Acquisitions in California in 2016

Elite Restaurant Group has agreed to acquire Slater's 50/50, including six restaurants and the brand's intellectual property, from founder Scott Slater. The deal, expected to close in February, will see Scott Slater step down as president and remain on as an advisor while the buyer plans renovations, company-owned expansion and a franchising program to grow the brand beyond Southern California.

Nexonia and Tallie announced a merger to combine their time and expense management platforms, creating a leading independent provider of cloud-based expense and time tracking solutions. The combined company will operate across offices in Canada and the United States and aims to expand product capabilities and integrations with major ERPs and accounting platforms.

San Francisco-based insurance broker Woodruff-Sawyer has acquired Neovia Integrated Insurance Services, a small Santa Barbara/Pasadena-area insurance agency. The deal adds employee benefits, property-casualty and management liability capabilities to Woodruff-Sawyer's Southern California footprint and positions the buyer for further regional growth.

Polaris Industries Inc. agreed to acquire Transamerican Auto Parts Co. (TAP), a vertically integrated manufacturer, distributor, retailer and installer of off‑road Jeep and truck accessories, for an aggregate $665 million (subject to customary adjustments). The acquisition adds TAP's proprietary brands and multi‑channel retail and e‑commerce capabilities to Polaris' aftermarket portfolio to accelerate growth and cross‑sell products to a larger combined customer base.

New York-based private equity firm Goode Partners has made a strategic growth investment in STONEFIRE Grill, a Southern California fast-casual restaurant chain headquartered in Westlake Village, California. The capital will be used to accelerate unit growth within its core Southern California market and expand into new geographic territories.

General Logistics Systems (GLS), the European parcel services business owned by Royal Mail plc, has acquired Golden State Overnight (GSO) from private equity owner The Halifax Group for an enterprise value of $90 million. GSO, a Pleasanton, California–based overnight parcel carrier operating from 36 facilities across the Western U.S., will keep its existing management team in place following the transaction.

Ultimate Software (Nasdaq: ULTI) has acquired Kanjoya, a San Francisco-based workforce intelligence and analytics provider, and will integrate Kanjoya’s natural-language processing technology into its UltiPro HCM suite as UltiPro Perception. The Kanjoya team, including founder Armen Berjikly, will join Ultimate’s San Francisco R&D hub to support employee sentiment, survey and predictive analytics capabilities.

Providence Strategic Growth (PSG), the growth equity affiliate of Providence Equity Partners, has acquired Untangle Inc. and provided growth capital to accelerate the company's product, channel, and go-to-market initiatives in the unified threat management/next-generation firewall market. Untangle, headquartered in San Jose, California, will be led by newly appointed CEO Scott Devens as it pursues market share expansion in the SMB and below-enterprise segments.

The Tecan Group announced the acquisition of US-based SPEware Corporation, a provider of mass spectrometry sample preparation solutions, to expand Tecan's dedicated solutions offering and recurring revenues from smart consumables. The deal includes a base cash purchase price of USD 50.0 million plus an earn-out of up to USD 10.0 million and is expected to be immediately accretive to EPS.

Odyssey Investment Partners has acquired Aero Precision Industries LLC from Greenwich AeroGroup, a portfolio company of Berkley Capital (W. R. Berkley). Aero Precision, headquartered in Livermore, California with additional locations in San Francisco, Austin and Japan, is a distributor of military and commercial aerospace parts and provides MRO and repair/overhaul services; the deal was announced in mid-2016.

TZP Growth Partners I, L.P. (part of TZP Group) completed a strategic growth investment in Del Mar Recovery Solutions, a Carlsbad, California-based provider of automotive asset recovery and repossession management services. The capital will be used to invest in technology and systems, recruit talent, and expand service offerings while Del Mar’s founder/management continue to operate the business.

Alarm.com Holdings, Inc. entered into a definitive agreement to acquire two business units—Connect (Redwood City, CA) and Piper (Ottawa, Canada)—from Icontrol Networks for approximately $140 million. The deal adds software, hardware and service-provider relationships to Alarm.com's connected-home platform to accelerate R&D, expand product offerings and strengthen relationships with service-provider partners.

An affiliate of Moorgate Capital Partners partnered with ITC Service Group management to acquire substantially all assets of ITC Service Group, Inc. from its founding shareholders. ITC, a Citrus Heights, California–based provider of planning, design, installation and maintenance services for fiber-to-the-home and broadband networks (approximately 700 employees), will be supported to accelerate growth; debt financing was provided by Credit Suisse Park View BDC, QS Capital Strategies (Quilvest) and California Bank & Trust.

