NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OceanSound Partners (“OceanSound”), a private equity firm that invests in technology and technology-enabled services companies serving government and highly regulated enterprise end markets, today announced the closing of a $1.15 billion single-asset continuation fund transaction in connection with the sale of its portfolio company, SMX Group, LLC, (“SMX” or “the Company”) from OceanSound Partners Fund, LP.
SMX will continue to be controlled and managed by OceanSound. OceanSound will anchor the transaction alongside a new continuation fund managed by OceanSound. Apollo S3 is the lead investor in the continuation fund, which is supported by new and current limited partners. The continuation fund will provide incremental capital to support the continued execution of the Company’s acquisition strategy. OceanSound and SMX’s management rolled the majority of their equity proceeds and will remain significant investors in the Company.
Founded in 1995 and based in the Washington, D.C. area, SMX is a leader in next-generation mission support and digital transformation solutions. SMX delivers scalable and secure solutions with mission expertise that enhances outcomes for public sector and commercial customers globally, including across the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, priority Federal Civilian agencies and more.
Since acquiring a majority interest in SMX in 2019 as its initial investment, OceanSound, in partnership with the Company’s management team led by CEO Peter LaMontagne, has implemented a value creation strategy focused on building resilient and scalable corporate infrastructure, accelerating new business development activities and pursuing complementary acquisitions to drive transformational growth resulting in revenue growth from $68 million in 2019 to over $1.2 billion in 2023.
“We made our initial investment in SMX based on our perspective that commercial technology solutions tailored to government use cases would be increasingly relevant across the public sector to increase productivity, reduce costs, enhance cyber resilience, and improve the quality of interactions between constituents and the agencies that serve them. Our strategy of building a differentiated business focused on innovative technology solutions bridging commercial and government end markets has proved to be highly relevant to customers,” said Joe Benavides, Managing Partner of OceanSound. “We look forward to extending our ownership of SMX in partnership with Peter LaMontagne and well-respected investors led by S3 to continue building a disruptive and trusted provider of scalable and compliant technology solutions that enable customers to solve complex mission, security, and performance challenges across government and highly regulated enterprise end markets.”
“OceanSound has been an incredibly supportive partner over the last five years, providing deep industry expertise, sponsoring our five acquisitions, and delivering strong strategic, operational, and execution support, which has enabled SMX to continue our mission of delivering scalable digital transformation solutions to our customer base,” said Peter LaMontagne, CEO of SMX. “We have realized transformative growth during the past few years and are excited to extend our partnership with OceanSound with the added support of new investors as we continue to pursue compelling growth opportunities, both organically and through strategic acquisitions.”
“We are excited to partner with the OceanSound team to support the continued growth of SMX, an innovative provider of technology-enabled and mission-critical solutions,” said Veena Isaac, Partner and Co-Head of Apollo S3. “We look forward to being a value-add partner in the Company’s next chapter as it continues to empower government and commercial enterprises to become more effective and resilient with its diverse and growing suite of mission-oriented and digital transformation solutions.”
Evercore served as the exclusive financial advisor and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP served as legal advisors to OceanSound. Proskauer Rose LLP served as legal advisor to Apollo S3.
About OceanSound Partners
OceanSound Partners is a New York-based private equity firm that pursues control investments in technology and technology-enabled services companies serving government and enterprise end markets. OceanSound employs a partnership approach, working closely with founders, entrepreneurs, and executives of middle market businesses to drive transformational growth. For more information, please visit www.oceansoundpartners.com.
About SMX
SMX is an industry leader providing digital solutions for mission-oriented clients, operating in close proximity to a vast set of clients across the United States and around the globe. SMX delivers scalable and secure solutions combined with the mission expertise needed to accelerate outcomes for the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, Public Sector, Fortune 1000, and other public and private sector clients. For more information on our solutions, please visit https://www.smxtech.com/.
About Apollo S3
S3 is Apollo's Sponsor & Secondary Solutions business. S3 provides flexible capital solutions to asset managers and limited partners across the yield, hybrid, and equity spectrum. Since inception, S3 has committed or deployed more than $13 billion across these strategies. S3 is a natural extension of Apollo's global investment platform, offering partner-oriented capital across asset classes including private equity, private credit, infrastructure and real estate. As of December 31, 2023, Apollo had total assets under management of approximately $651 billion. To learn more about S3, visit http://www.apollos3.com/.
