Menlo Park, CA– March 5, 2008 – Accel-KKR has won the Buyouts “Deal of the Year” award for the Saber Corporation transaction. According to Buyouts Magazine, the four key factors that gave Accel-KKR the win over the other respected private equity firms were as follows:
- A very attractive 6x return on an unlevered investment after just two years;
- Accel-KKR worked around an industry-wide bond surety issue that’s prevented LBO shops from entering the sector;
- The company’s rapid growth after acquiring an unprofitable division from Covansys and merging it with Saber; and
- Accel-KKR designed a creative exit, allowing management to maintain autonomy and equity under the umbrella of a strategic buyer
Accel-KKR acquired a controlling interest in Saber in 2005. Saber, headquartered in Portland, OR, provides state and local government entities with software and services that underpin essential functions such as voter registration, election management, public retirement programs, human services, public health services, motor vehicles, unemployment insurance, and forms and document processing.
On November 7, 2007, Accel-KKR announced the closing of the sale of its controlling equity stake in Saber Corp., a privately-held leading provider of software and services to U.S. state governments, to EDS (NYSE: EDS), a publicly-traded global technology services company. After just two years, the sale of Saber to EDS commanded a $420 million purchase price, yielding an IRR for Accel-KKR of 166.2% and a return multiple of 6.2x.
About Accel-KKR
Accel-KKR is a technology-focused private equity firm with over $1 billion in assets under management. The firm invests primarily in technology businesses with $15 million to $150 million in revenue that are well positioned for top-line and bottom-line growth. At the core of Accel-KKR’s investment strategy is a commitment to developing strong partnerships with the management teams of its portfolio companies and a focus on building value through the significant resources available through the Accel-KKR network. Accel-KKR has a particular focus on buyouts and recapitalizations of family-owned or closely-held private companies, divisional buyouts of larger companies, and going-private transactions. For more information, please visit www.accel-kkr.com.
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Joseph Kuo
Kekst and Company
212-521-4863
joe-kuo@kekst.com
