RPX Corporation To Acquire Inventus Solutions, $232M In Cash

RPX Corporation

, the leading provider of patent risk management solutions, announced today that it has agreed to acquire privately-held Inventus Solutions, Inc., a leader in discovery management, for $232 million in cash, subject to customary adjustments, from investors led by private equity firm Clearlake Capital Group, LP. The transaction, which is expected to close in mid-to-late January 2016, is anticipated to add $50 to $60 million to RPX's 2016 revenue. "We see this acquisition as a natural extension of RPX's expertise in mitigating patent risk and lowering legal costs for our clients," said John Amster, CEO of RPX Corporation. "With our business posting its third year of solid cash generation and steady progress toward our vision of a patent clearinghouse, it is the right time to expand the services we can provide to mitigate risk and lower costs for corporate legal departments. "Adding new services related to litigation and compliance discovery does this, while profitably accelerating our revenue and cash flow growth," Amster continued. "At the same time, the acquisition expands the total available market we address with our services to lower legal costs and risk. Finally, it will also help increase our footprint inside our clients' legal departments, which will strengthen our ability to achieve RPX's long-term goal of establishing a broad, de facto patent clearinghouse. "Over the past seven years, we believe that RPX's patent risk management services have saved clients more than $2.5 billion in avoided litigation and settlement costs," Amster concluded. "We understand how to use data and analytics to enhance efficiency in the patent licensing process. Inventus has had the same approach and same success in discovery management services. We believe these commonalities in approach and complementary value propositions make this an excellent acquisition for RPX as we continue executing on our long-term growth strategy." Inventus CEO Trevor Campion added that Inventus is also positioned to help accelerate the combined Company's growth by continuing to expand its customer base in the US and abroad. "Over the past year and a half we have identified, acquired and successfully integrated two peer companies in the legal discovery sector," said Campion, "and we continue to assess other candidates that fit well with the Inventus model. At the same time, we have a solid organic growth plan, and are building a strong presence in international markets, where eDiscovery services are starting to be adopted more widely." Inventus, headquartered in Chicago, is one of the leading providers of technology-based services to locate, secure, organize and search electronic data for corporations and law firms. Its Luminosity technology provides an overlay to industry–standard software to provide unique analysis and insights, helping to create a more strategic, lasting relationship with its more than 1,000 clients. Inventus will remain headquartered in Chicago and Trevor will continue in his role as CEO of Inventus. Inventus will operate independently, as a subsidiary of RPX. GCA Savvian Advisors, LLC is serving as financial advisor to RPX and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is serving as legal counsel to RPX in connection with this transaction. GCA Savvian also provided a fairness opinion to RPX in connection with the Company's acquisition of Inventus.