San Francisco, Calif. (Feb. 15, 2012) – Thoma Bravo, LLC, a leading private equity investment firm, has completed the acquisition of Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ: BCSI), a leading provider of Web security and WAN optimization solutions. Under the terms of the agreement, an investor group led by Thoma Bravo has acquired all of the outstanding shares of common stock of the company for $25.81 per share in cash, or approximately $1.3 billion. Blue Coat’s current president and chief executive officer, Gregory S. Clark, will continue to serve in the role for the company.

“The security and network acceleration markets have tremendous growth opportunities, and Blue Coat as a private company is now well poised to further strengthen its market leadership,” said Thoma Bravo managing partner Orlando Bravo. “We are enthusiastic about working with the Blue Coat team to take the company to the next level.”

“This marks our fifth platform investment in the security technology sector and our fourth in networking,” added Seth Boro, partner at Thoma Bravo. “We’re confident our approach and experience in identifying strategic opportunities, coupled with Blue Coat’s innovative solutions and proven leadership in Web security and WAN optimization, establishes a platform for the company’s continued success.”

Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., Blue Coat provides products to more than 15,000 customers worldwide, including 88 percent of the Fortune® Global 500. Blue Coat is recognized by industry analysts for its market leadership in Web security and WAN optimization.

“Today represents an important milestone for Blue Coat as this transaction allows us to be more opportunistic and aggressively grow our leadership in Web security and WAN optimization solutions,” said Clark. “Our customers and partners will continue to receive the same experience they’ve grown accustomed to and can expect a renewed focus on enhancing our suite of solutions through strategic and organic growth opportunities.”

The investor group acquiring Blue Coat was led by private equity firm Thoma Bravo and includes the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan through its private investor department.  Jefferies & Company, Inc. served as lead financial advisor.  Thoma Bravo received financing commitments from Jefferies Finance LLC.

About Thoma Bravo, LLC

Thoma Bravo is a leading private equity investment firm that has been providing equity and strategic support to experienced management teams building growing companies for more than 30 years. The firm originated the concept of industry consolidation investing, which seeks to create value through the strategic use of acquisitions to accelerate business growth. Thoma Bravo applies its investment strategy across multiple industries, with a particular focus on the software and service sectors, and works in partnership with management to implement its operating and consolidation expertise to build long-term value.  In software, Thoma Bravo has completed more than 46 add-on acquisitions across 20 platform companies with total annual earnings of approximately $1 billion.  For more information, visit www.thomabravo.com.

About Blue Coat Systems

Blue Coat Systems is a leading provider of Web security and WAN optimization solutions.  Blue Coat offers solutions that provide the visibility, acceleration and security required to optimize and secure the flow of information to any user, on any network, anywhere.  This application intelligence enables enterprises to tightly align network investments with business requirements, speed decision making and secure business applications for long-term competitive advantage.  Blue Coat also offers service provider solutions for managed security and WAN optimization, as well as carrier-grade caching solutions to save on bandwidth and enhance the end-user Web experience.  For additional information, please visit www.bluecoat.com.

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 Acquisition of Digital Media Company Adds to Thoma Bravo’s Growing Software and Technology Portfolio

 Nevada City and San Francisco, Calif. – Thoma Bravo, LLC, a leading private equity investment firm, has completed the acquisition of Telestream®, the leading provider of video transcoding and digital media software solutions.  Financial details were not disclosed. Telestream’s co-founder and CEO, Dan Castles, will continue to serve as CEO for the company.

 “This acquisition puts Telestream in a strong position to facilitate further growth of our core businesses while giving us additional capital to explore further market expansion and acquisitions,” said Castles. “Thoma Bravo has a well-regarded reputation in the technology space, and their expertise will be extremely valuable as we enter the next phase of our growth and market leadership.”

 “We see tremendous growth opportunities in the digital media industry,” said Holden Spaht, partner at Thoma Bravo. “Based on Telestream’s reputation and leading market position, we believe the company represents a great fit with Thoma Bravo’s strategy of accelerating the growth of best-in-class technology companies.”

 “We’re excited to work with Telestream to further distinguish the company as the leader in the digital media space,” said Thoma Bravo vice president A.J. Rohde. “This is a competitive, ever-changing industry that requires the ability to react quickly to challenges and opportunities, and we believe this investment positions Telestream for continued long-term success and growth.” 

Headquartered in Nevada City, Calif., Telestream has 160 employees and operations in Virginia, Sweden and Germany. Its customers include leading media companies such as CBS, BBC, CNN, FOX, CBC, Comcast, Direct TV, Time Warner, MTV, Discovery and Lifetime, as well as a growing number of users in a broad range of business environments. 

The completion of this acquisition marks Thoma Bravo’s nineteenth acquisition in the software space.

