Portfolio Companies
Portfolio Highlights
Completel
Completel Europe is a facilities-based provider of switched local access telecommunications and Internet services based in Paris, France. Organized in 1998 in response to deregulation of the European telecommunications industry, Completel today operates a nationwide fiber optic and DSL-based network covering 110 markets in France.
Our Operating Partner Jim Dovey was a co-founder of Completel who recruited Operating Partner Jim Allen to the company’s Board of Directors. When the company’s lead investor withdrew its support in 2002, Meritage led a comprehensive financial and operational restructuring of Completel and became the company’s largest shareholder.
With its operations stabilized, Jim Allen and the Meritage team aggressively expanded the company’s strategic vision, resulting in an aggressive network expansion initiative that increased Completel’s network footprint from nine to 110 markets. This nationwide coverage created a wholesale revenue opportunity to complement Completel’s retail service offering, greatly enhancing the company’s strategic value. Completel was acquired by Altice B2B France in September 2007 in a transaction that valued the company at $1.1 billion.
Trillion
Trillion Partners provides voice and data services over wireless networks to customers in the K-12 educational market. Meritage founded Trillion in its FastStart Program, recruited the company’s CEO, led Trillion’s debt and equity financing efforts and negotiated the company’s acquisition of nationwide rights to pursue its business plan. Today the company has over $100 million in future revenue committed under long-term contracts with its customers.
Meritage facilitated several strategic planning exercises for Trillion that led to the expansion of its service offering to include VoIP, a tower leasing joint venture to monetize the company’s 1,500 tower locations, and a cellular backhaul service initiative. Our Operating Partner Jim Dovey brings expert guidance to Trillion, having built a number of successful network-enabled service businesses by managing growth, limiting churn and emphasizing customer service to ensure high renewal rates, all of which are critical success factors for Trillion.
Crisp Wireless
Crisp Wireless provides mobile content management and monetization solutions, enabling companies to deliver rich media content over wireless networks for revenue generation, brand promotion and customer loyalty. Media, entertainment and retail firms use Crisp’s platform to distribute content across multiple wireless carriers to virtually any mobile telephony device.
There are more than 230 million mobile telephone subscribers in North America today, and mobile penetration in the telephony market continues to increase. Mobile websites operated by Crisp on behalf of its customers represent the largest content delivery network in North America, generating more than50 million page views per month and serving over nine million unique visitors per month.
We identified Crisp as a leader in its space and quickly formulated anexecution path into high-value advertising and data analytics revenuestreams - both crucial elements to the company’s success. As Crisp’s only institutional investor, we have taken a lead role in its strategic direction and capital formation activities.
Pipeline Financial Group
Pipeline Financial Group operates a large-block electronic securities trading network. The block securities market represents approximately one-sixth ofthe total trading volume of U.S. equity securities, and the “hidden” market impact cost to block traders in traditional venues is estimated to exceed $20 billion per year.
Pipeline addresses this problem by offering the first truly efficient marketplace for large-block trades, featuring a secure electronic trading system that minimizes market impact, predatory trading practices and informational imbalances prevalent in traditional trading venues. Pipeline offers a significant advantage over other block trading systems, with higher order fill rates and superior execution capabilities.
As the lead investor in Pipeline, Meritage was instrumental in creating the company’s financial structure and led its equity syndication efforts. Our Operating Partner Doug Holladay’s strong operational skills complement Pipeline management’s expertise in finance and trading technology. Pipeline turned net income positive in less than two years after the launch of its trading network, and today trades an average of 30 million shares per day.