Novetta Acquired by The Carlyle Group

Peter LaMontagne, Novetta Solutions

It was announced on August 27th that The Carlyle Group entered into an agreement with Arlington Capital to acquire Novetta, a niche provider of advanced analytics solutions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Novetta works closely with the Intelligence, Defense, Homeland Security and commercial markets on national security issues in helping to analyze massive data sets. It has established itself as a leader in disruptive technology in four key areas of advanced analytics: data, cyber, open source/media and multi-int fusion.

Peter B. LaMontagne, CEO of Novetta said, “After careful consideration of strategic alternatives, our board unanimously concluded that a Novetta partnership with Carlyle is the best next step in achieving our vision to be the world’s premier advanced analytics company. We remain dedicated to the success of our customers, partners, and employees and are excited to join with Carlyle, a long-term investor in our broad cross-section of aerospace, defense and commercial markets.”

“We are exceedingly proud of Novetta’s advanced analytics technology and even more so of its application of these unique capabilities to challenges of national significance. Novetta will continue to drive innovation for its customers and we look forward to observing their success in the future,” said Michael Lustbader, a Partner at Arlington Capital Partners.

“Novetta is an outstanding company and a clear leader in advanced analytics,” said Adam Palmer, Carlyle Managing Director and Head of Global Aerospace, Defense and Government services team. “We are excited to partner with Peter and his team to support Novetta’s mission and growth strategy by investing in the continued development of its people, capabilities and intellectual property as well as pursuing selective, technology-driven, complementary acquisitions.”

Jeffrey Freed, Co-Founder and a Managing Partner at Arlington Capital, said, “Over the past five years, the focus on a growth-oriented investment strategy at Novetta has built value for all of the Company’s stakeholders. Under Peter LaMontagne’s continued leadership, such a focus will continue to bear fruit for Novetta’s customers, employees, and new partners in the years to come.”

“Novetta is a world-class company whose success is driven by its highly talented workforce, entrepreneurial culture and unique technical offerings. We are excited by the prospects for its core government business and ongoing expansion into commercial enterprises, given its positioning with forward-looking early adopters, and its investment in next generation technologies in the areas of data and cyber analytics, open source intelligence and multi-int fusion,” stated Ian Fujiyama, the Carlyle Managing Director who led the transaction.

“Novetta’s culture of innovation and its prominent role in the research and development efforts of the national security community make it a truly unique company,” said David Wodlinger, a Principal at Arlington Capital. “Management worked tirelessly to successfully execute the strategy we developed together, and this tremendous outcome is truly a testament to their steadfast work.”

Robert Kipps, Managing Director, Kipps DeSanto & Company said this of the acquisition, “Arlington Capital’s sale of Novetta reflects a continuing trend of private equity groups leveraging today’s stronger M&A market to exit their legacy investments. However, the more interesting story is that Carlyle, a seasoned industry investor who rarely buys companies from other private equity groups, is actually the buyer (vs one of the larger strategic buyers). Carlyle’s purchase certainly suggests confidence in the market overall as well as in Novetta’s leadership’s ability to continue to successfully execute their growth strategy.”