Francisco Partners - Blackline Safety

Apollo Purchaser, Inc (Apollo Purchaser), a special purpose vehicle which is ultimately controlled by vehicles comprising funds advised by Francisco Partners Management L.P. (together with its affiliated funds, Francisco Partners), proposes to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares in Blackline Safety Corp. (together with its subsidiaries, Blackline Safety) from its current shareholders by way of a statutory plan of arrangement under the provisions of the Business Corporations Act (Alberta) (the Acquisition). The shareholders of Blackline Safety, other than certain Rollover Shareholders (as defined and described below), will receive cash as consideration (as an upfront payment on closing and by way of a potential future contingent payment) for the Acquisition.

Francisco Partners is a global investment firm specialising in technology and technology-enabled businesses, headquartered in San Francisco, United States with offices in New York and London.

Blackline Safety is a public company registered in Canada, headquartered in Calgary and listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE: BLN). Blackline Safety specialises in designing and manufacturing hardware enabled Software-as-a-Service products for worker safety monitoring. Its products include wearable devices, personal and area gas monitors and cloud-based data analytics software. Through deploying Blackline Safety’s products, employers can monitor and communicate with lone workers and detect possible leakage of gas or other hazardous materials that may pose a threat to workers. The accompanying software streams data from devices in the field and enables employers to manage emergencies.

Blackline Safety has a worldwide presence with customers in more than 75 countries, including Australia. Blackline Safety has an Australian subsidiary, Blackline Safety Australia Pty Ltd.

Apollo Purchaser will obtain sole control of Blackline Safety by way of the Acquisition and Blackline Safety will transition to a private company. A number of Blackline Safety’s existing shareholders, namely DAK Capital Inc. (DAK), the Lowy Family Group, Cody Slater (the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Blackline Safety) and Brad Gilewich (President of DAK and a nominee director of Blackline Safety), and certain affiliates (together, the Rollover Shareholders) will each retain minority interests in Blackline Safety by way of a rollover arrangement.