The San Francisco Standard Acquires Charter

Pacific Guardian Life to Acquire The Standard’s Individual Annuities Business

May 21, 2026

Financial Services

The Standard and Pacific Guardian Life have entered into a definitive agreement under which The Standard will transition its individual annuities business to Pacific Guardian Life. The transaction is expected to close in early 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, with Pacific Guardian Life acquiring the annuities employees, operations, and distribution partnerships.

Wolters Kluwer Acquires StandardFusion

January 9, 2026

Cloud & SaaS

Wolters Kluwer's Corporate Performance & ESG division has acquired StandardFusion, a Vancouver-based cloud GRC provider, for approximately €32 million (~$50 million) in cash. StandardFusion (about 40 employees) will be integrated into Wolters Kluwer's TeamMate audit and assurance platform to create a unified audit and GRC offering; the business generated roughly €4M (C$6M / ~$6M) in unaudited 2024 gross revenue, ~94% recurring.

New Charter Technologies Acquires Orchestrate AI Labs

February 10, 2025

IT Services

New Charter Technologies, a portfolio company of Oval Partners, has acquired Orchestrate AI Labs, an AI-integration startup focused on bringing frontier AI models into managed-service (MSP) delivery. As part of the deal, Orchestrate AI co-founder Ryan Barton joins New Charter as Chief Innovation Officer to lead AI-driven capability expansion across New Charter's MSP services.

Hyatt Hotels Corporation Acquires Standard International

August 21, 2024

Restaurants & Hospitality

Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced it will acquire the brands and most affiliates of Standard International, the parent company of The Standard and Bunkhouse Hotels, forming a new dedicated lifestyle group headquartered in New York City. The asset-light transaction covers management, franchise and license contracts for 21 open hotels (about 2,000 rooms) and includes a $150 million base purchase price with up to $185 million of contingent consideration.

PaperWorks Acquires The Standard Group

June 23, 2023

Packaging

PaperWorks Industries Inc. has completed the acquisition of The Standard Group, a custom printed paperboard packaging converter with a manufacturing facility in Louisville, Kentucky. The deal adds ~120 employees and expands PaperWorks' integrated folding carton footprint and vertical integration across North America; PaperWorks is PE-backed (Gamut Capital Management).

Standard Cognition Acquires Explorer.ai

January 7, 2019

AI & Machine Learning

Standard Cognition acquired Explorer.ai, a Carnegie Mellon–founded robotic mapping and computer vision startup, bringing the team's indoor-mapping technology and seven engineers into Standard to accelerate its autonomous checkout rollout. The acquisition adds mapping capabilities used for autonomous vehicles and in-store mapping, enabling faster store mapping and expansion into larger retail formats.