Monitor Clipper Closes Two Equity Investments –

Monitor Clipper Partners this month closed an $80 million equity investment in Veridian Corp., an information security and secured data networks provider based in Alexandria, Va.

Along with Monitor Clipper’s investment, Veridian completed the acquisition of three businesses whose combined 1998 sales reached almost $300 million, bringing the company’s employee count to more than 5,000 at 57 facilities throughout the U.S. Veridian, with anticipated 1999 revenue of $600 million, services government and commercial customers, including the U.S. military, the Central Intelligence Agency and United Airlines. With the investment, Monitor Clipper owns approximately 40% of Veridian’s issued and outstanding common stock.

Monitor Clipper Managing Director Kevin Macdonald said the information security business grows 20% to 30% each year. “Once people come to grips with Y2K they are going to turn to the next major challenge which will be network security,” Macdonald said. “We look for [Veridian] to provide solutions, most importantly in the federal sector.”

Veridian focuses on the areas of information technology and security, and applied science and engineering. The company designs, develops, integrates, operates and maintains information systems for its customers.

Along with Monitor Clipper, Texas Growth Fund and affiliates of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce-an affiliate of CIBC World Markets Corp.-also purchased equity stakes in Veridian of $20 million and $10 million, respectively.

Minority Investment in Jet Company

In a separate transaction this month, Monitor Clipper completed a $20 million equity investment in Corporate Wings, a Cleveland-based fractional jet ownership program.

Macdonald said fractional jet ownership developed about eight years ago. The theory behind the business is to offer small shares of aircraft to corporations and individuals that do not have access to a private jet or want to avoid commercial airlines. Flight Options, the trade name under which Corporate Wings operates, owns a fleet of previously-owned, refurbished jets that are fractionally owned by more than 100 customers.

“The fact that this company uses previously-owned jets sets it apart from its competitors by offering a lower price for the same services,” Macdonald said. The growth prospects and increasing demand for this company’s services drew Monitor Clipper to the company, he said.

Cambridge, Mass.-based Monitor Clipper Partners last year closed its $630 million fund, Monitor Clipper Equity Partners, L.P. (BUYOUTS July 6, 1998, p. 13). By the anticipated close of a fifth deal in the fourth quarter, Monitor Clipper will have committed approximately $200 million out of the fund, Macdonald said.