Pamplona Capital Management and Ascent Venture Partners Announce $100 Million Equity Investment in Nova Sciences to Pursue Acquisitions in the Industrial Instrumentation Market

BOSTON and LONDON, February 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Pamplona Capital Management (Pamplona) today announces that it, along with Ascent Venture Partners (Ascent), has committed $100 million to Nova Sciences Holdings LLC (Nova), a new platform entity formed to pursue acquisitions of metering, monitoring, measurement and control instrumentation businesses in a broad spectrum of industrial sectors.

Nova is led by highly experienced CEO Jim Barbookles and a senior management team that has worked together for fourteen years, during which time they have successfully executed several prior sector consolidations in the industrial instrumentation industry.

Jim Barbookles will be Chairman of the Nova board, which will also include Pamplona Partner Justin Perreault and Ascent General Partner Walter Dick.

Jim Barbookles, CEO of Nova, said: "Over the last fourteen years, the Nova team has acquired over 25 companies and has developed a proven track record of acquiring, operating, and strengthening industrial technology brands. The Nova team is looking forward to combining its operational and technical experience with Pamplona and Ascent's financial resources and expertise to acquire and grow strong brands in the industrial technology market."

Justin Perreault, Partner at Pamplona, commented: "Pamplona is excited to partner with an outstanding management team with an extensive and successful history of acquiring and operating businesses in the industrial technology sector. As part of Pamplona's broad interest in industrial technology, we believe we have identified a unique opportunity to back the Nova team in its latest sector consolidation effort. We look forward to assisting Jim and his team in sourcing, evaluating, and funding potential investment opportunities."

Walter Dick, General Partner at Ascent, said: "Having backed the Nova team in its prior platforms, Ascent is looking forward to participating as an active partner to the Nova team. Through both acquisitions and organic growth, we believe the Nova team has an opportunity to build a global industrial technology business."

Pamplona's investment comes from Pamplona TMT I, L.P., a $1 billion U.S. based private equity fund announced in May 2016 that makes equity investments in technology, media and telecom companies. To date, the fund has announced investments in Dyn, the worldwide leader in Internet Performance Management, and Logicworks, a leading cloud automation and managed services provider. Dyn was subsequently acquired by Oracle in January 2017. Nova is Pamplona TMT I, L.P.'s initial investment in the industrial technology sector, a focus area for the fund.

About Nova Sciences Holding LLC 

Nova Sciences Holdings was formed to acquire and operate companies in the industrial instrumentation sector. The company is led by Chairman and CEO Jim Barbookles, who has previously executed several industrial technology roll ups including: Nova Analytics, which acquired companies in the water quality analysis and electrochemistry instrumentation industry; Nova Technologies, which acquired flow & analysis equipment companies focused on the water and wastewater analysis markets; Nova Metrix, a leading provider of precision geotechnical instrumentation, sensors, and monitoring products for the structural health, infrastructure, and ground water monitoring markets; and Nova Instruments, a provider of high-tech analytical instruments and non-destructive testing solutions for a broad range of scientific and industrial applications. Previously, Jim was President and CEO of Thermo Orion, a major US water analysis and instrumentation manufacturer.

About Pamplona Capital  

Pamplona Capital Management is a London, New York, Boston and Malta based specialist investment manager established in 2005 that provides an alternative investment platform across private equity, fund of hedge funds and single manager hedge fund investments. Pamplona Capital Management, LLP manages over $10 billion in assets across a number of funds for a variety of clients including public pension funds, international wealth managers, multinational corporations, family offices and funds of hedge funds. Pamplona invests long-term capital across the capital structure of its portfolio companies in both public and private market situations. Pamplona TMT I, L.P., is a $1 billion U.S. based private equity fund announced in May 2016 that makes equity investments in technology, media and telecom companies. Please see Pamplonafunds.com for further information.

About Ascent Venture Partners 

Ascent Venture Partners is dedicated to investing in innovation for the enterprise. In backing more than 100 early-stage, emerging technology companies since 1985, Ascent has remained committed to its mission of partnering with exceptional entrepreneurs striving to build innovative market leaders. Ascent's investments have yielded powerful results generating more than $10 billion in enterprise value, which speaks to the firm's deep knowledge, experience, commitment, and networks. The Ascent investment team manages six venture funds with total commitments of more than $500 million, and is located in Boston, Mass.