Clearwater completes acquisition of cyber consultancy CynergisTek
Clearwater Compliance, a healthcare-focused cybersecurity and risk consulting firm, has completed its acquisition of CynergisTek, an Austin, TX-based cybersecurity consultancy.
A majority of CynergisTek’s stockholders approved the merger deal on August 31, with the deal finalizing the following day. Clearwater in May announced an agreement to purchase all of CynergisTek’s common stock for $1.25 per share - $17.7 million in total.
As part of the transaction, CynergisTek will become a private company and will be delisted from the NYSE American Stock Market. The firm will continue to be based in Austin.
CynergisTek was founded in 2004 and has 97 employees listed on LinkedIn. The firm provides cybersecurity, privacy, compliance, and IT audit services to clients in highly regulated industries, including healthcare, government, and finance.
“We have made tremendous strides in expanding our service offerings over the years,” Mac McMillan, president and CEO of CynergisTek, said in May. “We believe that merging Clearwater and CynergisTek as a private company will allow the combined entity to be more agile with greater flexibility to continue investing in innovation with the opportunity to scale as a Managed Service Provider (MSP) expanding and enhancing its service portfolio.”
The deal builds on Clearwater’s July acquisition of Tech Lock, a Troy, Mi-based managed detection and response services firm.
“We are incredibly excited about creating a larger, more scaled organization that is even better positioned to support our customers and proactively address their cybersecurity and compliance needs,” Steve Cagle, Clearwater CEO, said in a press release announcing the CynergisTek deal’s completion. “Ransomware attacks and breaches continue to disrupt the delivery of quality patient care and cost the healthcare industry hundreds of millions of dollars. At the same time, the processes of identifying risks on an ongoing basis and establishing and executing effective cybersecurity programs continue to grow in complexity. Our customers need capabilities to effectively prevent, detect, and respond to cybersecurity attacks.
Clearwater was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Nashville. The firm’s 110+ professionals provide cybersecurity, risk management, and compliance consulting, software, and managed services to healthcare industry clients. Clearwater has supported more than 400 healthcare organizations, including 70 of the nation’s largest health systems.
Clearwater has since 2018 been a portfolio company of Altaris Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm focusing on the healthcare industry.