CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, March 5, 2020 – XMS Capital Partners, LLC (“XMS”) a global, independent financial services firm providing investment banking, asset management and merchant banking services, announced that it served as financial advisor to Jensen Hughes, a portfolio company of Gryphon Investors, on its acquisition of L2 Fire Safety. XMS previously advised Jensen Hughes on the successful acquisitions of IFIC Forensics and Hillard Heintze in 2019.

Jensen Hughes is a global leader in safety, security and risk-based engineering and consulting. L2 Fire Safety is a top fire safety engineering firm in Finland with a specialization in code consulting and performance-based design work for large, complex projects.

Over the last few years, Jensen Hughes has made a number of investments in prominent fire protection engineering firms worldwide, beginning with its acquisition of UK and Ireland-based firm, Jeremy Gardner Associates (JGA) in 2018 and its most recent acquisitions of IFIC based in Glasgow and SAFire, based in Seoul. L2 is one of the leading voices championing higher standards in the Finnish fire safety engineering industry, and since its founding, has been a part of most major construction projects across the country.

“The L2 team, under JP Laaksonen’s leadership, has been at the forefront of Finland’s fire and life safety codes, and has created a legacy of technical excellence that will impact the country and surrounding countries for decades,” said Raj Arora, CEO, Jensen Hughes. “We are thrilled to have them join our team and bring their expertise to our growing client needs in Europe.”

L2 was co-founded in 1998 by Juha-Pekka (JP) Laaksonen, who has served as CEO since 2012 when co-founder Jukka Laine retired. The company’s 36 employees work out of its Helsinki headquarters, or one of its satellite offices in Tampere, Kuopio and Turku.

“Jensen Hughes offers us the opportunity to provide our clients with new services and a level of technical excellence our competitors cannot deliver. Since the combination will also provide new career paths and resources for our employees, we believe L2 will become an even more attractive workplace in competing for the industry’s experts,” said JP Laaksonen.

XMS acted as exclusive financial advisor to Jensen Hughes for this transaction.

About Jensen Hughes

Jensen Hughes is a global leader in safety, security and risk-based engineering and consulting. Every day, a team of 1,400+ engineers, consultants and scientists develop and deliver innovative and cost-effective solutions to a global client base involving fire protection systems design and analysis, code consulting, emergency management services, security consulting, forensic engineering, fire research, risk-informed applications, probabilistic risk assessments, development and testing, commissioning and construction services. Operating from 90+ offices throughout the world, Jensen Hughes consulting teams have delivered more than 40,000 projects in all markets across industries. Jensen Hughes is a portfolio company of Gryphon Investors, a leading private equity firm focused on profitably growing and competitively enhancing middle-market companies in partnership with experienced management teams. For more information, visit www.jensenhughes.com.

About L2

L2 Fire Safety Ltd, established in 1998, is a leading fire safety consultancy and design firm. Our expertise is based on long-term hands-on experience, strong theoretical background and extensive networking. Our most common assignments relate to fire design for buildings and risk management, but our expertise extends to all areas of fire and life safety. For more information, visit www.l2.fi/english/.

About Gryphon Investors

Based in San Francisco, Gryphon Investors (www.gryphoninvestors.com) is a leading private equity firm focused on profitably growing and competitively enhancing middle-market companies in partnership with experienced management. The firm has managed over $5.0 billion of equity investments and capital since 1997. Gryphon targets making equity investments of $100 million to $300 million in portfolio companies with enterprise values ranging from approximately $100 million to $500 million. Gryphon prioritizes investment opportunities where it can form strong partnerships with owners and executives to build leading companies, utilizing Gryphon’s capital, specialized professional resources, and operational expertise.

About XMS Capital Partners

XMS Capital Partners, established in 2006, is a global, independent financial services firm providing investment banking, asset management and merchant banking services to clients. It has offices in Chicago, Boston, London and Dublin. XMS provides Involvement BankingTM, which goes beyond transaction oriented investment banking and focuses on delivering objective, value added advice and custom tailored solutions to help clients achieve their strategic goals. It consistently creates value for its clients by giving them access to comprehensive, independent M&A, strategic advisory, financial restructuring, capital structure advisory and private capital advisory expertise. XMS Capital Partners, LLC is a FINRA member and SIPC member. XMS Capital Partners (UK) Limited is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. For more information, please visit www.xmscapital.com.
Brian Brownschidle, based in Chicago, has been promoted to Managing Director. Brian joined XMS in 2010 and over the past decade, he has helped build XMS’s Healthcare franchise. Brian has sourced and executed Healthcare and Technology transactions for XMS clients in North America, Europe and Asia.

Roger Gill has been promoted to Managing Director. Roger has run the London office of XMS for the last six years and helped XMS execute transactions in Europe, Africa and North America. Previously, he worked in the energy, electronics and engineering industries and in private equity.

David Lloyd, having been instrumental in establishing XMS Capital’s initial UK presence, rejoins the firm as a Managing Director in London. David spent the intervening six years in the Middle East as a transactions partner at EY. David will support the continued growth of XMS Capital’s business in Europe.

Matt Gilbert, based in Boston, has been promoted to Vice President. Matt joined XMS in 2016 from Goldman Sachs. He has executed many deals with XMS across multiple industries, with a focus within the healthcare and industrial sectors.

Patrick O’Hara, based in Chicago, has been promoted to Vice President. Patrick has been with the XMS team since being recruited as a summer analyst. Patrick has been actively involved in both client coverage and execution across multiple industries.

Adam Sullivan has been promoted to Vice President. Adam has particular expertise in frontier technologies (including blockchain and data centers) and has executed M&A and capital markets transactions across multiple industries.

“Brian and Roger have contributed significantly to the success of XMS during their careers here. We are pleased to welcome back David and capitalize on his proven ability to develop and execute business in Europe. Matt, Patrick and Adam have all demonstrated the commitment and the skills to be successful over the long term at XMS,” said Ted Brombach and John “Yogi” Spence, Co-Founding Partners of XMS.

About XMS Capital Partners

XMS Capital Partners, established in 2006, is a global, independent financial services firm providing investment banking, asset management and merchant banking services to clients. It has offices in Chicago, Boston and London. For more information about XMS, please visit www.xmscapital.com.

Media Contact:

Hank Hakewill, Hakewill & Associates
Phone: 847-256-5420 (office); 847-714-6561 (cell)
Email: hankhake@yahoo.com