Littlejohn & Co. Announces Acquisition of Hostway Corporation

GREENWICH, Conn., Dec. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Littlejohn & Co., LLC, a private investment firm based in Greenwich, CT, today announced the acquisition of Hostway Corporation, a leading provider of hosted information technology solutions to over 500,000 small and medium-size businesses and enterprise customers. Littlejohn will serve as an active shareholder and board of directors in support of the Company's plan to capitalize on the tremendous demand for hosted IT solutions.

Hostway delivers customized Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and Cloud solutions, a robust suite of web presence and web optimization solutions, hosted exchange and a variety of other value-added applications and services in customizable managed, shared, cloud or hybrid environments. Hostway has one of the industry's broadest, most reliable and customizable hosting platforms, allowing it to serve start-ups, small and medium size businesses and large enterprises wherever they are in their IT lifecycles.  Hostway has also developed unique, proprietary solutions for Telecos, VARs, Integrators, MSPs and other channel partners, which allow them to easily integrate Hostway's solutions into their own offerings, including branded white label solutions.

Michael Kaplan, Managing Director of Littlejohn & Co., said, "Tremendous demand for traditional outsourced IT solutions and emerging demand for Software and Platform as a Service is fueling the growth of the hosting industry. Hostway serves as a great platform to capitalize on this opportunity due to its unique hosting platform, world class customer service and robust data center infrastructure. We look forward to working with Hostway's management to accelerate growth by continued investment in Hostway's technology platform, enhancing its sales and marketing efforts and selectively making acquisitions targeted at enhancing the customer experience."

John Martis, President of Hostway, said, "We are extremely pleased to partner with Littlejohn and gain access to additional resources to help us grow our managed, cloud and web hosting businesses. The Littlejohn Team has deep experience growing businesses across a variety of industries and can help us further differentiate our offerings and build on our customer base."

Cowen and Company, LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor to Littlejohn on the transaction.  DH Capital, LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor to Hostway on the transaction.

About Littlejohn & Co., LLC
Littlejohn & Co. is a Greenwich, Connecticut-based private equity firm investing in middle-market companies that are undergoing a fundamental change in capital structure, strategy, operations or growth that can benefit from its operational and strategic approach.  The firm is currently investing from Littlejohn Fund IV, L.P., which has over $1.3 billion in capital commitments. For more information, visit www.littlejohnllc.com.

Media Contacts:
For Littlejohn: Chris Tofalli
Chris Tofalli Public Relations, LLC
914-834-4334
For Hostway:
Hostway Media Relations
866-467-8929
[email protected]

SOURCE Littlejohn & Co.