14 May, 2020, London Parabellum Investments, an international investment firm specialising in the mid-market, has teamed with operational investors The Acacia Group to acquire The Column Group a privately-owned technology consulting, systems and services provider.
Working in partnership with the Column management team, Parabellum and Acacia plan to accelerate the company’s growth with new investment in the brand, strengthening strategic customer and partner relationships, a renewed focus on operational effectiveness, and market expansion through acquisition.
The deal follows Parabellum Investment’s recent acquisition of pharma serialization specialist Advanco, a leader in pharma serialization software, providing a strong launchpad for further US acquisitions. Rami Cassis, founder and CEO of Parabellum Investments, has stepped in as interim co-CEO of Column Technologies alongside Acacia’s Gavin Long, in advance of appointing a permanent CEO.
“This is a great investment opportunity for us. We believe that, in the wake of the COVID crisis, large organisations will increasingly look to source enterprise-wide technologies and systems locally that meet their long-term business objectives. We plan to build on this with Column, which has a successful track record and outstanding reputation for excellence in delivery” said Rami Cassis.
“The company is particularly well placed to help clients exploit the full power of the cloud, and strengthen their capabilities in technology-enabled customer service, both areas of business that continue to accelerate at a rapid pace,” Mr Cassis continued. “We are already working to improve operational efficiencies across the company and have ambitious plans to help this business grow both organically and with acquisitions across the Americas and Europe.”
Based in Lombard, Illinois, and with offices in New York, the UK and Canada, Column, including its subsidiary Highmetric, an Elite Partner to ServiceNow, employs over 400 people and had revenues of $90 million in 2019. The company is a technology strategy, solution design and operations partner to private and public sector organisations across the US and in international markets.
The Column Group specialises in enterprise service management, identity governance, cloud management, DevOps and technology operations management. In addition to ServiceNow, the company partners with some of the world’s leading technology companies, including Atlassian, Sailpoint, AWS and AppDynamics, to offer comprehensive solutions to its clients.
Parabellum Investments is looking for further opportunities in the US, and regional outsourcing hubs like India and the Americas, to further expand its business interests in the mid-market. As a result of the recent acquisition of Advanco, Parabellum Investments now also has operations on both the East and West coasts, in San Francisco and Princeton.
