News Release

The Carlyle Group Partners with Management to Acquire Unison from Abry Partners

2020-038

WASHINGTON, DC and DULLES, VIRGINIA — Unison (www.unisonglobal.com), a leading provider of procurement, supply chain, and contract management software to Federal government agencies and government contractors, today announced it has been acquired by global investment firm The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG), and Unison management. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Carlyle previously owned the business from 2005 to 2010. 

Unison’s solutions help government agencies and contractors navigate the complex rules and compliance requirements of procurement and grants, program management and contract lifecycle management. All of Unison’s solutions are available via the cloud, allowing clients to implement solutions quickly, efficiently, and inexpensively.

“We are pleased to re-join the Carlyle portfolio of companies to help craft the next chapter of Unison’s growth,” said Reid Jackson, President and CEO of Unison. “The Carlyle team shares our consistent focus on the success of our clients as the foundation of our business. With Carlyle’s support, we will accelerate our focus on bringing ’Applied Innovation‘ to powering the business of government and their vendor partners.”

Mike Gozycki, Carlyle Managing Director, added, “We’re excited to partner again with Reid Jackson and the Unison management team, who we have known for more than 15 years. The Unison team has done an incredible job developing solutions that are tailored for the Federal market and helping their customers navigate highly complex and constantly evolving regulations. We are eager to support management’s plans to continue investing in their market-leading software solutions and the company’s mission of enabling customer success.”

Patrick McCarter, Carlyle Managing Director and Head of Carlyle’s Global Technology, Software and Business Services team, stated, “Our partnership with Unison represents Carlyle’s long history of investing in leading industry-specific application software companies. We look forward to leveraging our global platform and industry expertise to support Unison in its continued growth.”

Carlyle’s wide-breadth of experience investing in leading industry-specific application software companies include Gemcom, serving the mining sector; ION Investment Group and SS&C, serving the financial services sector; MetroLogic, serving the aerospace and automotive sectors; Net Health, serving the healthcare sector; OpenLink Financial and Quorum Software, serving the energy sector; RMI, serving the rail sector; and Accelerate Learning and SchoolNet, serving the education sector.

Equity capital for the investment came from Carlyle Partners VII, an $18.5 billion fund that makes majority and strategic minority investments primarily in the U.S. in targeted industries, including in technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) companies. TMT is a core area of focus for Carlyle, representing more than $30 billion of invested equity since inception. Other recent technology investments include ZoomInfo (NASDAQ: ZI), a leading provider of sales and marketing intelligence software solutions; and HireVue, a leading provider of talent acquisition software solutions. 

Kirkland & Ellis provided legal advisory services to Unison and Abry Partners. Latham & Watkins provided legal advisory services and PwC provided financial advisory services to Carlyle.

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About Unison
Unison “Powers the Business of Government” through secure cloud and on-premise software, marketplace, and information products that support more than 200,000 users in Federal agencies, major DoD programs, and leading prime contractors. All software development and support are done within the USA. For over 30 years, Unison has continually advanced software and insight solutions to help Federal programs efficiently achieve their missions. Unison is headquartered in Dulles, VA, with offices in Tysons Corner, VA, Clearfield, UT, San Diego, CA, and Los Angeles, CA. For more information, visit www.unisonglobal.com.

About The Carlyle Group
The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global investment firm with deep industry expertise that deploys private capital across four business segments: Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Credit and Investment Solutions. With $217 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2020, Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, portfolio companies and the communities in which we live and invest. The Carlyle Group employs more than 1,775 people in 32 offices across six continents. Further information is available at www.carlyle.com. Follow The Carlyle Group on Twitter @OneCarlyle.

About Abry Partners
Abry is one of the most experienced and successful sector-focused private equity investment firms in North America. Since its founding in 1989, the firm has completed over $82 billion of leveraged transactions and other private equity or preferred equity placements. Currently, the firm manages over $5.0 billion of capital across its active funds. For more information about Abry, visit the firm’s website at www.abry.com.

Media Contact:
Brittany Berliner
Phone: +1 (212) 813-4839

brittany.berliner@carlyle.com

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