Europe’s Apax Partners and JMI Equity of the US will pay some $1 billion for the Israeli-founded Paradigm Geophysical developer of software for the oil and gas exploration industry.
“It is exciting for Paradigm to team up with Apax and JMI, With their backing, Paradigm is ready to further accelerate its top line and market share growth and capitalize on the opportunities its market position and leading technologies present,” said Eldad Weiss, Chief Executive Officer of Paradigm.
Weiss founded the company in Herzliya in 1987. In 2002, Fox Paine paid $100 million for the software vendor.
Paradigm’s software solutions are leaders in the marketplace. Its software enables engineers to optimize drilling and production decisions through the analysis of vast quantities of seismic and well-log data, spanning the entire spectrum of the exploration and production lifecycle from basin evaluation through to development and production.
“Paradigm has invested considerable time and money in developing market-leading intellectual property, and employs many of the leading scientists and software engineers in the sector. As such, it is well-placed to benefit from strong tailwinds in the coming years as energy companies look to drill in more challenging locations,” said Ian Jones, a senior Partner at Apax and head of the Energy team. “The software it provides is the best in the market, leading to strong, established relationships with its customers and underpinning an attractive business model.”
Paradigm has five development centers worldwide, including an Israeli R&D center.
“Paradigm is known as a technologically innovative software company. Our intention is to continue this innovation and gain market share in a growing market,” said Jason Wright, a Partner in the Tech & Telecom team at Apax. “We believe that the intersection between Energy and Software is an exciting area for investment and is an opportunity we have been monitoring for some time.”