006 with €222 million in equity commitments. The fund focuses on small buyouts and growth capital investments in technology companies across Europe with an enterprise value of between €25 million and €200 million. Other investments include NP Aerospace in October 2005, UC4 Software in March 2006, Transics in May 2006 and Global Media in July 2006.
Kennet Partners is an experienced growth capital investor in Europe and the US, specialising in working with innovative technology companies targeting global markets. FRS complements earlier investments from Kennet's second fund, such as Clearswift, Volantis Systems, Adviva Media, Kapow Technologies, Sequans Communications and eProject. Kennet manages over $280m in funds and operates from offices in London and San Francisco.
The Carlyle Group is a global private equity firm with $42 billion under management. Carlyle invests in buyouts, growth capital, real estate and leveraged finance in North America, Europe and Asia, focusing on technology & business services, telecommunications & media, aerospace, automotive & transportation, consumer & retail, energy & power, healthcare and industrial. Since 1987, the firm has invested $19.7 billion of equity in 500 transactions. The Carlyle Group employs more than 670 people in 15 countries.
Founded in 1997, Kennet Partners is a leading international private equity firm which provides expansion capital to technology companies, including enterprise software, IT services and solutions, digital media, communication technologies and semiconductor products. Kennet works with entrepreneurs that want to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value in partnership with an experienced investor. Notable Kennet investments have included ChipIdea Microelectronics, Cramer Systems (acquisition announced by Amdocs), Altitun (acquired by ADC Telecommunications), Paragon Software (acquired by Openwave), No Wires Needed (acquired by Intersil), and Ubizen (acquired by Cybertrust). Kennet Partners acts as an advisor to Kennet II LP, a Guernsey limited partnership.
Kennet Venture Partners Ltd (“Kennet”), a leading international venture capital firm focused on the technology sector, today announces the sale of portfolio company Cramer to Amdocs, an industry leader in solutions that enable integrated customer management, for $375 million (£205 million). Cramer is a leading provider of operations support systems (OSS) solutions. The sale is expected to close in August of this year.
Kennet invested a total of $5million in Cramer in two financings, the first of which took place in September 1999. The acquisition of Cramer, which was made net of the company’s significant cash reserves, will provide Kennet with a double-digit multiple of its $5 million investment. Kennet managing director, David Carratt has been a member of Cramer’s board of directors since 1999. Cramer has experienced significant growth over the past four years. In addition, Cramer has become recognized as a leading provider of software products within the OSS domain with customers such as Bell Canada, KPN, TDC, Telefonica and Vodafone.
As a result of the acquisition, Amdocs will be the only company to deliver an end-to-end solution spanning OSS and customer-facing business support systems (BSS), such as billing and customer relationship management (CRM).
David Carratt, managing director of Kennet Venture Partners, said: “Cramer has demonstrated consistent growth over the long term due to the vision and leadership of the founding team. The combination of a clear view of the market opportunity, highly professional staff and an exemplary management team led by CEO, Guy Dubois, made Cramer an attractive acquisition target.”
Dave Embleton, Chairman of Cramer, said: “Kennet’s contribution has been to help the founders to achieve their plans through evaluating ideas, leading the recruitment of senior executives and appraising alternative strategies. Kennet’s long term, knowledge-based approach to investment in Cramer has allowed the company to grow to what it has become today – the leading provider in its sector. This transaction with Amdocs will enable the company to continue to lead change and innovation in the telecoms industry.”
Kennet Venture Partners is a leading international venture capital firm which invests in growth companies providing information technology products and business services that leverage information technology. Kennet provides expansion capital to businesses that want to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value in partnership with an experienced investor. Kennet Venture Partners acts as an advisor to Kennet I LP, a Jersey limited partnership and to Kennet II LP, a Guernsey limited partnership. Kennet Venture Partners is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Cramer is the leading provider of operational support system (OSS) software that is changing the economics of telecom. Cramer offers the industry's only complete, end-to-end service fulfillment solution, enabling providers to introduce and deliver new products and services quickly and cost effectively. Leading service providers continue to deploy Cramer's solutions and include Bell Canada, KPN, TDC, Telefonica, TeliaSonera and Vodafone. Cramer has partnerships with industry leaders including Accenture, Alcatel, Amdocs, Ericsson, HP, IBM, Oracle and SAP. Customers can also take advantage of Cramer's world class consulting, support and education capabilities delivered by Cramer Global Services.
