Done Deals: Patricof Invests in 911 Call Platform –

Hoping to cash in on a trend among municipalities to upgrade emergency response services, Patricof & Co. Ventures invested $30 million last November in CML Emergency Services, a holding company that merged two companies that manage 911 calls.

Patricof & Co. invested approximately $12 million in equity in the deal, while IBJ Whitehall provided the balance in debt financing.

The new company brings together Quebec-based CML Technologies, which makes digital switching systems that handle emergency calls, and Augusta, Ga.-based Emergency Services integrators, LLC (ESi), a start-up company that developed an interactive, computer-based 911 call-dispatching technology.

CML Emergency Services will offer a total emergency call management package to municipalities looking to upgrade their 911 systems. The company will have earnings of approximately $5.9 million in 1999 and should have earnings of $16.2 million next year, according to company data.

The deal was brought to Patricof & Co. by Technology Capital Partners, LLC, a Richardson, Texas-based private equity firm that specializes in merging technological assets with more mature companies-ESi was originally developed as the emergency response system for a nuclear power plant in Augusta and linked dispatchers with, among other resources, an armed attack helicopter.

The system utilizes a point-and-click approach to locate and alert police, fire and ambulance teams on interactive maps. The engineers who developed the technology were looking for investors to help them develop a business that would install the product in municipal emergency call centers around the country, but Technology Capital suggested they merge with a larger company instead, said Michael Faught, a managing partner at Technology Capital.

Faught said the deal is representative of the opportunities in the world of technology transfer-a market made up mainly of technological assets originally created for government use for which the developers are seeking a commercial application.

Partners at Patricof & Co. did not return calls, but a statement said the firm expected to grow CML Emergency Services’ business through alliances and acquisitions.