DALLAS and CLEVELAND, September 2, 2021 | Align Capital Partners (“ACP”) has sold Richardson, Texas-based Electronic Transaction Consultants, LLC (“ETC” or the “Company”) to Quarterhill Inc. (“Quarterhill”) (TSX: QTRH) (OTCQX: QTRHF) for total cash consideration of $120 million USD plus transaction related expenses.
For more than 20 years, ETC has been a leading provider of tolling and mobility software solutions to some of the largest U.S. tolling authorities, including in the states of Texas, Georgia, California and Illinois. ETC’s flexible riteSuite™ software platform enables authorities to customize operations to their specific needs for roadside operations and back-office customer engagement. The Company’s platform processes more than two billion transactions annually representing more than $3.0 billion USD in toll billings across more than 1,500 toll lanes in the U.S.
Acquired as a corporate carveout in July 2020, ETC was the first investment within ACP’s targeted state and local government (“SLG”) technology investment theme. “Our investment in ETC was predicated on the massive need for SLGs to replace antiquated technology systems. ETC is at the forefront of software innovation within the tolling industry. Its cloud-based, modular software platform helps tolling agencies collect more revenue to fund required infrastructure investments, while also better serving its citizens,” said ACP Managing Partner Rob Langley.
ETC management, alongside ACP, executed upon several strategic objectives far earlier than originally planned, which resulted in strong momentum early in ACP’s hold. “During our partnership, ACP helped the Company add key management talent including a strong COO and CTO, streamlined ETC’s technology roadmap and improved the Company’s operating leverage and scalability. Accomplishing these objectives early on led to a number of key customer wins,” said Langley. “ACP’s investment came at a time of increased focus on U.S. infrastructure requirements, and we believe ETC is well positioned to build upon its strong historical growth with Quarterhill given the combined companies offer increased scale and synergistic technology solutions.”
“The investment from ACP last year was a critical next step in the growth journey for ETC,” said ETC CEO Bret Kidd. “We are grateful that ACP moved quickly post-closing to invest in our business and deliver on their promise to bring high-quality industry resources to bear. They were a great partner to management and the business.”
This transaction marks ACP’s second exit of 2021, following the sale of Alliance Technical Group in July, and first exit from Align Capital Partners Fund II. Operating Partner Dave Perotti, Principal Matt Iodice and Associate Vijay Senthilkumar worked alongside Mr. Langley on the ETC investment.