Grain buys LightRiver's Technologies & Software entities

WASHINGTON – Grain Management, LLC ("Grain" or the "Firm"), a leading private investment firm exclusively focused on broadband technology and the global communications sector, announced today it has acquired LightRiver's Technologies & Software entities, comprising a premier optical network integration solution provider to the telecommunications, utilities, datacenter and cloud industries.

Since its establishment in 1998, LightRiver has delivered over $1 billion in carrier-grade transport network solutions, including certified design, professional staging services, deployment services, and network automation products to over 150 clients in North America and Europe. The business offers full lifecycle hardware, software, services, and support solutions in multi-technology networking. It specializes in the design, procurement, delivery, and ongoing technical support of heterogenous transport networks and the open software tools to discover, monitor, provision and control multi-vendor packet optical networks.

"Grain's focus on connectivity makes them an ideal partner. Their support positions LightRiver to build on our market and technology leadership while enhancing the commitment to our customers and partners, and enabling teammates in those key markets," states Glenn Johansen, LightRiver Founder and CEO. "We look forward to leveraging Grain's market, management, and financial strengths to grow our platform and expand our solution portfolio and customer base."

"We've been deeply impressed by the strong technical capabilities and compelling offerings the LightRiver team brings to a fast-growing segment," said Michael McKenzie, Managing Director at Grain. "We look forward to partnering with this deep and talented team to advance their services and software platform."

Grain acquired LightRiver from CVF Capital Partners and Plexus Capital. Cowen and Company, LLC served as exclusive financial adviser to LightRiver, CVF and Plexus in the transaction and Donahue Fitzgerald LLP served as legal counsel. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP served as legal counsel to Grain in connection with the transaction. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

LightRiver