News

Clarion Capital Partners has made an investment in Los Angeles and India-based Premiere Digital Services, a digital media services and software firm. No financial terms were disclosed. Salem Partners served as financial adviser to Premiere on the transaction.

PRESS RELEASE

New York, October 22, 2018 – Clarion Capital Partners, LLC (“Clarion”) today announced that it has completed an investment in Premiere Digital Services, Inc. (“Premiere”, “PDS”, or the “Company”), a digital media services and software company. Premiere’s management team, Mark Lazar, Erik Anderson, AJ Sauer, and Steve Rosenberg will continue to lead the business and are investors in the Company alongside Clarion. As part of the transaction, Mr. Lazar has been promoted to CEO, while Mr. Anderson, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Rosenberg will remain in their current roles as President, COO, and CCO, respectively. The terms of the transaction, which closed on October 18th, were not disclosed.

With Clarion’s partnership, Premiere will look to augment the breadth of its digital media services, expand its geographic footprint, and accelerate growth of its industry leading software solutions. The Company will look to achieve these goals both organically and through targeted acquisitions.

“We’re very excited to be investing in Premiere and its best-in-class service offerings. The Company has an outstanding reputation in the marketplace, driven by its relentless focus on quality, innovation, and customer service,” said David Ragins, a Managing Director with Clarion. “We look forward to supporting the Company in its next phase of growth.”

“Our team has done a tremendous job building Premiere into an industry leader and trusted solutions provider,” said Mr. Lazar, CEO of Premiere. “We wanted to bring on a partner who truly believes in our business, as we do, and we found that in Clarion. This transaction should help us accelerate our growth and invest in new solutions to help us better serve our growing customer base.”

“The digital content marketplace is evolving and expanding rapidly, creating new challenges and complexities for our customers,” the founder and President of Premiere, Mr. Anderson, said. “Our new partner, Clarion, provides us with additional capacity to invest in solutions to address these challenges and scale our global media servicing capabilities.”

Salem Partners, LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to Premiere in this transaction, and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP served as legal counsel. Clarion Capital Partners, LLC was advised by the law firm of Duane Morris, LLP. Financing for the transaction was provided by Stellus Capital Management, QS Capital Strategies, LP, and City National Bank.

About Premiere Digital Services
Premiere Digital Services is a digital media distribution and software company based in Los Angeles, California and Bangalore, India. Premiere is a leader in cloud-based digital asset delivery and content optimization solutions for clients in the Media & Entertainment industry. Premiere Digital Services offers media services that enable content ingestion, preparation, management, and delivery/distribution of media assets to OTT, Mobile, and Broadcast markets, including the latest workflows in UHD and HDR for video, audio, image, closed caption, or subtitle files. Furthermore, Premiere offers software tools and custom software solutions for use in the media distribution space. Additional information on Premiere can be found at http://premieredigital.net/.

About Clarion Capital Partners, LLC
Clarion Capital Partners is a New York based private equity firm that focuses on making control equity investments in lower middle market growth companies. Clarion’s industry focus includes Media, Entertainment & Technology, Business & Healthcare Services, Specialty Financial Services, and Consumer & Retail. Additional information on Clarion can be found at www.clarion-capital.com.