H.I.G. Capital (“H.I.G.”), a leading global alternative investment firm with $43 billion of equity capital under management, is pleased to announce the closing of the divestiture of Lionbridge Technologies’ Artificial Intelligence division (“Lionbridge AI”) to TELUS International (NYSE and TSX: TIXT), a subsidiary of Canada-based TELUS Corporation (T-TSX; NYSE-TU) for $935 million. H.I.G. continues to retain its ownership of Lionbridge AI’s parent company, Lionbridge Technologies (“Lionbridge”), a global leader in language and localization services.
H.I.G. initially acquired Lionbridge through a take-private transaction in February 2017. Following the acquisition, H.I.G. identified Lionbridge AI, a provider of data services and technology used in the development of AI algorithms, as a core growth asset and made significant investments in Lionbridge AI’s business infrastructure including the buildout of a dedicated executive leadership team, go-to-market organization, and technological capabilities.
“In many respects, our seamless and deep partnership with H.I.G. is the ideal model of how operating companies and financial partners should work together,” said John Fennelly, CEO of Lionbridge. “Since we went private in 2017, Lionbridge has realized significant growth in revenue and profitability, dramatically increased our employee engagement metrics, all while moving closer to our customers. The H.I.G. team has been an incredible partner and indispensable asset as a sounding board for our management team. They have given us the ability to invest in growth areas where we have been able to achieve outsized returns.”
Matt Lozow, Managing Director of H.I.G. Capital, said, “Over the past four years, we have partnered with John and the Lionbridge management team to establish Lionbridge AI as an industry-leading suite of technology-enabled services and products to address the rapidly growing demand for AI. We are proud of their success and believe that Lionbridge AI is exceptionally well-positioned to continue its growth trajectory. We look forward to our continued partnership with John and the entire Lionbridge Technologies management team as we work together to drive further growth in Lionbridge’s core language and localization services business.”
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to H.I.G. and Lionbridge in connection with the transaction.
About Lionbridge Technologies
Lionbridge partners with brands to break barriers and build bridges all over the world. For 25 years, we have helped companies connect with their global customers and employees by delivering translation and localization solutions in 350+ languages. Through our world-class platform, we orchestrate a network of passionate experts across the globe who partner with brands to create culturally rich experiences. Relentless in our love of linguistics, we use the best of human and machine intelligence to forge understanding that resonates with our customers’ customers. Based in Waltham, Massachusetts, Lionbridge maintains solution centers in 26 countries. Learn more at www.lionbridge.com.
About H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. is a leading alternative assets investment firm with $43 billion of equity capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/ value-added approach:
- H.I.G.’s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.
- H.I.G.’s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. is also a leading CLO manager, through its WhiteHorse family of vehicles, and manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance.
- H.I.G.’s real estate funds invest in value-added properties, which can benefit from improved asset management practices.
Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 300 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com.
* Based on total capital commitments managed by H.I.G. Capital and affiliates.
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