Apollo Group, Constellis Executives to Buy Out Security Services Contractor

A group of investors including New York City-based Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO) along with executive team members at Constellis Group have agreed to undertake a buyout of the global security services contractor for an undisclosed sum.

Constellis Group said Friday it expects the transaction to close by the end of September and the investor consortium will also include private equity firms Forte Capital, Manhattan Partners and an unidentified group of existing co-investors.

More than 8, 000 employees work at Constellis Group across at least 25 countries in geographic regions such as Africa, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East and the contractor’s security-related services include training, technology and advisory support to defense, intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

News of the Apollo-Constellis negotiations was first reported on August 5 by Reuters, which said a deal could be worth at least $1 billion including debt.

Constellis Group’s subsidiaries include Academi, Triple Canopy, Olive Group, Edinburgh International, Strategic Social and their affiliates.

Academi was founded in 1997 as Blackwater by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince and changed its name to Xe Services in 2009, then was sold one year later to Forte Capital and Manhattan Strategic and rebranded to Academi.

Forte Capital and Manhattan Strategic combined the Academi business with Triple Canopy in 2014 to form the current Constellis Group enterprise and parent company Constellis Holdings, which then purchased security company Olive Group in 2015.

The current management team at Constellis Group will remain unchanged.

Apollo reported more than $186 billion in assets under its management as of June 30 in private equity, credit and real estate funds invested across nine industries.