Riverside Partners Completes Merger of Convergence Networks and Grade A

BOSTON, Dec. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Riverside Partners, a private equity investment firm, announced today the merger of Convergence Networks and Grade A. The combination of these award-winning companies, in partnership with Riverside Partners, forms a leading provider of managed IT and cybersecurity services to clients across a variety of industries.

The combined company helps small-to-medium sized businesses plan, manage, support, maximize, and protect their IT investments.  As part of the transaction, members of management from Convergence Networks and Grade A will continue to lead the organization and be significant shareholders in the new entity.  To execute the transaction, Riverside Partners is investing new equity capital to accelerate the combined company's growth trajectory through both organic initiatives and strategic add-on acquisitions.

"We are excited to invest in these two complementary companies that provide best-in-class IT and cybersecurity services to SMB clients," stated David Del Papa, a General Partner at Riverside Partners.  "The merged company's clients can continue to rely upon the same personalized local service they have become accustomed to receiving.  At the same time, the newly combined company will offer additional services, greater time-zone coverage, and a deeper bench of technical engineers available to address and defend the expanding and everchanging nature of technology." 

"The management teams of both Convergence Networks and Grade A have created leaders in their respective geographic markets," added David Belluck, a General Partner at Riverside Partners. "Among the many investments we have looked at in IT managed services, these firms stand out for their common commitment to customer service and dedicated group of talented employees. We look forward to applying our capital and strategic and operational resources to support the combined company's continued growth."

"We have known Eric and the rest of the Convergence team for over ten years, and combining is a natural extension of the informal collaboration we have enjoyed together over the years," said Mat LaFrance, CEO of Grade A.  "From the beginning, Grade A was founded on a passion for working with exceptionally talented people who enjoy being able to solve technical challenges for our clients to help move their businesses forward. It has always been important to us that any path forward meant aligning with companies who shared similar values and we are thrilled to be able to find like-minded organizations in Convergence Networks and Riverside Partners. With this new partnership, we can continue to scale and expand our services for our clients, and provide new development and growth opportunities for our teams."

"If you had told me going into a COVID lockdown in March of this year would have resulted in a merger and an investment partner before year-end, I would have said you were crazy.  Funny how things like this happen at the most unexpected times," said Eric Gray, CEO of Convergence Networks.  "This decision by our management team wasn't taken lightly. Our team is thrilled to combine with Grade A and bring on a new financial partner in Riverside Partners.  Both organizations share similar values and goals with us.  They believe in a people-first culture providing an exceptional customer service experience with a security-first mindset to help our clients achieve their business goals and our team members to advance in their careers."

martinwolf's LMM Group, a leading M&A advisory firm serving the middle-market IT industry, served as financial advisor to Convergence Networks and Grade A. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

About Convergence Networks
Convergence Networks is an award-winning Managed IT Service Provider based in Portland, Oregon along with its sister company Luminant Security who provides Managed Cybersecurity Services.  With 20 years of success, it is focused on attracting talented and passionate people who work with their SMB clients as strategic partners to drive results.  They offer a full spectrum of solutions covering cybersecurity, strategic planning, end user support, cloud, and hardware.  For more information, visit https://convergencenetworks.com and https://www.luminantsecurity.com.

About Grade A
Grade A is an industry-leading managed IT services provider headquartered in Ottawa, Canada. Operating for over 18 years, it specializes in providing award-winning IT support for SMBs across a number of industries. Grade A offers IT solutions that encompass all business needs, including strategic IT planning and consulting, end user support, cloud solutions, managed hardware, and professionally managed project-based services. For more information, visit: https://www.gradea.ca.

About Riverside Partners
Founded in 1989, Riverside Partners is a middle market private equity firm with total capital commitments of $1.6 billion raised since inception. The firm focuses on growth-oriented companies in the technology and healthcare industries. Riverside Partners is particularly experienced at partnering with founders, owners and management teams and it brings substantial domain expertise and operating experience to its portfolio companies. For more information, visit www.riversidepartners.com.

Riverside Partners Contact:
David B. Del Papa
General Partner
[email protected]
617-351-2889

SOURCE Riverside Partners, LLC

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