SEATTLE, April 18, 2005 — An investment group led by Golden Gate Capital, Francisco Partners and Thoma Cressey Equity Partners today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Attachmate Corp., of Bellevue, Wash. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to be complete by the end of next month. Upon completion of the acquisition, Attachmate will merge with WRQ, Inc. of Seattle , which the same investor group acquired in December 2004.
Upon completion of the acquisition, Jeff Hawn will become chairman and CEO of the combined company. Hawn is currently chairman of WRQ, a position to which he was appointed in January 2005. Hawn’s prior experience includes BMC Software, where he was senior vice president of operations, and McKinsey & Company, where he was a partner.
Frank Pritt, founder, president and CEO of Attachmate, announced today that he will retire from Attachmate upon completion of the transaction. Other senior leaders of the combined company will include Jeff Libby, senior vice president of finance and operations, Bob Flynn, senior vice president of worldwide sales, and Shaun Wolfe, senior vice president of products and marketing. The company will remain headquartered in the Seattle-Bellevue area.
About WRQ
WRQ builds software for accessing and integrating legacy applications. WRQ Reflection software provides a broad range of terminal emulation, PC X server, and SSH security solutions. WRQ Verastream integration server provides a single platform for reusing legacy logic and data in web applications, CRM applications, or portals. Our products help companies get the most from their hosts today as they advance their long-term IT strategy.
Established in 1981, WRQ is one of the largest privately held software companies in the U.S. It has over six million users worldwide and the highest customer-support rating in the industry. Three out of four Global 500 companies rely on WRQ daily.
About Attachmate
One of the world’s largest privately held software companies, Attachmate Corporation helps organizations leverage SOA as a platform for the user-organized enterprise—delivering solutions that overcome infrastructure and technology barriers to meeting user demands. From composite applications to efficient UIs, Attachmate® technology helps Fortune 500/Global 2000 companies and government agencies service-enable disparate systems while safeguarding existing business logic. Partnerships include: Unisys, Sun® iForce, BEA®, and Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner. More information is available at http://www.attachmate.com or call worldwide headquarters in Bellevue , Washington, at 425.644.4010.
About Golden Gate Capital
Golden Gate Capital (http://www.goldengatecap.com/) is a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm with approximately $2.5 billion of capital under management. Golden Gate is dedicated to partnering with world class management teams to invest in change-intensive, growth businesses. They target investments of up to $100 million in situations where there is a demonstrable opportunity to significantly enhance a company’s value. The principals of Golden Gate have a long and successful history of investing with management partners across a wide rage of industries and transaction types, including leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, corporate divestitures and spin-offs, build-ups and venture stage investing.
About Francisco Partners
With $2.5 billion of committed capital, Francisco Partners is one of the world’s largest technology-focused private equity funds. The firm was founded to pursue structured investments in technology companies undergoing strategic, technological, and operational inflection points. Francisco Partners targets majority and minority investments in private companies, public companies, and divisions of public companies, with transaction values ranging from $30 million to $2.0 billion. The principals of Francisco Partners have a proven track record, having invested in excess of $3.0 billion of equity capital in over 50 technology companies. For additional information, visit http://www.franciscopartners.com/.
About Thoma Cressey Equity Partners
Thoma Cressey Equity Partners is a leading private equity investment firm that has been providing equity and strategic support to experienced management teams building growing companies for almost 25 years. The firm originated the concept of “industry consolidation” or “buy & build” investing, which seeks to create value through the strategic use of acquisitions to accelerate business growth. Thoma Cressey’s investment focus is on profitable, middle-market companies in the software, healthcare, business services and consumer products and services industries. The firm provides equity capital for buyouts, MBOs, growth equity investments, and going private transactions. More information about TCEP can be found at http://www.thomacressey.com/.