Miss Group Double Acquisition

Congratulations to our friends at Miss Group on their double acquisition this past week of hosters in the US and Canada.

“Fast-growing web hosting company - Miss Group - has acquired Hostek, a US based web hosting company with revenues of US $7.5m. Founded in 1998, Hostek is a leading provider of managed server solutions for businesses in the US with a customer base of 15,000 accounts in both shared and VPS hosting.

“Alongside the acquisition of Hostek, Miss Group has also acquired a Canadian shared web hosting company with revenues of US$2.5m and an established French language customer base. This acquisition adds 16,000 customers and 28,000 new accounts to the Group

Cheval M&A advised Miss Group on the purchases.

Cheval M&A

Author: Hillary Stiff is President of Cheval M&A. She has been an investment banker and CFO, completing M&A transactions and arranging financing for a number of companies including NTT/Verio, The Endurance International Group and Web.Com among many others. She has helped complete over 500 successful web hosting, ISP and related transactions and distributes a list of hosting and related companies that are for sale.

Damages in Data Breach Litigation

Interesting post on the Cooley LLP’s cyber/data/privacy insights blog about recent litigation surrounding the huge Carefirst data breach (Attias.) The post talks about the court’s rejection of the argument that the plantiff’s suffered an “Injury-in-fact” and thus had standing to sue. They note;

“… there is a split between the courts on this issue. The courts disagree about whether the theft of personal information that exposes an individual to a heightened risk of identity theft is an “injury-in-fact” sufficient to confer standing under Article III. Some courts – the D.C., Third, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits – believe (at a high level) that alleging only a heightened risk of future injury is enough to show an “injury-in-fact.” By contrast, other courts – the Second, Fourth, and Eighth Circuits – believe that plaintiffs must allege that the stolen personal data has been actually misused.”

Liability for data breaches is a hot topic these days (highlighted by the recent $230 million GDPR/data breach related fine of British Airways) and one that could have a large effect on Company valuations and transaction risks going forward.

Cheval M&A, Inc.

Author: Hillary Stiff is President of Cheval M&A. She has been an investment banker and CFO, completing M&A transactions and arranging financing for a number of companies including NTT/Verio, The Endurance International Group and Web.Com among many others. She has helped complete over 480 successful web hosting, ISP and related transactions and distributes a list of hosting and related companies that are for sale.

Appriver acquired by Zix

Congratulations to the folks at Appriver on their sale to Zix for $275 million. Not a lot of detail was provided other than the combined company will have revenue at closing of approximately $180 million. Appriver has long been a leading provider of email and related services and is a terrific asset for any company. Zix provides email security for compliance.

Cheval M&A

Author: Hillary Stiff is President of Cheval M&A. She has been an investment banker and CFO, completing M&A transactions and arranging financing for a number of companies including NTT/Verio, The Endurance International Group and Web.Com among many others. She has helped complete over 470 successful web hosting, ISP and related transactions and distributes a list of hosting and related companies that are for sale.