Funds advised by Apax Partners to acquire Coalfire from The Carlyle Group and The Chertoff Group

13th December 2019

Funds advised by Apax Partners today announced they have reached an agreement to acquire Coalfire, a provider of cybersecurity advisory and assessment services, from The Carlyle Group and The Chertoff Group. 

Investment to help Coalfire accelerate growth across compliance and cybersecurity service offerings 

Westminster, Colorado and New York, December 13, 2019: Funds advised by Apax Partners (the “Apax Funds”) today announced they have reached an agreement to acquire Coalfire, a provider of cybersecurity advisory and assessment services, from The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) and The Chertoff Group. The transaction is expected to be completed in early 2020, subject to regulatory approval. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

Founded in 2001, Coalfire is a cybersecurity advisor that helps organizations avert threats, close gaps, and effectively manage cyber risk. By providing independent, tailored advice and services that span the cybersecurity lifecycle, Coalfire helps clients develop scalable programs that improve their security posture. The company today has more than 1,800 government and commercial clients and extensive cloud security experience, working with seven of the top ten SaaS providers. Coalfire’s more than 730 employees operate from 11 locations in the United States and the United Kingdom. 

The investment from the Apax Funds will support Coalfire in accelerating its growth. Rohan Haldea, Partner at Apax Partners, said: “Coalfire is an established and highly-respected cybersecurity advisory and assessment services firm that is well-positioned for further growth due to cybersecurity trends and the vision of its strong management team. The Apax Funds’ investment will assist the company in particular by increasing Coalfire’s investment in technology; continuing to invest in thought leadership, especially with respect to securing cloud environments; and deepening capabilities across assurance standards while scaling its penetration testing and cyber risk services business.”  

Tom McAndrew, Coalfire CEO, said: “We are thrilled with our new partnership with Apax, which will help drive our growth plans while continuing our commitment to our customers, people, and core values. The leadership, support, and investment provided by Carlyle, Chertoff, and Baird Capital have been instrumental in our success over the last four years, and we are excited to begin this new chapter.” 

Carlyle Managing Director Steve Bailey said: “It has been a great pleasure working with Tom and his team, along with The Chertoff Group, to support Coalfire’s tremendous growth over the past four years as we leveraged our cybersecurity investing experience. We wish them much continued success.”  

Haldea added: “We look forward to working with the Coalfire team as they broaden their services to support customers in navigating an environment that is characterized by an increasing range of cybersecurity challenges.” The Apax Funds have a successful track record of partnering with tech-enabled services businesses, including Engineering, EVRY, Fractal Analytics, GlobalLogic, Lexitas, ThoughtWorks, and Zensar. 

William Blair served as financial advisor and Latham & Watkins served as legal advisor to Coalfire. PwC served as accounting advisor to Carlyle. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to the Apax Funds. 

The Carlyle Group invested in Coalfire in 2015 through its U.S. Equity Opportunity Fund I, a $1.1 billion U.S. middle-market fund. 

About Coalfire

Coalfire is the trusted cybersecurity advisor that helps private and public-sector organizations avert threats, close gaps and effectively manage risk. By providing independent and tailored advice, assessments, technical testing, and cyber engineering services, we help clients develop scalable programs that improve their security posture, achieve their business objectives and fuel their continued success. Coalfire has been a cybersecurity thought leader for nearly 20 years and has offices throughout the United States and Europe. For more information, visit www.coalfire.com. 

About Apax Partners 

Apax Partners is a leading global private equity advisory firm. Over its more than 40-year history, Apax Partners has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of c.$50 billion. The Apax Funds invest in companies across four global sectors of Tech & Telco, Services, Healthcare, and Consumer. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For more information see: www.apax.com.  

About The Carlyle Group 

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global investment firm with deep industry expertise that deploys private capital across four business segments: Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Credit, and Investment Solutions. With $222 billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2019, Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, portfolio companies and the communities in which we live and invest. The Carlyle Group employs more than 1,775 people in 33 offices across six continents. 

About The Chertoff Group 

The Chertoff Group is a global advisory services firm that invests in and provides consulting, business development and M&A advisory services for clients in the security, defense and government services sectors.  The Chertoff Group applies security expertise, technology insights, and policy intelligence to help clients build resilient organizations, gain competitive advantage, and accelerate growth. Through its investment banking subsidiary Chertoff Capital, the firm provides M&A advisory services in global security markets and growth equity investments in cyber and tech-enabled security and defense sector companies.  For more information, visit www.chertoffgroup.com 

About Baird Capital 

Baird Capital makes venture capital, growth equity and private equity investments in strategically targeted sectors around the world. Having invested in more than 300 companies over its history, Baird Capital partners with entrepreneurs and, leveraging its executive networks, strives to build exceptional companies. Baird Capital provides operational support to its portfolio companies through teams on the ground in the United States, Europe and Asia, a proactive portfolio operations team and a deep network of relationships, which together strive to deliver enhanced shareholder value. Baird Capital is the direct private investment arm of Robert W. Baird & Co. For more information, please visit BairdCapital.com.

Media Contacts

For Coalfire

Global Media: Mike Gallo, Lumina Communications | +1 212-239-8594 | luminacoalfire@luminapr.com

UK Media: Bryn Madden, Citypress | +44 161 235 0338 | coalfire@citypress.co.uk

For Apax Partners

Global Media: Andrew Kenny, Apax | +44 20 7 872 6371 | andrew.kenny@apax.com

USA Media: Todd Fogarty, Kekst CNC | +1 212-521-4854 | apax@kekstcnc.com

UK Media: Matthew Goodman / James Madsen, Greenbrook | +44 20 7952 2000 | apax@greenbrookpr.com

For The Carlyle Group

Christa Zipf, The Carlyle Group | +1 212-813-4578 | christa.zipf@carlyle.com

For The Chertoff Group

Global Media:  Meagan Hawkins | +1 202-552-5243 | meagan.hawkins@chertoffgroup.com

For Baird Capital

Rachel Kern | +1 414-298-5101 | rkern@rwbaird.com 

Notes to Editors

London-headquartered Apax Partners (www.apax.com), and Paris-headquartered Apax Partners (www.apax.fr) had a shared history but are separate, independent private equity firms