Private Equity acquires and merges three ServiceNow ITSM partners

Written by: Joe Panettieri • May 28, 2021

Private equity firm Gryphon Investors acquired a ServiceNow elite partner called Highmetric and merged two other ServiceNow partners into the business. The financial terms of each transaction were not disclosed.

These are the No. 294, 295 and 296 technology M&A transactions covered by ChannelE2E so far in 2021. ​​See all technology M&A transactions in 2021 and 2020 listed here.

Gyphon Investors stated that the following measures have been taken:

• Acquired Highmetric’s ServiceNow division from Acacia Group. Acacia retained a minority investment in the company.
• With the support of Gryphon, Highmetric also acquired ServiceNow partners Fishbone Analytics and Iceberg Networks.
• Rackspace veteran Matt Stoyka has joined Highmetric as CEO.
• Deloitte veteran and ServiceNow expert Den Roenfeldt has joined Highmetric as executive chairman.

Private equity firm Gryphon Investors: IT services expertise

Although the financial terms of each transaction are not disclosed, here is a clue about Gryphon’s commitment to success in the ServiceNow partner ecosystem: This San Francisco-based private equity firm usually invests 50 million USD arrive 300 million USD In business value from approximately $100 million arrive $600 million.

In addition, Gryphon Investors has extensive experience in and around the IT Service Provider (ITSP) market. For example, this private equity firm owns Microsoft Azure cloud consulting company 3Cloud. And 3Cloud acquired Pragmatic Works’ consulting department in September 2020.

Merger of three ServiceNow partners: company background

Here is more information about each ServiceNow partner involved in the Gryphon transaction:

• Fish bone analysis, Led by the CEO Matt Nelson, Is an elite ServiceNow partner, focusing on integration, human resource service delivery, customer service management, IT operations management, IT asset management, IT business management, and IT service management.
• Iceberg Network, Led by the CEO Ken McPherson, Is the ServiceNow Global Excellent Partner of the Year in 2021 and the Americas Excellent Partner of the Year in 2021, and introduces security operation management and governance, risk and compliance/comprehensive risk management into the merged entity.
• Overall Highmetric business Now claims to be the world’s largest pure ServiceNow partner. The combined business has 300 team members who have expertise in customer service management, human resources and employee IT service management, and IT operations management. Prior to the acquisition, Highmetric was named 2021 Americas Partner of the Year by ServiceNow for its customer service management products.

Three ServiceNow partners merge: executive perspective

In a prepared statement about the transaction, Gryphon managing director Gabe Stephenson said:

“Gryphon is very pleased to be working with the talented team of Highmetric, Fishbone and Iceberg. We wrote a comprehensive paper on the power of ServiceNow to optimize the digital transformation workflow and believe that these are the three best businesses we initially invested in. Create a differentiated market leader in this field.”

Alex Earls, The transaction partner and head of Gryphon Business Services Group added:

“This investment closely matches our past performance record, and we look forward to supporting the management to quickly and organically expand the business scale through additional strategic acquisitions.”

Highmetric’s new CEO Matt Stoyka concluded:

“The combination of Highmetric, Fishbone Analytics, and Iceberg Networks represents a full commitment to the ServiceNow ecosystem and our customers. Our customers tell us that they need a full-service company whose domain expertise is derived from in-depth industry attention Strengthen. We are ready to work closely with our customers and ServiceNow to launch powerful workflow solutions that drive meaningful business results. With the support of Gryphon Investors, we will continue to invest heavily in our outstanding and talented team The growth. It’s an honor to be able to participate in this transformation and have the ability to influence and positively influence our customers, partners and communities.”

Several business and financial experts advise on these transactions. The main transaction advisors include:

• Guggenheim Partners and 7Mile Advisors acted as financial advisors to Gryphon;
• Kirkland & Ellis acted as Gryphon’s legal counsel;
• Jefferies acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Highmetric;
• Miles & Stockbridge PC acted as legal counsel to Highmetric;
• Transact Capital Partners LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor to Fishbone Analytics and Iceberg Networks; and
• Rabag Weinstein Acting as legal counsel to Fishbone Analytics and Iceberg Networks.

ServiceNow partner mergers and acquisitions: The list of deals keeps growing

M&A activities among ServiceNow partners are very active.Reasons include: ServiceNow’s IT Service Management (ITSM) software has become the standard for corporate management servicesTo ride this wave, ServiceNow partners are acquiring each other to achieve scale, expertise, and regional coverage.

Related: See all ServiceNow partner mergers and acquisitions listed here.