Citizens Advises Advocate on its Recapitalization by Spire Capital

Citizens M&A Advisory served as the exclusive financial advisor to Advocate on its recapitalization by Spire Capital.  Advocate provides technology business management (TBM) and technology expense management (TEM) services to enterprise organizations to optimize their technology strategy and infrastructure.  Spire Capital is a leading New York-based private equity firm specializing in investments in the technology-enabled business services, communications, media and education sectors.

Advocate's services include TBM-as-a-Service, TEM-as-a-Service and advisory consulting services that assist their clients in expense and contract management, business/data analytics, information technology (IT) cost reduction and IT planning. Advocate has built a proprietary data warehouse solution known as "Helix" and an automation platform known as "Yottamation" that combine to enable differentiated service offerings to its clients.

As a technology-enabled services company, Advocate partners with (i) Apptio for its TBM managed services, (ii) Sakon for its TEM services, and (iii) several technology providers for its other automation solutions to deliver its services. Advocate was named Apptio's #1 Enterprise Partner for North America in 2019.

"After a rigorous process that started in 2019, we selected Spire Capital as our strategic partner. We feel the culture fit is strong, the strategic alignment is sound, and the opportunity to scale the business with David and his team is outstanding. We are delighted to start the next chapter of growth, innovation, and TBM leadership with Spire," Tim Wise and Scott Fogle, co-CEOs, said.

Tom Donahue, managing director at Citizens, added: "We’re excited for the future of the Advocate and Spire partnership.  The transaction timeline included the Covid-19 pandemic, but the Advocate team was able to focus on business performance and continue to grow during a challenging period.  We’re proud to have been able to navigate the deal through a pandemic and reach a great conclusion for our client.”

On their experience with the transaction and Citizen team, Fogle and Wise said: “The Citizens team was exceptional!  From preparation to marketing and then transaction execution during a unique time, the Citizens team stayed focused and added significant value to our deal.  We would highly recommend the Citizens team to any other entrepreneur considering a banker to assist with a potential transaction.”

David Schaible, partner at Spire Capital, said: "Tim Wise and Scott Fogle have built an incredible company and assembled a deeply talented management team that has grown to become the leader in managed services for TBM and TEM. Spire Capital bases its investment thesis on the conviction that IT services represent an ever-evolving area of opportunity. Advocate has positioned its platform and service offerings alongside its software partners to deliver tremendous value for its customers. We are proud to partner with the company to effectuate their next stage of growth."

Citizens M&A Advisory specializes in middle-market mergers and acquisitions as well as later-stage financing transactions. Citizens combines sector intelligence with a client-focused approach to realize our clients' true value. The Citizens team has closed more than 130 transactions in the last five years and has more than 80 M&A professionals specializing in a range of industries across the United States. Citizens M&A Advisory is part of Citizens Capital Markets, Inc., a subsidiary of Citizens Financial Group (NYSE: CFG).