 About Telestream

Telestream provides world-class live and on-demand digital video tools and workflow solutions that allow consumers and businesses to transform video on the desktop and across the enterprise. Many of the world’s most demanding media and entertainment companies, such as CBS, BBC, CNN, FOX, CBC, Comcast, Direct TV, Time Warner, MTV, Discovery, and Lifetime, as well as a growing number of users in a broad range of business environments, rely on Telestream products to streamline operations, reach broader audiences and generate more revenue from their media. These companies choose to work with Telestream as they know they will get a trusted and highly skilled technical partner. Telestream products span the entire digital media lifecycle, including video capture and ingest; live and on-demand encoding and transcoding; playout, delivery, and live streaming; as well as management and automation of the entire workflow. The company also partners closely with the industry’s leading digital media companies across the entire digital media lifecycle, from consumer to enterprise. Telestream corporate headquarters are located in Nevada City, California. The company is privately held. For more information, visit www.telestream.net. 

 About Thoma Bravo, LLC

Thoma Bravo is a leading private equity investment firm that has been providing equity and strategic support to experienced management teams building growing companies for 30 years. The firm originated the concept of industry consolidation investing, which seeks to create value through the strategic use of acquisitions to accelerate business growth. Thoma Bravo applies its investment strategy across multiple industries, with a particular focus on the software and service sectors, and works in partnership with management to implement its operating and consolidation expertise to build long-term value.  In software, Thoma Bravo has completed more than 46 add-on acquisitions across 19 platform companies with total annual earnings of approximately $1 billion.  For more information, visit www.thomabravo.com.

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Transaction positions Telestream for further strategic acquisitions and strengthened industry leadership

Nevada City & San Francisco, Cal., December 21, 2011 – Telestream®, the leading provider of video transcoding and digital media software solutions, today announced that leading private equity investment firm Thoma Bravo, LLC has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Telestream, Inc. The transaction will facilitate further growth of Telestream’s core businesses in addition to providing additional capital for further market expansion and acquisition.

“This acquisition recognizes Telestream’s history of market leadership, double-digit growth and profitability,” said Dan Castles, Telestream’s co-founder and CEO. “That growth would not be possible without our original investors and dedicated team of employees who have demonstrated a strong commitment to our customers. We look forward to our next phase of growth and expansion with Thoma Bravo as we continue to play a leadership role in the digital media industry.”

For more than 13 years, Telestream has been at the forefront of innovation, pioneering file-based video encoding and transcoding solutions for media and entertainment companies, enterprises, and consumers. According to 2011 reports by business research firms Frost & Sullivan and In-Stat, the worldwide multi-format transcoders market is poised for strong growth.

According to Mukul Krishna, Global Director, Digital Media at Frost & Sullivan, “Vendors like Telestream have been helping to fuel growth in the digital video market by providing solutions that help media companies meet the challenges of scalability and economically creating and delivering the massive volumes of content demanded by a multi-screen environment.”

“Frost & Sullivan has recognized Telestream for its best practices multiple times and based on Frost & Sullivan’s analysis, Telestream is the market leader for the global video transcoders market,” adds Avni Rambhia, Senior Industry Analyst, Digital Media at Frost & Sullivan.

“Thoma Bravo is excited to partner with Telestream’s existing management team to continue to expand the company’s market leadership position,” said Holden Spaht, partner at Thoma Bravo. “We look forward to building on the company’s impressive reputation for product innovation, strategic acquisitions, and world-class customer service.”

“The video ecosystem continues to grow and expand as customers require increasingly complex tools to manage their end-to-end video workflows,” said A.J. Rohde, vice president at Thoma Bravo. “Thoma Bravo sees significant opportunity in the digital media market, and Telestream is well positioned as a strong platform for increased investment in the industry.”

Telestream has been profitable since 2001 and has self-financed three acquisitions: compression specialist Popwire in 2006; live webcasting and screencasting provider Vara Software Ltd. in 2008; and Anystream, a leading provider of automated multi-platform media publishing solutions in 2010. At the close of 2011 Telestream brings thirteen straight years of record sales growth.

The transaction is expected to close in early January 2012. Terms of the deal were not disclosed as both companies are privately held. Telestream will continue to operate as an independent entity with existing management teams continuing their current roles. Headquarters will remain in Nevada City, California with offices in Virginia, Sweden and Germany. For more information about Telestream, visit http://www.telestream.net.

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Trademarked company and product names are the property of their respective companies.

