William Blair: AVI-SPL Acquired By Marlin Equity Partners

CHICAGO, Illinois, March 13 -- William Blair and Co., an investment bank and financial services company, issued the following news:

William Blair acted as financial advisor to AVI-SPL, Inc. (AVI-SPL), a portfolio company of H.I.G. Capital (H.I.G.), in connection with its sale to Marlin Equity Partners (Marlin Equity). Marlin will combine the company with their smaller existing portfolio company, Whitlock Corp. (Whitlock), and will become the majority shareholder, with H.I.G. maintaining a minority equity stake. The combined company will have over $1.3 billion in revenue and 3,400 employees serving the audio and video collaboration solutions and services market.

Transaction Highlights

* Deep sector expertise: AVI-SPL and H.I.G. were attracted to William Blair's extensive knowledge and experience within enterprise IT and IT services. In addition, William Blair's strong buyer relationships provided valuable insight into the most likely strategic and financial acquirers.

* Positioning excellence: The transaction team effectively positioned AVI-SPL's industry leadership with its unrivaled services offering, technical expertise, and global scale, reflected by a blue chip customer base across all major end-markets, and the company's strong financial performance.

* Trusted guidance: William Blair was integrally involved throughout each step of the transaction process, collaborating closely with management in developing marketing materials, educating prospective buyers, coordinating due diligence, and advising on process strategy and tactics.

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About the Companies

AVI-SPL is the leading digital workplace collaboration solutions provider, allowing enterprises to leverage technology to transform the way global employees and customers interact to drive increased workplace efficiency and improved business outcomes. AVI-SPL's highly-trained and certified team works hand-in-hand with organizations worldwide - including over 80% of Fortune 100 companies - to strategize, design, deploy, manage and support AV and UC solutions that are simple-to-use, scalable, serviceable, and measurable. AVI-SPL's offices serve customers throughout the United States, Canada, and EMEA in addition to an international network of solution providers in 30 countries.

Whitlock is a provider of collaboration solutions. The company's primary services include strategic planning, roadmap consulting, enterprise management, workplace integration and managed support. Whitlock teams serve customers across a wide variety of industries, including the financial, high-tech, energy, healthcare, higher education, legal and federal government sectors. Whitlock delivers its solutions through the Global Presence Alliance, a global network of 30 leading AV companies that span six continents and employ thousands of AV professionals.

H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with over $35 billion of equity capital under management. Based in Miami, and with 15 offices globally, 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. 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.

Marlin Equity Partners is a global investment firm with over $6.7 billion of capital under management. Marlin invests in businesses across multiple industries where its capital base, industry relationships and extensive network of operational resources significantly strengthen a company's outlook and enhance value. Since its inception, Marlin, through its group of funds and related companies, has successfully completed over 160 acquisitions.