BOSTON & NORCROSS, Ga. & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Growth equity investor Summit Partners today announced a joint venture with FleetCor Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: FLT) to acquire Masternaut Group Holdings Limited, Europe’s largest provider of telematics solutions to commercial fleets, from Francisco Partners. Masternaut’s management team, led by its experienced CEO Martin Hiscox, will continue to operate the business and remain shareholders in the company.
Founded in 1996 and with headquarters in the U.K., Masternaut provides a SaaS-based Mobile Resource Management (MRM) application suite for businesses of all sizes to help them achieve greater operational efficiencies through a lowering of vehicle fuel consumption, effective tracking of assets, productivity increases in workforce, reduced vehicle wear and tear, improved management of driver behavior, and a reduction in CO2 emissions. The company has over 300,000 assets, vehicles and people connected to its SaaS solutions. More than 15,000 users interact every hour with the systems, and over 50 million data transactions are processed and configured into 20,000 reports daily. With customers in 32 countries, Masternaut has multiple offices and partners throughout Europe, North America, South America and Asia.
“We are excited to partner with both Summit Partners and FleetCor,” said Martin Hiscox, CEO of Masternaut. “Summit Partners brings a wealth of experience in helping fast growing companies reach their goals. FleetCor is a leading global provider of fuel cards and workforce payments products to the same commercial fleet customers that Masternaut serves. We look forward to exploring significant cross marketing opportunities that exist between our companies to accelerate the growth of Masternaut. We also would like to thank Francisco Partners for their tremendous support of our company over the last four years.”
“We are very pleased to complete the acquisition of Masternaut,” said Han Sikkens, a Managing Director with Summit Partners. “The company is the pan-European market leader in telematics-based solutions led by a very strong and experienced management team. With the largest R&D team in Europe, Masternaut continuously innovates to deliver the most reliable and scalable platform available on the market today.”
John Carroll, a Managing Director with Summit, added, “We are also excited to partner with FleetCor, a company we originally backed in 2002 that has become an undisputed global leader in its industry and that can bring a lot of valuable assets and know-how to support the continued growth of Masternaut.”
Ron Clarke, Chairman and CEO of FleetCor, said, “We are delighted to team up with Summit Partners in acquiring Masternaut. In a short period of time, Masternaut has developed the best-in-class telematics product and a pan-European footprint. We at FleetCor have valuable fleet customer and partner relationships in Europe. Combination of the two would allow us to deliver more value to our clients, differentiate our product offerings, and ultimately grow our businesses.”
Arma Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to Masternaut.
About Masternaut
Masternaut is Europe’s largest provider of telematics solutions. Founded in 1996, the company now employs over 600 telematics specialists and has more than 10,000 customers. Its suite modules range from driver performance management, fleet and consumer insurance, traditional vehicle tracking and specialist services for the transport and logistics industry, including remote digital tachograph download and temperature monitoring.
About Summit Partners
Founded in 1984, Summit Partners is a growth equity firm that has raised nearly $15 billion in capital. Summit has invested in more than 385 companies in technology, healthcare, and other growth sectors. These companies have completed more than 130 public offerings, and more than 140 have been acquired through strategic mergers and sales. Notable SaaS and technology investments backed by Summit include 360T Group, Acturis, AVAST Software, Infor, McAfee Associates and Wildfire Interactive.
About FleetCor
FleetCor is a leading global provider of fuel cards and workforce payment products to businesses. FleetCor's payment programs enable businesses to better control employee spending and provide card-accepting merchants with a commercial customer base that can increase their sales and customer loyalty. FleetCor serves commercial accounts in North America, Latin America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
In the United States of America, Summit Partners operates as an SEC-registered investment advisor. In the United Kingdom, this document is issued by Summit Partners LLP, a firm authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Summit Partners LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with registered number OC 388179 and its registered office is at 20–22 Bedford Row, London, WC1R 4JS, UK. This document is intended solely to provide information regarding Summit Partners’ potential financing capabilities for prospective portfolio companies.
