The INetU acquisition by BV Investment Partners will enable the company to accelerate its growth efforts according to the announcement.
Managed hosting provider INetU announced on Tuesday that a majority share in the company has been acquired by private equity firm BV Investment Partners in a recapitalization deal conducted in partnership with Dev Chanchani, INetU’s founder and chief executive.
According to the announcement, BV will become the majority shareholder in the managed hosting company, though Chanchani will retain a “significant” share, in addition to continuing as the company’s president and CEO. BV’s managing director Louis Bertocci and principal, Matthew J. Kinsey, have joined INetU’s board of directors.
No financial details of the deal were revealed, though the companies did specify that the transaction was a recapitalization, meaning the deal might have seen INetU’s existing debt converted into BV’s equity in the company.
BV Investment Partners describes itself as a mid-market private equity firm focused on the information and business services and communications sectors. As an acquisition, INetU is a very complete hosting provider with an attractive high-end hosting customer base. According to the press release, the hosting company has been profitable and growing for more than 15 years.
INetU is a managed hosting provider in the traditional mold – one with a strong focus on the services side of the business rather than hardware. The company has a strong managed hosting offering and a focus on enterprise customers with a particular emphasis on the security and compliance needs of e-commerce, healthcare and financial services clients.
INetU also has an established foothold in the cloud services space. In 2011, INetU launched a unique enterprise hybrid cloud hosting service it called a “gated community” cloud.
The company also has an international presence. In 2011, INetU opened a European data center in Amsterdam.
According to Chanchani, the investment will enable INetU to accelerate its existing efforts to grow.
“Our new partnership with the BV team will help to accelerate our existing growth initiatives and will enhance INetU’s capabilities to provide leading and innovative business cloud solutions,” he says, quoted in the press release. “BV has a long history of successfully partnering with founder-owned companies like INetU, and my senior management team and I look forward to working closely with them.”
Talk back: is the INetU acquisition a good move for BV Investment Partners? How do you feel about INetU’s role in the managed and enterprise cloud hosting markets? Is the deal a good example of a positive investor and founder-led company partnership? Let us know in the comments.
About Liam Eagle
Liam Eagle has worked as a contributor to the Web Host Industry Review since its inception in 2000, and as editor since 2003. He has been editor of the WHIR's print magazine since its launch. His daily involvement in the gathering and reporting of Web hosting news and his regular interaction with Web hosting leaders gives him an uncommonly broad appreciation of the issues and tends facing the business. Through his WHIR blog, Liam spots Web hosting trends and offers opinions on the industry-wide impacts of major developments and the motivation behind big announcements. Follow him on Twitter @liameagle
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Since we don’t know the structure of the deal or the motivation of each of the parties, let’s just look at this deal as another positive sign for the web hosting industry (… and all of the closely related service industries of course).
Hey Eric. Thanks for the comment. I agree it’s a positive sign for the hosting business that investors continue to see the value in hosting businesses, though I think INetU is an especially attractive example with some unique services and expertise.