Meriplex Welcomes Vitruvian Partners as New Majority Shareholder

Houston, Texas (July 18, 2022) – Meriplex, a leader in managed cybersecurity, IT and SD-WAN solutions focusing on SMB and mid-market enterprises in the United States, is pleased to announce the completion of a transaction in which Vitruvian Partners acquired a majority interest in Meriplex.  Meriplex existing shareholder Clairvest Group Inc. (TSX: CVG) (“Clairvest”) is retaining meaningful equity in Meriplex and will remain as a minority shareholder alongside the Meriplex management team led by Founder & CEO David Henley, who will continue to run the business.

Meriplex has a strong track record of industry-leading organic growth, financial performance and since 2018 has completed 13 acquisitions, expanding its reach to become a nationwide leader. EBITDA in 2022 is expected to be 10x of that achieved in 2017.

“Vitruvian Partners will help further accelerate our rapid growth, enabling us to continue to expand our nationwide footprint and capabilities to better serve our customers. We are very excited about this new partnership with them and to continue collaborating and partnering with Clairvest,” says David Henley, Founder & CEO of Meriplex. “I am very proud of what we have achieved over the last few years and am excited to continue growing Meriplex and our customer relationships alongside Vitruvian as our new private equity partner.”

David Nahama, Senior Partner at Vitruvian Partners, says: “We have been very impressed with the track record of growth at Meriplex and have seen the company consistently outperform, including executing multiple strategic acquisitions. Meriplex has established a nationwide leadership position in the highly attractive managed cybersecurity, IT and SD-WAN solutions markets, allowing it to deliver compelling and differentiated solutions to its customers, underpinning its attractiveness from an investment perspective. We approached David late last year and are delighted to be partnering with him, the broader Meriplex team and Clairvest on the next significant chapter of expansion and success for Meriplex.” Luuk Remmen, Partner at Vitruvian Partners, adds: “Vitruvian Partners investment in Meriplex builds on our longstanding track-record and experience in cybersecurity, enterprise networking and managed services. Together with Clairvest, we believe we have significant capital and capabilities to support the growth and acquisition aspirations of Meriplex.”

“We are incredibly proud of the Meriplex team. They successfully executed an aggressive growth plan and matured the business into a national player,” says Mitch Green, Managing Director at Clairvest. “David and his team have been relentless in their pursuit of opportunities to grow and strengthen the business. We are thrilled to reinvest a meaningful equity stake into the transaction along with our management partners and welcome Vitruvian, whom we believe will be a great partner for this next stage of growth.”

Q Advisors acted as exclusive financial advisor to Meriplex in connection with the transaction. Torys LLP acted as legal advisor to Meriplex. Evercore acted as exclusive financial advisor to Vitruvian in connection with the transaction. Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Jenner & Block LLP acted as legal advisors to Vitruvian.

About Meriplex:

Meriplex is a managed cybersecurity, IT, and SD-WAN solutions provider that enables transformation by combining secure, innovative technology with advanced expertise. As a trusted partner, we deliver business-driven solutions that provide the scalability and support needed to power growth for organizations. To learn more, visit www.meriplex.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

About Vitruvian:

Vitruvian is an international growth capital and buyout firm headquartered in London with offices in London, Stockholm, Munich, Luxembourg, San Francisco, and Shanghai. Vitruvian focuses on dynamic situations characterized by rapid growth and change across industries spanning information technology, financial services, life sciences & healthcare, media, and business and consumer services. Vitruvian Funds have backed over 70 companies and have assets under management of approximately €10 billion. Notable investments to date include global market leaders and innovators in their field such as Expereo, Bitdefender, Farfetch, Just Eat, Trustpilot, Easypark, Unifaun, Marqeta, Global–e and CRF Health, Vitruvian is a signatory of the UN supported Principles of Responsible Investment (“PRI”). To learn more, visit www.vitruvianpartners.com.

About Clairvest:

Clairvest’s mission is to partner with entrepreneurs to help them build strategically significant businesses. Founded in 1987 by a group of successful Canadian entrepreneurs, Clairvest is a top performing private equity management firm with over CAD $3.2 billion of capital under management. Clairvest invests its own capital and that of third parties through the Clairvest Equity Partners limited partnerships in owner-led businesses. Under the current management team, Clairvest has initiated investments in 57 different platform companies and generated top quartile performance over an extended period. To learn more, visit www.clairvest.com