SEQUANS Communications, a leading supplier of fixed and mobile WiMAX chips, has raised US $24 million in a new round of equity financing. The round was led by Kennet Venture Partners, a leading international private equity firm that provides growth equity to technology businesses in Europe and the U.S. Sequans' existing investors, Add Partners, Cap Decisif, T-Source, SG Asset Management and Vision Capital, also participated in the round.
Sequans was founded in 2003 to develop and deliver fixed and mobile WiMAX system-on-chips (SoCs) for the fast-growing WiMAX equipment market. Sequans is the only WiMAX chipmaker to have received certification for both base station and subscriber station reference designs for fixed WiMAX. Sequans expects reference designs based on its mobile WiMAX chips that are currently sampling, to be certified in the first wave of WiMAX Forum mobile certification planned for later this year. The global WiMAX market is expected to reach $2.2 billion by 2008 according to Gartner.
Michael Elias, managing director of Kennet Venture Partners who joined the board of directors of Sequans as a result of the investment said, "Sequans has done an extraordinary job bringing to market solutions for fixed and mobile WiMAX in a short-time frame and with very efficient use of capital. With an impressive list of customers that include leading telecommunications companies, we view the Sequans team as one of the foremost wireless ASIC teams in the world. Now with significant capital on its balance sheet, we believe Sequans is extremely well-positioned to achieve leadership in the WiMAX market."
Georges Karam, Sequans CEO, said, "We are grateful to Kennet and to all of our existing investors for their support in ensuring that our aggressive development schedule stays on track. We will use our new funding to grow our organization, particularly in the areas of sales and customer support, and to further accelerate the introduction of high performance, low-power, low-cost integrated chips to support mobile and fixed applications."
Sequans was founded in 2003 by CEO Georges Karam and a team of engineers who previously worked together at a leading broadband wireless technology company. The Sequans team possesses a high level of expertise in systems, complex ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) design, advanced signal processing, MAC protocol and RFIC (radio frequency integrated circuit) design.
For this transaction, Sequans was advised by Clipperton Finance, a corporate finance boutique focused on the high tech and media sectors"
SEQUANS Communications is a leading supplier of fixed and mobile WiMAX silicon and software based on IEEE 802.16 standards. Offering both base station and subscriber station chips for both fixed and mobile WiMAX, Sequans provides a broader product line than any other WiMAX chipmaker. Sequans offers equipment manufacturers an all-in-one solution, including full MAC and PHY functionality, enabling them to build the complete range of WiMAX network components: high-end and pico base stations, outdoor and indoor subscriber terminals, home gateways, and all types of mobile devices. Sequans' WiMAX solutions feature high performance, very low power consumption, and incorporate all 802.16 standard requirements as well as additional features for increased coverage and mobility. Sequans, along with its RF partners, provide the most complete WiMAX solution available to system manufacturers today. Sequans' fixed WiMAX products are certified 802.16-2004-compliant and its mobile WiMAX products are expected to be certified when the wave 1 certification process begins later this year. Sequans is based in Paris, France with offices in USA, Israel and Singapore.
For more information please visit www.sequans.com
Founded in 1997, Kennet Venture Partners is a leading transatlantic private equity firm which provides expansion capital to companies in the areas of IT Services and Solutions, Enterprise Software, Communication Technologies and Semiconductor products. Kennet works with entrepreneurs that want to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value in partnership with an experienced investor. Notable Kennet investments have included ChipIdea Microelectronics, Cramer Systems, Altitun (acquired by ADC Telecommunications), Paragon Software (acquired by Openwave), No Wires Needed (acquired by Intersil), and Ubizen (acquired by Cybertrust). Kennet Venture Partners acts as an advisor to Kennet II LP, a Guernsey limited partnership.