Marlink Group begins new era as Providence Equity Partners closes acquisition of majority stake from Apax Partners

London and Paris, 01.07.2022 – Marlink Group today begins a new phase of its development, with the completion of the acquisition of a majority shareholding by Providence Equity Partners (“Providence”) from Apax Partners SAS (“Apax”), a leading European private equity firm based in Paris.

Under the agreement terms, Apax will retain a significant minority shareholding in Marlink, and the current management team and Ardian have also committed to minority interests.

Headquartered in Paris and Oslo, Marlink is a world-leading provider of business-critical smart networks and digital solutions, empowering remote operations for a wide range of maritime, enterprise, energy, humanitarian and government customers around the world.

Driven by its smart network strategy and deep customer relationships, Marlink has delivered strong organic growth across its carefully selected business segments and is well positioned to be a key actor in a dynamic satellite communications industry.

About Providence Equity Partners

Providence Equity Partners is a specialist private equity investment firm focused on growth-oriented media, communications, education, and technology companies across North America and Europe. Providence combines its partnership approach to investing with deep industry expertise to help management teams build exceptional businesses and generate attractive returns.

Since its founding in 1989, Providence has invested over $31 billion across more than 170 private equity portfolio companies. With its headquarters in Providence, RI, the firm also has offices in New York, London, Boston and Atlanta.

For more information, please visit www.provequity.com

About Apax Partners

Apax Partners is one of the leading private equity firms in Europe. With over 45 years of experience, Apax Partners works with companies over the long term to make them leaders in their sector. The funds managed and advised by Apax Partners amount to over €4.8 billion. These funds invest in high-growth SMEs and SMIs in four sectors of specialisation: Tech & Telecom, Services, Health and Consumer Goods.

Apax Partners sas, based in Paris (www.apax.fr), and Apax Partners LLP, based in London (www.apax.com), have a common history but are two independent firms.

About Ardian

Ardian is a world leading private investment house, managing or advising $130bn of assets on behalf of more than 1,300 clients globally. Our broad expertise, spanning Private Equity, Real Assets and Credit, enables us to offer a wide range of investment opportunities and respond flexibly to our clients’ differing needs. Through Ardian Customized Solutions we create bespoke portfolios that allow institutional clients to specify the precise mix of assets they require and to gain access to funds managed by leading third-party sponsors.

We also provide a specialist service for private clients through Ardian Private Wealth Solutions. Ardian is majority-owned by its employees and places great emphasis on developing its people and fostering a collaborative culture based on collective intelligence. Our 900+ employees, spread across 15 offices in Europe, the Americas and Asia, are strongly committed to the principles of Responsible Investment and are determined to make finance a force for good in society. Our goal is to deliver excellent investment performance combined with high ethical standards and social responsibility. At Ardian we invest all of ourselves in building companies that last.

For more information, please visit www.ardian.com

About Marlink

Marlink is the trusted partner in fully managed smart network solutions, based on an intelligent hybrid network and unrivalled digital solutions.

The company provides Smart Network Solutions, connecting people and assets around the globe and across all markets where conventional connectivity cannot reach or is not available. Marlink’s Intelligent Hybrid Network combines global satcom and terrestrial technologies via a proprietary global infrastructure.

The Marlink Smart Edge, an integrated service delivery platform, orchestrates and optimises all network elements and applications, from data handling and IT to application-based routing (SD Wan), cloud and Digital Solutions, including remote data and IT, cyber security as well as IoT/OT solutions.

This provides customers with full ‘Peace of Mind’ that their chosen network solution is fully optimised, integrated and has the security required to operate more profitably and sustainably, increasing their efficiency and safety through operational optimisation, tracking and routing, monitoring and reporting.

Marlink’s Smart Network Solutions are provided as Managed Services meeting the highest quality standards and service level agreements. The company proactively monitors and supports network solutions, providing alerts, reporting and insights on performance and usage of connectivity, systems, and applications as well as advice and consultancy on how to further optimise customer networks.

Please visit www.marlink.com for more information.

Media contacts

Providence Equity Partners
Sard Verbinnen & Co.
Rory King/Roman Girn
Prov-SVC@sardverb.com

Apax Partners
Lauren Bardet
Communications Director
+33 6 16 32 72 82
lauren.bardet@apax.fr

Marlink
Jessika Dammert
Chief Marketing Communications Officer
+49 (0)175 581 541 3
jessika.dammert@marlink.com

Ardian
Image 7
Leslie Jung Eisenwater
ardian@image7.fr