About Telestream

Telestream provides world-class live and on-demand digital video tools and workflow solutions that allow consumers and businesses to transform video on the desktop and across the enterprise. Many of the world’s most demanding media and entertainment companies, such as CBS, BBC, CNN, FOX, CBC, Comcast, Direct TV, Time Warner, MTV, Discovery, and Lifetime, as well as a growing number of users in a broad range of business environments, rely on Telestream products to streamline operations, reach broader audiences and generate more revenue from their media. These companies choose to work with Telestream as they know they will get a trusted and highly skilled technical partner. Telestream products span the entire digital media lifecycle, including video capture and ingest; live and on-demand encoding and transcoding; playout, delivery, and live streaming; as well as management and automation of the entire workflow. The company also partners closely with the industry’s leading digital media companies across the entire digital media lifecycle, from consumer to enterprise. Telestream corporate headquarters are located in Nevada City, California. The company is privately held. For more information, visit www.telestream.net.

About Thoma Bravo, LLC

Thoma Bravo is a leading private equity investment firm that has been providing equity and strategic support to experienced management teams building growing companies for 30 years. The firm originated the concept of industry consolidation investing, which seeks to create value through the strategic use of acquisitions to accelerate business growth. Thoma Bravo applies its investment strategy across multiple industries, with a particular focus on the software and service sectors, and works in partnership with management to implement its operating and consolidation expertise to build long-term value. In software, Thoma Bravo has completed more than 46 add-on acquisitions across 18 platform companies with total annual earnings of approximately $1 billion. For more information, visit www.thomabravo.com/.

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Larry Walsh of Channelnomics covers Thoma Bravo’s acquisition of Blue Coat Systems Inc. and gives an overview of the other security technology companies in Thoma Bravo’s portfolio. Given the complementary strengths and offerings of these portfolio companies, the reporter suggests that a potential exit strategy would be the merging of these firms to create a security vendor ‘powerhouse’.

The full article can be read here: http://channelnomics.com/2011/12/15/thoma-bravo-potential-security-powerhouse/

An investor group, led by private equity firm Thoma Bravo, announced on Friday that it has agreed to purchase Blue Coat Systems, a maker of enterprise security and network software, for $1.3 billion in cash.

The group, which includes the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, will pay Blue Coat’s shareholders $25.81 – a 48 percent premium to Thursday’s closing price.

The acquisition of Blue Coat – the third enterprise software transaction in seven days – is yet another sign that deal-making in the sector is heating up. On Thursday, I.B.M. announced a $440 million deal to buy DemandTec, a Web-based data analytics company. And on Saturday, Germany’s SAP agreed to buy SuccessFactors, a human resource management service. In each case, the target was an enterprise software company with Web-based applications and the buyer was willing to pay a roughly 50 percent premium.

Blue Coat, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., specializes in applications that help businesses optimize their online networks for speed and efficiency. Its security products, which are also offered through the so-called cloud, also help companies control and monitor the data that flows from the Web.

“Our partnership with Thoma Bravo will assist Blue Coat in more aggressively realizing the opportunities in its two markets, by providing a platform that enables greater focus on the business that supports the future growth of the company,” Gregory S. Clark, Blue Coat’s chief executive said in a statement.

Although the deal offers a healthy premium to Thursday’s closing price – and a 62 percent premium over the 60-day average – the bid may be a underwhelming for some of Blue Coat’s shareholders seeking a higher price.

Earlier this year, shares of Blue Coat were trading as high as $32, or 19 percent above Thoma Bravo’s offer price. The company, like other technology stocks, has been bogged down by broader equity market declines and tepid earnings reports. In mid-August, Blue Coat announced the abrupt departure of its chief executive, Michael Borman, on the same day that it announced a steep 81 percent drop in quarterly profits. It replaced Mr. Borman – who was at the post for less than a year – with Mr. Clark, a former chief executive of Mincom, an enterprise technology business that was bought by the ABB Group in July.

Still, hedge fund Elliott Management, which owns a 13 percent stake in Blue Coat, said it was pleased with the outcome.

“This is a terrific outcome for shareholders,” Jesse A. Cohn, an Elliott portfolio manager said in an e-mailed statement. “Blue Coat has leading technology in good markets, and we are pleased this compelling value was recognized.”

Goldman Sachs advised Blue Coat on the transaction, while Jefferies advised Thoma Bravo. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012.

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Thoma Bravo adds operating partner

Matt Mongia was named an operating partner at private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

It is a new position; Mr. Mongia will be leading the Thoma Bravo financial services team and will be structuring private equity deals, said Carl Thoma, managing partner.

Mr. Mongia was a managing director in New York for Religare Global Asset Management, the multiboutique money management business of financial services group Religare Enterprises.

Alan Berkshire, head of the U.S. asset management business, has taken over Mr. Mongia’s duties, wrote Subhrangshu Neogi, director, brand and corporate communications for Religare Enterprises Ltd., in an e-mail.

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Vehicle routing software company: Roadnet Technologies Named To World’s Largest Software Company List By Software Magazine

Leading transportation software provider Roadnet Technologies was included in Software Magazine’s Software 500 ranking of the world’s largest software and service providers. The ranking, which is based on total worldwidesoftware and services revenue for 2010, can be viewed at http://www.softwaremag.com/.

