Big Apple Shop Eyes Digital Forensics Specialist

New Mountain Capital LLC is investing $115 million for a 50 percent stake in Stroz Friedberg Inc., a New York-based technical consulting and services company, according to a regulatory filing and an executive familiar with the deal.

Founded in 2000, Stroz Friedberg specializes in digital forensics, mobile device and phone forensics, electronic discovery and online fraud and abuse incident response, among other services, for companies and government agencies.

New Mountain will be making the investment out of its $5 billion third fund, closed in 2008, according to the regulatory filing. Pam Siegel, chief marketing officer at Stroz Friedberg, declined to comment but said the company would likely issue a press release about the investment later this month.

The company appears to be an ideal target for New Mountain, a generalist firm that invests in companies from a wide variety of industries. Stroz Friedberg’s business touches upon several industries the firm targets, including business services, federal information technology services, and software. The firm’s portfolio includes Apptis Inc., a Chantilly, Va.-based company that provides IT services to a number of federal government agencies; and Camber Corp., a Huntsville, Ala.-based that provides information technology, decision support systems and other services for the Department of Defense.

Besides working with the federal government, Stroz Friedberg has worked on high-profile cases involving major companies including Best Buy Co. Inc. and Google Inc. In July, President Barack Obama nominated Beryl A. Howell, formerly an executive managing director and general counsel at Stroz Friedberg, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Greenhill Capital Partners, now known as GCP Capital Partners, invested $30 million in growth capital in the company for a 50 percent stake in 2007, and will retain a stake in the company. New Mountain’s investment means GCP Capital has already made 3x its 2007 investment.

New Mountain’s other sectors of interest include education, health care, logistics, specialty chemicals and materials, media, consumer products, financial services, infrastructure and energy.

If New Mountain’s investment proves to be a majority-stake buyout, it would mark the third new investment for the firm this year. In August, New Mountain bought Mallinckrodt Baker Inc., a Phillipsburg, N.J.-based chemicals company, for $280 million. And in March the firm bought RedPrairie Holding Inc., a Waukesha, Wisc.-based company that provides software for manufacturers, distributors and retailers.

Executives at New Mountain declined to comment.