Big announcement to lead off this Tuesday in the eDiscovery provider world!  A short time ago, HaystackID and NightOwl Global announced that they have combined in a merger.  Here are some of the information from the press announcement issued a short time ago.

“HaystackID, a specialized eDiscovery services firm that helps corporations and law firms find, listen to, and learn from data during complex investigations and litigation, and NightOwl Global, a worldwide leader in the delivery of corporate law department enterprise data services, today announced the combining of the companies as part of a merger facilitated by majority investor and leading middle market private equity firm, Quad-C Management, Inc. (“Quad-C”). The merger combines the established reach and accelerated growth trajectories of two high performing companies to deliver a comprehensive and complete set of data and legal discovery services for legal departments and law firms across the globe.”

Hal Brooks, CEO of HaystackID, shared, “NightOwl is a leader and innovator in delivering highly focused enterprise data consulting and services to corporate legal departments throughout the world. The combination of NightOwl and HaystackID creates immediate and accessible value for our customers by providing the most effective and responsive cybersecurity and legal discovery services available as they face increasingly complex security, investigation, and litigation challenges. NightOwl’s strong growth in our current pandemic environment speaks volumes to the critical and essential value they provide customers. I am incredibly excited to work with Andrea Wallack and her team as she continues her industry leadership role as a board member, equity investor, and President at HaystackID. In that role she will be responsible for driving our consolidated efforts to achieve our collective vision of developing and delivering the highest level of service and support in the market.”

Quotes from Andrea Wallack, CEO of NightOwl Global and Tim Billings, Partner at Quad-C are contained within the press release linked to at the top of the post.

As the press release also notes, “The NightOwl merger is HaystackID’s fourth major investment event since April 2018. In April 2018, HaystackID acquired Envision Discovery, an eDiscovery managed services provider, and Inspired Review, a managed review and remote review services provider. In January 2019, HaystackID acquired eTERA Consulting, an eDiscovery managed services provider. Additionally, in February 2020, HaystackID completed a strategic recapitalization with Quad-C to support the continued growth and expansion of company depth, breadth, and reach. The HaystackID merger with NightOwl Global propels the combined company into the top tier of worldwide data and legal discovery service companies and positions it for continued record growth to meet customer needs regardless of complexity, location, or language.”

“With the merger, NightOwl Global’s senior leadership team will integrate with the HaystackID team, become active shareholders in the combined company, and transition to operate under the HaystackID brand. NightOwl Global was represented in the transaction by BMO Capital Markets, Kent Adams, Managing Director. Financial terms of the merger were not disclosed.”

So, two things are clear: 1) The pandemic certainly hasn’t stopped merger, acquisition and investment (M&A&I) activity (even if it did slow down for a bit during Q2) and 2) They have been very busy over at HaystackID these days.

HaystackID also published an FAQ about the merger, which is available here.

Speaking of HaystackID, just a reminder that, on Wednesday, August 19th, HaystackID will conduct the webcast On the Case? eDiscovery Case Law Update for the First Half of 2020 at noon ET (11am CT, 9am PT).  In this presentation, I will be covering key case law developments during the first half of 2020 – along with Ashish Prasad, Vazantha Meyers, Todd Haley and Seth Curt Schechtman of HaystackID – to identify important rulings that may impact how you conduct discovery going forward.  Don’t miss it!

So, what do you think?  Are you surprised by this merger announcement?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by my employer, my partners or my clients. eDiscovery Today is made available solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Today should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.