Clearlake Capital Acquires Perforce Software

New buy and build platform investment in leading software solution for enterprise scale DevOps teams.

SANTA MONICA, CA and MINNEAPOLIS, MN – January 10, 2018 – Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. (together with its affiliates, “Clearlake”) today announced that it has acquired Perforce Software (“Perforce” or the “Company”), developer of the industry’s most flexible, scalable and secure version control and collaboration platform, from growth equity investor Summit Partners. The Company will continue to be led by Janet Dryer, CEO, and Mark Ties, COO, who will both join the Board of Directors alongside Clearlake. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Perforce is a leading provider of enterprise scale software solutions to technology developers and development operations (“DevOps”) teams requiring productivity, visibility and scale during all phases of the development lifecycle.  Enterprises across the globe rely on its agile project management, developer collaboration, version control and repository management solutions as the foundation for successful DevOps.  Perforce is trusted by the world's most innovative brands, including NVIDIA, Pixar, Scania, Ubisoft, and VMware.  Headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, with over 225 employees, the Company serves more than 3,000 customers worldwide.  

“Today’s announcement represents another major milestone in our transformation of Perforce,” said Dryer. “Two years ago, we began this journey, and since then we have completed three acquisitions, returned the company to growth, and created a robust portfolio of DevOps-focused solutions adopted by the largest and most demanding enterprise development teams in the world. We thank Summit Partners for this outstanding partnership, and we look forward to working with the Clearlake team as we accelerate into our next phase of growth.”

“The Perforce team should be proud that all their hard work helped attract this new investment, and we are excited to partner with Clearlake,” said Ties. “We expect Clearlake’s deep software experience and their proven ability to help companies grow will provide invaluable support as we continue to broaden our DevOps solutions, expand internationally, and pursue our acquisition strategy.”

“We are impressed by the momentum at Perforce under Janet and Mark’s leadership, and we share their excitement that Perforce will serve as an excellent platform for growth, both organically and through acquisition,” said Behdad Eghbali, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, and Prashant Mehrotra, Partner, of Clearlake. “We look forward to leveraging our O.P.S.® approach to support the management team and its many talented employees in continuing to provide best-in-class DevOps solutions to its global customer base.”

“High performance, enterprise scale software development teams are faced with stringent security and compliance requirements in addition to increasing complexity, with today’s continuous delivery environments,” added Paul Huber of Clearlake. “We believe Perforce’s technology and its proven security, performance, and scale uniquely position the Company to address these market trends and accelerate its growth trajectory.”

Harris Williams served as financial advisors to Clearlake. Shea & Company served as financial advisor to Perforce and Summit Partners. Antares Capital, AllianceBernstein Private Credit and Vista Credit provided a fully underwritten facility to help finance the transaction.

About Perforce 

Perforce powers innovation at unrivaled scale. Perforce solutions future-proof competitive advantage by driving quality, security, compliance, collaboration, and speed – across the technology lifecycle. We bring deep domain and vertical expertise to every customer, so nothing stands in the way of success. Our global footprint spans more than 80 countries and includes over 75% of the Fortune 100. Perforce is trusted by the world’s leading brands to deliver solutions to even the toughest challenges. Accelerate technology delivery, with no shortcuts. Get the Power of Perforce.

Media Contacts

PERFORCE U.S. 
Grace Bonacum
PAN Communications 
Ph: +16175024300
[email protected] 

PERFORCE UK/EMEA
Maxine Ambrose
Ambrose Communications
Ph: +441183280180
[email protected]