Risk Strategies Company, a privately held national insurance brokerage, acquired Newport Beach-based OakBridge Advisors to strengthen its Employee Benefits practice and expand its presence in California. OakBridge founders Edward Kirkwood and Lawrence Hartley and their staff will remain with Risk Strategies and integrate with the firm's other California offices.

New York-based private equity firm Capital Z Partners Management, LLC acquired Portfolio Group, Inc., a Lake Forest, California–based provider of vehicle service contracts, GAP insurance and other F&I products, from Frontenac Company, LLC. Management will remain in place with significant ownership; terms were not disclosed.

The Riverside Company has acquired Momentum Group, a distributor of commercial textiles headquartered in Irvine, California, from Norwest Equity Partners. Momentum Group (~150 employees) supplies fabrics to commercial furniture manufacturers and design firms across office, hospitality, education and healthcare markets; Maranon Capital provided mezzanine financing and co-invested in the transaction.

Capella Education Company (NASDAQ: CPLA) acquired Hackbright Academy, a San Francisco-based non-degree software engineering school for women, in an all-cash transaction that closed on April 22, 2016 for $18 million. Hackbright will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary and retain its San Francisco headquarters and management team as Capella expands its non-degree, workforce-focused learning offerings to help close the gender gap in software engineering.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has completed its acquisition of Affymetrix for $14.00 per share in cash, representing an approximate total purchase price of $1.3 billion, following approval by Affymetrix stockholders. The deal brings Affymetrix's genetic analysis products and expanded antibody portfolio into Thermo Fisher's life sciences offerings to strengthen its capabilities in biosciences and clinical/applied markets.

United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) acquired all outstanding stock of Nor‑Cal Produce and an affiliated entity, plus certain real estate, in a cash transaction of approximately $68.6 million. The purchase expands UNFI’s fresh produce capabilities and national produce footprint; Nor‑Cal, based in West Sacramento, California, reported about $151 million in net sales for the 12 months ended February 29, 2016 and Todd Achondo will remain in a leadership role.

Pacific Market International (PMI) has agreed to acquire Formation Brands, LLC in a deal executed with investment partners Joshua Green Corporation and Endeavour Capital. The acquisition expands PMI's housewares and private-label capabilities, diversifying its product line and customer base by adding Formation's experience in beverage and specialty gift housewares.

PWP Growth Equity, a private equity fund managed by Perella Weinberg Partners, made a growth equity investment in Black Bear Diner to support continued expansion. The investment will fund investments in people, systems and new restaurant openings while the existing executive team, including co-founder Bruce Dean, remains in place; financial terms were not disclosed.

KeHE Distributors, LLC has acquired Monterrey Provision Company, a family-owned San Diego-based distributor of perimeter products for retail grocery stores. The deal expands KeHE's perimeter product capabilities and adds Monterrey's distribution centers in San Diego and Oklahoma City to KeHE's network, supporting the buyer's growth and geographic coverage.

Hub International Limited has acquired Equity Risk Partners, a San Francisco-based insurance brokerage specializing in property & casualty, employee benefits and executive liability solutions for private equity firms. Equity Risk will join Hub and serve as a platform to expand Hub’s insurance solutions for private equity clients globally; terms were not disclosed.

Bolton & Company, a large privately owned insurance broker headquartered in Pasadena, announced that Pasadena-based Polenzani Benefits, an employee benefits brokerage, has joined Bolton. Polenzani's staff will integrate into Bolton's Employee Benefits team, with Tom G. Polenzani becoming Director of Employee Benefits.

Food Evolution LLC, a platform backed by Akoya Capital Partners with partners Balance Point Capital and Plexus Capital, has acquired Fresh & Ready Foods, Inc. as the first add-on to the Food Evolution platform. The transaction expands Food Evolution's geographic footprint and capabilities in the fresh prepared, grab-n-go food category across the Western United States.

ExamWorks Group, Inc. acquired Advanced Medical Reviews, Inc. for $30.0 million in cash plus an earnout of up to $9.8 million. The acquisition adds AMR’s web-based peer review platform and mobile application to ExamWorks’ suite of independent medical examination and review services to expand the company’s technology-enabled capabilities.

Brown & Brown Insurance Services of California, a subsidiary of Brown & Brown, Inc., acquired certain assets of BayRisk Insurance Brokers, Inc., a California-based insurance agency. The asset purchase strengthens Brown & Brown's presence in California and adds BayRisk's specialty property & casualty programs (including mobile food vendor coverage) to Brown & Brown's offerings.

ExamWorks Group, Inc. (NYSE: EXAM) has acquired ABI Document Support Services Inc., a national provider of record retrieval, document management and electronic summary services for the property & casualty insurance and legal markets. The acquisition adds ABI's eSummary software and document-management capabilities to ExamWorks' IME and claims management platform to expand service capabilities and automate workflow processes.