(By Balachander) Private equity firms Apax Partners and JMI Equity is acquiring Paradigm Ltd., a provider of oil and gas exploration software, for around $1 billion in cash from Fox Paine & Co.
Fox Paine took Paradigm private in 2002 in a deal reportedly valued at around $102 million.
According to Israel business news Globes, Paradigm held its IPO on Nasdaq in 1998. The company - founded in Israel in 1987 - lost 70 percent of its value in 2001 and that forced its sale to Fox Paine in 2002.
Paradigm is "well-placed to benefit from strong tailwinds in the coming years as energy companies look to drill in more challenging locations," commented Ian Jones, head of an Energy working group at Apax.
Paradigm's technology enables companies to locate new oil and natural gas reservoirs, optimize production from new and existing reservoirs, and create dynamic digital models of the earth's subsurface.
Apax has investments in Epicor Software Corp./Activant Solutions, Sophos, the TriZetto Group, Hansen Transmissions and Q-Cells, among others. In total, Apax Funds have invested over $1.7 billion of equity in the enterprise software sector.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC) and Simmons & Co. acted as financial advisers to Apax on the deal. UBS and Royal Bank of Canada provided debt financing.