Drake Star Partners advises on ClearPointe's sale to AccountabilIT
Scottsdale, AZ-based IT consultancy AccountabilIT has purchased Arkansas-headquartered IT managed services firm ClearPointe. Global investment bank Drake Star Partners served as exclusive financial advisor to ClearPointe on the transaction.
Founded in 2000, ClearPointe is a leading IT services provider for data center environments – managing servers, applications, and connectivity in clouds, hybrid clouds, and on-premises data centers. The firm has particular expertise in Microsoft Azure cloud solutions, offering support in Azure migrations, governance, and platform monitoring.
The Little Rock-based company has been acquired by Scottsdale-based IT consultancy AccountabilIT. Founded in 2016, AccountabilIT is a portfolio company of WestView Capital Partners. The firm provides IT strategy, cloud & virtualization, cybersecurity, and managed services offerings, among others. Financing for the transaction was provided by the private equity parent firm.
“This acquisition is critical in providing AccountabilIT with additional scale and experience needed to maintain our position in the industry,” said AccountabilIT’s CEO Chuck Vermillion. Meanwhile, ClearPointe CEO Jeff Johnson said that the firm’s Azure capabilities would synergistically complement AccountabilIT’s competencies in application management, database administration, and security.
Clearpointe’s exclusive financial advisor on the transaction was investment bank Drake Star Partners. Founded in 2003 and based in New York, Drake Star has advised on over 300 mergers and acquisitions in the areas of technology, media, and communications. Aside from M&A support, the firm also offers advisory services in the areas of recapitalization, growth financing and debt, IPOs, restructuring, and valuation advisory. Drake Star has offices across the US, Europe, and Asia.
The team that worked on the deal included Jeff Baker, Chris Riley, Connor Kaczynski, and Alexandra Da Silva, as well as legal advisors from Dykema Gossett PLLC.
Dennis Cooper, shareholder and advisor to ClearPointe, said, “Jeff Baker and the Drake Star team ran a strong process that allowed us to find a long-term partner to continue growing the company. Their valuable guidance was critical in driving an ideal result for us.”
Drake Star Managing Partner Jeff Baker commented, “It was a pleasure working with the ClearPointe team to connect them with a long-term strategic partner that will help them achieve their goals for the business. They have a great team with significant technical expertise, and are well positioned to grow into one of the premier Azure partners in the nation.”
In other Drake Star news, the firm recently unveiled a report on the venture capital deals market in artificial intelligence. The booming market grew to $6 billion worth of investments in the US last year, with a deal volume of 600.
