A Corporate and Private Equity team advised Spire Capital Partners in its partnership with Grant Evans and the founders of Telekenex, Inc., a provider of Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and hosted communications, security and managed network/IT solutions for small and medium-sized business and enterprise customers. This is the private equity firm’s second investment in Spire III, its newly-launched third fund. The transaction follows on the heels of Spire’s acquisition of Surgent Tax & Accounting Education, a deal on which Dentons also advised.

As part of the deal, Grant Evans, Spire Capital’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence, will join Telekenex as CEO to run the company in partnership with its founders, Brandon Chaney and Anthony Zabit. Since 1994,  San Francisco-based Telekenex has provided IT solutions to a variety of sectors including retail, financial services, technology, and healthcare, among others.  Telekenex's services are offered in a bundled, hosted solution or a la carte, and include hosted VoIP, fiber and wireless data access, wireless device management, firewall, secure VPN, content filtering, antivirus and PCI compliant network services.

New York Private Equity head Paul Gajer led the Dentons team, which included Corporate senior managing associate Kate Buckley and associate Wayne Uffleman. Also providing assistance were Washington, DC Technology partner Todd Daubert on telecommunication regulatory matters, Employment and Labor partner Mike Maryn on ERISA and benefits issues, New York Tax partner Alvin Goldman and New York and Short Hills Intellectual Property and Technology partner Joel Bock.

Spire Capital specializes in business services, information services, education, media and communications sector investments. It is distinguished by its mutual relationships with management teams, working hand-in-hand to navigate operational and strategic goals.