GTCR Launches ReSurge
Former Pulse Data founder will lead the private equity firm’s $150 million investment into Western Canada.
June 3, 2009
GTCR, the Chicago-based private equity firm, has formed a seismic data licensing company in Calgary, Alberta, and has committed up to $150 million in equity capital to support the development of the firm, called ReSurge Ltd.
Ken MacDonald, formerly the chief executive, president and founder of listed seismic data firm Pulse Data, will lead the new company as CEO. The move is nothing new for GTCR; in 2008, it tapped Clorox Co.’s Richard T. Conti to lead its buyout platform for consumer products and more recently, this year, the PE shop also teamed with Robert Coleman, former ManTech International CEO, to establish an acquisitive national security and defense services platform in Virginia.
Speaking with mergersunleashed, MacDonald said the GTCR partnership will look to immediately make acquisitions to support the data company. The seismic data is licensed to oil and gas industry companies that use its information to explore for new resource pockets.
For the next few years, MacDonald said, ReSurge Ltd. will concentrate on buying databases and companies specifically serving institutions looking to capitalize on resources in Western Canada, though, eventually, the GTCR venture will begin to cover all of North America. In a recession, MacDonald said, the value of databases and seismic data companies has been adversely impacted, while oil and gas companies that have curtailed explorations on their own are increasingly likely to need outside assistance to develop new resource opportunities.
David Smiddy (finance chief) and Andy Vernon (vice president of sales and marketing) will join MacDonald at ReSurge.
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