Carpathia Hosting Acquired by Spire Partners

Private equity firms continue to acquire managed hosting companies, providing capital to fund data center expansions. In the latest deal, Spire Capital Partners has acquired a majority interest in Carpathia Hosting, which specializes in ultra-secure managed hosting services for government agencies and enterprise clients.

Private equity firms ABRY Partners and Managed Data Holdings have each acquired managed hosting firms and provided a quick influx of cash for data center expansion. Carpathia has been in expansion mode, announcing last week that it has expanded its data center in Harrisonburg, Va. by 20,000 square feet. Last year Carpathia announced plans to build a new data center in Halifax County, Virginia and leased space from Digital Realty Trust (DLR) in northern Virginia. Spire said it has "committed significant growth capital to expand Carpathia's existing operations."

"We believe Carpathia is well-positioned to capitalize on the favorable outsourcing trends in the IT services/hosting marketplace through the company's success in delivering top-notch services to significant government agencies and corporate clients," said Sean White of Spire. "We are excited to partner with the management team and provide the financial resources required to deliver quality services to Carpathia's enterprise and government clients."

Peter Weber will lead the new Carpathia management team as CEO. Weber founded IT services company SevenSpace, which was sold to Sun Microsystems in 2005. Bill Ranney will join the new Carpathia management team as CFO. Ranney served as CFO at SevenSpace and has served in senior finance roles at Sun Microsystems and Verizon. Rick Smith, former CEO, will remain at Carpathia as a member of the executive leadership team.

"I am thrilled to be leading Carpathia into this significant growth phase of the company," said Weber. "Our deep managed services portfolio, combined with our dedication to delivering our customers and partners world-class service, will fuel our growth in the coming quarters and years."

Founded in 2000, Spire Capital invests in companies in the business services, information services, media and communications sectors. Spire Capital currently has approximately $600 million in assets under management across two funds.