Sequoia Capital and Francisco Partners
have invested in telecom equipment maker
Data Connection Ltd.
The deal, whose terms were undisclosed, means the British company, which ranked No. 5 on the Sunday Times' list of best places to work in 2006, will no longer be 100% owned by its employee trust. Workers retain a majority share of the company, Data Connection said in a statement.
"Having recently passed $100 million in annual revenue, it became clear
to us that our current growth trajectory would be significantly enhanced by tapping into the
experience and resources that major players such as Francisco Partners and Sequoia Capital can
bring," said Ian Ferguson, chairman and founder of Data Connection and the company's MetaSwitch telephony unit, in a statement.
Ben Ball,
a co-founder of Francisco Partners, added in a statement that the PE firm was drawn to Data Connection and MetaSwitch's "exceptional track record of profitability, combined with the exciting
market opportunities for their world-class technology."
DCL, which has more than 400 employees, makes switching, conferencing, messaging enterprise networking and other telecom gear. Its customers include Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco Systems Inc., IBM Corp. and Microsoft Corp.
Wachovia Securities LLC's David Bain and Michael Wilkins provided DCL with financial advice on the transaction, while Linklaters LLP's Aedamar Comiskey served as counsel. Francisco Partners received financial advice from Morgan Stanley and legal advice from Slaughter and May.
- Olaf de Senerpont Domis
See Jan. 14 press release from Data Connection
See Jan. 14 press release from Francisco Partners
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