CPE News (12/14/2020) – American Pacific Group (APG), together with Northstar Capital, has acquired Fresche Solutions from Fondaction, Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Fresche Solutions employee trust. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Incoming CEO Stephen Woodard will lead the company.
Jones Day and Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP acted as legal counsels to APG. Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP acted as legal counsel to Fresche.
Formerly known as Speedware, Fresche is a provider of application modernization and management solutions that enable digital transformation for companies that rely on IBM i Systems.
Fresche has 400 employee working out for Montreal headquarters and offices in Sidney, BC, Asheville, North Carolina, Franklin, Massachusetts, Sacramento, California, Lucknow, India, Melbourne, Australia, and Bristol, UK.
Fresche had previously raised debt financing from National Bank of Canada, Investissement Québec and TD Bank.
photo credit: Fresche Solutions
News Release
American Pacific Group Completes Acquisition of Fresche Solutions
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (December 10, 2020) – American Pacific Group (“APG”), a San Francisco-based private equity firm, announced today that, together with Northstar Capital, it has partnered with a team led by veteran software CEO Stephen Woodard to acquire Fresche Solutions (“Fresche”), a leading provider of digital transformation and application modernization solutions.
Fresche, a Montreal-based company, provides a suite of software and service solutions that help modernize and transform IT applications and systems. Founded in 1976, and further established through a series of acquisitions, Fresche has developed leading technology and transformation processes. Fresche has served over 22,000 clients globally across financial services, manufacturing, retail, technology, consulting, among other industries.
Stephen Woodard, incoming CEO of Fresche, said, “Fresche has hit many growth milestones throughout its history. It is a great company with great people, and we are excited for the next chapter. We plan to invest in technology and our people, expand our premium modernization and transformation solutions, and add new cloud-based offerings.”
Fraser Preston, Managing Partner at APG, commented, “Fresche has built a great technology and service offering that provides customers a unique path to achieving their digital transformation goals. We are excited about what the team has already achieved, and we look forward to supporting Fresche in building out new capabilities, including cloud-based offerings, that further advance their customers’ ultimate goals.”
About American Pacific Group
American Pacific Group is a San Francisco-based private equity firm with $450 million of capital under management that pursues control investment opportunities primarily in North America. It focuses on complex businesses and transactions across sectors with a particular focus on technology. Together, with management teams and in-house operating partners, American Pacific Group drives sustainable growth in its portfolio companies through the “Q Process”, a proprietary and tested approach to value creation. For more information, please visit www.americanpacificgroup.com.
About Northstar Capital
Northstar Capital is an investment management company with offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Fargo, North Dakota. Northstar specializes in junior capital investments and equity co-investments in middle-market companies. Since inception, Northstar has partnered with more than 140 companies and raised nearly $2 billion in capital. For more information, please visit www.northstarcapital.com.
About Fresche Solutions
As leading experts in application modernization and optimization solutions for IBM i, Fresche Solutions helps clients meet business and IT goals by providing products and services that span the complete application modernization and management spectrum. Fresche enables IT professionals with modernization strategies to add business value and deliver successful outcomes—all while leveraging existing IT assets to reduce the risk, time and cost to get there.