Nautic Partners, LLC, a private equity firm with more than $2.3 billion of capital under management, today announced that it has acquired Respond2 Communications, Inc., in partnership with Respond2 management. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, Respond2 is the largest independently owned full-service direct response advertising agency in the United States.
Founded in 1998 by Tim O’Leary and Michelle Cardinal, Respond2 assists clients throughout the advertising campaign life cycle, offering a full suite of consumer direct response marketing services. Using a proprietary database, Respond2 designs and implements the optimal media placement strategy for a client’s advertising campaign and tracks the results to provide the client with a measurable return on its marketing investment. The Company also offers strategic marketing consulting, creative development, and production and post-production services for a fully integrated, turn-key solution to direct response marketing.
“Respond2 is uniquely positioned to benefit from the growing demand among advertisers for measurable results,” said Michael Joe, Managing Director of Nautic. “With their full suite of services, proprietary campaign tracking capabilities and extensive media relationships, Respond2 offers an attractive value proposition for advertisers and is an excellent investment opportunity with appealing growth prospects.”
“The Respond2 management team is led by a talented and committed group of people who have grown the business significantly over the past several years,” said Fraser Preston, Principal of Nautic. “We expect this growth to continue based on the increasing demand for direct response advertising, the potential to add to Respond2’s attractive client base, and the opportunities to expand R2’s service offerings, particularly online.”
“We are excited to work with Nautic as we execute our growth plan,” said Respond2 Chief Executive Officer Tim O’Leary. “With Nautic’s financial and strategic support, as well as its experience in the media and marketing services industries, we look forward to continuing to build upon our success.”
CapitalSource Finance arranged the senior debt financing for the transaction. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Respond2 is Nautic Partners’ first investment from its most recent fund, Nautic Partners VI, LP. Nautic has a successful history of transactions in the media and business services industries and, since 2005, has completed investments in 1105 Media Holdings, LLC, Oasis Outsourcing, LLC, Imaging Technology Services, LLC, ConvergeOne, LLC, and Contec Holdings, LLC.
About Respond2 Communications
Respond2 Communications, Inc. is the largest independently owned full-service direct response television (DRTV) agency. The Company, based in Portland, Oregon, combines the talents and resources of creative agencies Respond2 and Production West; media buying agency Cmedia; entertainment marketing agency R2 Entertainment; and Marketing & Media Services (MMSI), which specializes in per inquiry (PI) advertising. Respond2 Communications offers clients unparalleled service, support and technology through its major media buying offices in Portland and Philadelphia, two full television production and edit facilities, state-of-the-art web design and management facilities, and a newly updated broadcast duplication facility. More information about Respond2 Communications is available at www.r2cgroup.com.