One Equity Partners Acquires WestCom

Written by Channel
March 15, 2005

One Equity Partners (OEP), one of the private equity arms of JP Morgan Chase & Co., has acquired WestCom Corp. (Booth 531), which provides network services to more than 1,200 firms within the financial industry.

Earlier this year, WestCom announced it had acquired Radianz Voice Services from Radianz, a Reuters company. This acquisition accelerated WestComs expansion of its existing voice service offering into Europe and Asia.

OEP acquired the majority share in WestCom. Bank of America Capital Investors also took an equity position in the company, with CEO and Founder Michael Hirtenstein retaining a significant ownership stake. Under the latest deal, Hirtenstein will continue to guide the growth of the company.

We are very pleased to provide the backing and support WestCom requires to take their business to the next level, says David Walsh, partner at OEP. Michael has done an outstanding job developing WestCom from an idea to an industry leader in only 14 years.

WestComs network supports mission-critical and latency-sensitive applications including trader voice services for leading North American and European financial institutions. WestComs high quality, high-speed voice solutions connect local, national and international trading rooms around the world.

We acquired WestCom because they had the best customer service in the industry and we wanted to expand their on-net presence, says Chuck Auster, also a partner at OEP. More and more customers will grow to appreciate their unmatched 24-hour turn-up service for new trader voice lines between clients. The resources of OEP will, in addition, enable WestCom to explore exciting opportunities to provide additional services and take advantage of a wider range of technologies including VoIP.

This acquisition is good for our customers and good for our employees, Hirtenstein said. OEP knows this business and they know why WestCom is unique. With OEP as a partner, the company will continue to offer the best value, fastest provisioning times and most responsive and reliable customer care in the industry. We understand what financial institutions and their trading partners require, and will continue to take pride in continually raising the competitive bar with our unique online tools and expanding the size and value of our network footprint.