Private equity firm Black Dragon Capital will acquire the entirety of Grass Valley, a technology supplier of broadcast and media solutions, from Belden Inc. The transaction is expected to close after customary regulatory approvals.
Black Dragon, which makes control investments in growth companies, has significant experience in media technology. Black Dragon takes a distinctive approach to making investments and working with portfolio companies. Investments are based on the firm’s understanding of the impact of digitization on workflow, technology, economics and human factors driving in the digital landscape. Black Dragon principals and advisors are participants in the industries and companies in which they invest, and they work closely with the portfolio companies.
Grass Valley President, Tim Shoulders, and his senior team will continue to lead the company. Louis Hernandez Jr., Founder, Managing Director and CEO of Black Dragon, will become Executive Chairman and, along with selected Black Dragon colleagues, will work with Grass Valley leaders on strategy, execution, client relations and the accelerated expansion to a cloud-based subscription model.
The Black Dragon principals and advisors involved in the Grass Valley acquisition include Hernandez; Mohamed Abuagla, former EVP and CTO of Al Jazeera and Advisor; Dr. Andreas Bereczky, former SVP and CTO of ZDF Germany and Advisor; Peter Neothen, CEO of Quest Media GMBH and Advisor; Gary Bettan, CEO of Broadfield Distributing Inc., and Advisor; Sandy Nassari, Founder and CEO of Melrose Inc., and Advisor; Shengli Han, Vice Chairman of Beijing Jetsen Technology and Advisor; Frank Capria, Media Product Specialist; and Mo Hussein, Media Finance Professional. Several other executives who worked at Avid with Hernandez were involved in the company assessment and strategy. The Black Dragon transaction team was led by Tim Greenfield, Partner, and Dan Consigli, Partner and CFO.
Cowen and Company served as advisor on the transaction, and Greenberg Traurig LLP served as legal counsel.