Delta Partners, a Dubai-based private equity investor, has invested an undisclosed sum in Aricent Technologies, a communications software company based in California, USA. Aricent has strong presence in Asia Pacific in countries including India, China, Korea and Japan.
The investment came after Singapore-based electronics manufacturing services provider Flextronics International Ltd sold its minority stake to private equity majors like Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), Sequoia Capital, The Family Office and The Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) Investment Board for $255 million in September 2009.
Delta Partners has executed the investment through its MENA Telecom Fund, a private equity fund focused on investing in telecommunications, media and technology (TMT) companies in the Middle East region, said a Delta Partners statement. This is the sixth investment of Delta from the particular fund.
However, the statement neither disclosed details of the percentage stake picked up by Delta in Aricent. As of September 2009, KKR holds 79% stake in Aricent, CPP Board holds 5%, while the remaining 16% stake is with the Sequoia Capital and The Family Office.
The $465-million Aricent started out its operations in the late 90s as Hughes Software, an arm of Hughes Electronics, which was later bought out by Flextronics International. In 2006, KKR acquired a majority stake in Aricent, which was hived off by Flextronics.
Aricent is a global innovation, technology and services company focused exclusively on communications space. Rogier van Driessche, partner at Delta Partners says that Aricent provides tremendous opportunities for their MENA fund, and they aim to support Aricent to accelerate its positive momentum of engagements with leading infrastructure, application and service providers worldwide, in the Middle East and African region in particular.
“Given that we share a focus on TMT sectors, we expect to play an active role in supporting their business in our region,” added Driessche.
