Cisive’s plans to go to market in early 2020 were put on hold due to the pandemic. But in December 2021 it was ultimately acquired by private equity firm GTCR from CIP Capital. Headquartered in Holtsville, NY, Cisive is a global employee risk management and background screening company. The deal was pioneering because it was the first time that a company within this industry was positioned as an employee risk management provider versus a traditional background screening platform.

A Consolidated Industry

The background screening industry is consolidated and dominated by just a handful of large global players. While a portfolio company of CIP Capital, Cisive completed six acquisitions, several of which allowed the company to expand into new markets and geographies. As part of its deal with Cisive, GTCR expects to commit significant incremental equity to fund acquisitions and organic growth initiatives. “GTCR brings significant resources and experience in building industry-leading companies, and they will be a valuable partner in driving long-term growth for our business,” said Cisive’s CEO Jim Owens when the deal was announced.

In addition to background screening, Cisive offers compliance-driven human capital and risk management, onboarding and pre-employment background screening solutions. It has long-term relationships with a diverse base of blue-chip enterprise clients. The company’s offerings are purposely built for highly regulated risk-sensitive industries, including healthcare, financial services and transportation.

Covid Delays

A relationship between Cisive and Raymond James began in fourth quarter of 2019 and the initial plan was to go to market in the first quarter of 2020. Keeping a watchful eye on how Covid-19 progressed during the early months of 2020, Cisive decided to put the plan on hold. In the meantime, Raymond James maintained ongoing dialogue and provided consistent performance updates to all of the likely top tier buyers from the second quarter of 2021 until the process was restarted in the summer of 2021.

For more Deals of the Year coverage, see Mergers and Acquisitions Reveals the 2022 Middle-Market Deals of the Year.