Roadnet Technologies, a leader in route planning and scheduling software, was named in the “Top 10 Companies in the $30 – $50 million” and “Top 10 Overall in Revenue Growth” categories, based on the achievement of $35 million in software and service revenue and a 141.2% growth rate last year. Approximately 27 percent of the 2011 Software 500 companies are privately-held and more than 100 appear on the list in 2011 for the first time – two distinctions held by the Baltimore-based company.

Roadnet Technologies provides worldwide fleet management and route optimization solutions for hundreds of thousands of vehicles in a broad range of industries such as foodservice, beverage, paper, medical, waste management, textile and energy. Roadnet’s fleet management applications and logistics software provides strategic territory and street-level route plans, multi-stop vehicle routing and scheduling, real-time  wireless dispatch, vehicle telematics, fuel management, and real-time vehicle GPS tracking.

“We consider this national recognition an extremely high honor and attribute this achievement to the continued strong efforts and successes of our entire team,” explained Len Kennedy, Chief Executive Officer of Roadnet Technologies, a leader in vehicle routing and fleet management software. Our company has continued this momentum through the first half of 2011, which represented the best two quarters in our 25-year history based on same-year sales volume and a 97% customer retention rate,” he added.

“The Software 500 is a quick reference of vendor viability,” stated John P. Desmond, editor of Software Magazine. “The 2011 results show that revenue growth in the software and services industry was healthy, with an approximate 10% growth from the previous year’s list,” he added.

Founded in 1983, Roadnet Technologies was acquired by United Parcel Service in 1986 and was known as UPS Logistics Technologies for more than 25 years. Thoma Bravo LLC, a $4 billion private equity firm headquartered in San Francisco, purchased the UPS division in late 2010 and re-stablished the corporate name.

For additional information about Roadnet Technologies’ suite of logistics technology products visit www.roadnet.com. The company can be contacted at info@roadnet.com.

PLATO Learning Acquires Award-Winning Education Technology Firm

MINNEAPOLIS, Nov 9, 2011 – PLATO Learning, a leading provider of online education solutions for kindergarten through adult learners, announced today that it is acquiring Educational Options, Inc. (EdOptions(TM)), an award-winning education technology firm based in Falls Church, Va., to enhance its comprehensive portfolio of education solutions. PLATO Learning is backed by leading middle market private equity firm Thoma Bravo, LLC.

“EdOptions’ commitment to providing secondary online courses for students in need of credit recovery, acceleration, and alternative learning options fits with our mission to provide inspired solutions for teaching and learning,” said Vin Riera, PLATO Learning chief executive officer. “This acquisition expands the education solutions we offer and positions the combined companies as powerful partners to better meet our customers’ wide array of program needs.”

Founded by educators, EdOptions is a family-owned business that provides schools with online solutions focused on drop-out prevention, adaptive curriculum, and virtual instruction. “Providing educational opportunities to struggling students is the cornerstone of EdOptions. The merger with PLATO Learning ensures our ability to reach a broader group of students and teachers and continue our commitment to helping learners catch up and become college and career ready,” said Bettina Callaway, co-founder of the company along with her late husband, Dr. Thomas Sawner. “PLATO Learning has a strong history of supporting student achievement. We are excited to have these two companies come together to ensure student success.”

“We believe the combination of PLATO Learning and EdOptions creates a unique offering in the education technology market,” said Holden Spaht, a partner at Thoma Bravo. “This acquisition better positions PLATO Learning to deliver leading edge products to an even broader customer base. Thoma Bravo will continue to support the company’s growth organically and through additional strategic acquisitions.”

About PLATO Learning, Inc.

PLATO Learning is a leading provider of high-value, comprehensive education technology solutions with a focus on learner achievement leading to academic and career success. With more than 50 years of experience driving significant advances in the industry, PLATO offers a wide variety of innovative solutions spanning a multitude of program areas to facilitate 21st century teaching and learning. For more information on PLATO Learning, visit www.plato.com

About Educational Options, Inc.

Educational Options has helped thousands of students stay in school and become lifelong learners. Our mission is to create outstanding web-based educational products that support students and teachers inside and outside the traditional classroom. For more information on EdOptions, visit www.edoptions.com

About Thoma Bravo, LLC

Thoma Bravo is a leading private equity investment firm that has been providing equity and strategic support to experienced management teams
building growing companies for 30 years. The firm originated the concept of industry consolidation investing, which seeks to create value through the strategic use of acquisitions to accelerate business growth. Thoma Bravo applies its investment strategy across multiple industries, with a particular focus on the software and service sectors, and works in partnership with management to implement its operating and consolidation expertise to build long-term value. In software, Thoma Bravo has completed more than 46 add-on acquisitions across 18 platform companies with total annual earnings of approximately $1 billion. For more information, visit www.thomabravo.com.