One Equity Partners, the Chicago-based private equity unit of Bank One, said Thursday, Feb. 6, that it has acquired beTRUSTed, an e-commerce security unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Deal terms were not disclosed. But, in a statement, Rick Smith, a partner at One Equity Partners and the company's new chairman, said the business would now have $30 million in capital. Smith said the purchase of the Columbia, Md.-based unit fits One Equity Partners' strategy of acquiring companies that provide mission-critical technology services to Global 2000 companies.
The offers authentication, directory management, document work flow, secure data storage services and software for the financial services, healthcare and telecommunications industries and U.S. government. Its services are geared to securing communications and transaction processing over the Internet. John Garvey, the company's existing chief executive, will remain CEO of beTRUSTed.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has been spinning off various units since January 2002 as part of a strategy to jettison noncore businesses to avoid any perceived potential conflicts of interest, a source said.
