Ntiva Completes Strategic Acquisition of HigherGround Managed Services

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Jul 30, 2019, 10:34 ET

GREENWICH, Conn., July 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Southfield Capital, a premier lower middle market private equity firm, announced today that Ntiva, Inc., ("Ntiva") a leading provider of managed IT, cloud hosting, cyber security, unified communications, and strategic consulting services, completed the acquisition of HigherGround Managed Services ("HigherGround"), a full-service IT and consulting firm based in Chicago and Rolling Meadows, Illinois.

The acquisition of HigherGround expands Ntiva's geographical coverage into the Midwest, adding to existing locations which include Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland, California, New York and Florida, while also increasing the overall technical talent of the Ntiva team.

"We're excited to welcome the HigherGround team to Ntiva," said Steven Freidkin, CEO of Ntiva. "In addition to the traditional Managed Service Provider (MSP) portfolio, HigherGround brings deep expertise and a proven track record in custom application development and e-mail security. This gives us the ability to offer our clients additional capabilities, adding to an already robust skillset in order to help businesses grow through the effective use of technology."

"We've been providing an expanding portfolio of strategic MSP solutions to the Chicagoland market since 1998," explained Brian Brammeier, former CEO of HigherGround and now Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) for Ntiva. "Our goal at HigherGround was to become the best MSP and AppDev partner in the area. Now, by joining forces with Ntiva, we're upgrading that goal to becoming the best in the United States."

Brammeier added, "As we grew quickly, so did our clients and our team. We realized that to most effectively serve both our clients and our people, we needed to increase our footprint just as quickly – which is why we sought out this partnership. Joining forces with Ntiva is the perfect fit for our clients and our team."

Southfield Capital acquired Ntiva in 2016 in partnership with Ntiva's founder, Steven Freidkin. The HigherGround acquisition will increase Ntiva's client base to over 900 organizations located across the U.S. Southfield Partner, Heb James, commented on the transaction, "HigherGround is one the fastest growing MSPs in Chicago thanks to its full suite of solutions and industry-leading customer responsiveness. We and the Ntiva team are excited to be partnering with Brian to expand our presence in Chicago by bringing enterprise-level capabilities and service to mid-market clients."

Crestline Investors provided debt financing. Finn, Dixon & Herling provided legal counsel to Ntiva and Southfield Capital.

About Ntiva
Ntiva is a leading IT services company that provides businesses across the U.S. with advanced technology expertise and support, including managed IT services, strategic consulting, cloud services, cyber-security and telecom solutions. Their team of world-class talent genuinely cares about the relationships they build and understands that response and precision are fundamental keys to a successful partnership. Ntiva's ultimate objective is to help clients leverage their technology investments to improve business performance.

For more information, please visit https://www.ntiva.com.

About Southfield Capital
Southfield Capital is a private equity firm that invests in high-growth, lower middle market companies in the outsourced business services sector. The firm targets companies with $4 - 12 million in EBITDA and partners with management to scale the business through a combination of organic and acquisition growth strategies.

For more information, please visit www.southfieldcapital.com.

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