Tornoto, ON – May 28, 2019 – Cority, the trusted provider of environmental, health, safety and quality (EHSQ) software, has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Thoma Bravo, LLC, in which the leading private equity investment firm will own a majority stake in the company. Previous majority investor Norwest Venture Partners will continue to retain a significant stake in the business and will re-invest over half of its proceeds.
Over its 30-year history, Cority has built the only enterprise-grade, unified true SaaS platform spanning all aspects of EHSQ. Today, Cority’s award winning solutions serve over 800 clients worldwide, allowing organizations to gain actionable insights from their data, manage risk and compliance, and improve business performance by safeguarding employees, protecting the environment and streamlining complex workflows. The company has continually driven innovation on behalf of its clients, most recently with the introduction of its Quality and Predictive Analytics solutions and announced record levels of growth and investment in 2018.
As organizations increasingly recognize the value and strategic importance of improved EHSQ outcomes, the need for a comprehensive, holistic EHSQ platform has risen in tandem. Cority, which enjoys the industry’s best client satisfaction and retention rates and supports millions of end users, is well positioned to address these needs and lead a $4bn+ industry.
“Our longstanding core values of integrity, quality, customer centricity, community, and diversity continue to underpin our success,” said Cority CEO Mark Wallace. “We are excited to move to a new phase of our success story by welcoming Thoma Bravo to Cority and look forward to sharing the benefits of their software expertise and investment capital with our clients, partners, and employees.”
“We have tracked Cority’s success for years through our numerous investments in other segments of the broader Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC) market,” said Hudson Smith, a Partner at Thoma Bravo. “With so many point solutions in the GRC market, we believe that Cority is unique in that it offers enterprise clients a single platform to manage their health, safety, environmental, sustainability, operational risk and quality needs. We look forward to helping Mark and the team further invest to deepen and broaden Cority’s solutions.”
Rob Arditi, General Partner of existing investor Norwest, noted, “It has been a great journey with Cority over the last few years partnering with management to expand product capabilities, elevate the company’s brand and fully cement Cority’s position as the global EHSQ leader. We’re excited to continue our partnership with Cority alongside Thoma Bravo.”
Georgian Partners will also re-invest a portion of its existing investment in the business, and continue to advise the company in the area of applied analytics.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of June 2019 subject to customary closing conditions.
Cority is being advised on the transaction by Harris Williams & Co. and Goodwin Proctor LLP, and co-advised by William Blair & Co. Thoma Bravo is being advised by Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
