Private Equity Buys Hotel Guest Room Tech Provider Enseo

H.I.G. Capital, a private equity and alternative assets investment firm, has acquired a majority interest in Enseo, a company that's best known for delivering in-room digital entertainment via hotel TVs. Properties flagged with brands such as Marriott, Hilton, and La Quinta use Enseo's tech in almost 1,900 hotels in North America. The companies didn't disclose the transaction value or deal terms in Monday morning's announcement. Enseo had been fully bootstrapped. With this deal, founder and CEO Vanessa Ogle retains some equity and moves to the role of chairman of Enseo, based in Plano, Texas. H.I.G., based in Miami and with $44 billion of equity capital under management, also acquired Catapult Tech, Enseo's sister company. On June 2, H.I.G arranged a $55 million first-lien term loan investment and a $5 million revolving line of credit, according to a financial filing. "H.I.G. is absolutely building a war chest to be able to do M&A [mergers and activities]," Ogle said. "We're looking at M&A for growth and expansion of cross-brand services as well as vertical market expansion and international expansion." The private company hasn't disclosed its current finances during the pandemic. Before the pandemic disrupted the hotel industry, Enseo had been on a trajectory to generate annual sales of $100 million, up from the $44.1 million it generated in 2016, and the $63 million it generated in 2018, accordi