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Together, avVenta training specialists and representatives of the Costa Rica Educational Department hold and administer all courses in Flash Design and other emerging technologies in avVenta University-one of the three avVenta, San Jose facilities.
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TZP Acquires Minority Stake In avVenta For $20M
Dow Jones LBO Wire by BEINA XU (January 15, 2009)
TZP Group LLC Managing Partner Sam Katz was in a car struggling to
get cell phone reception in Costa Rica when he spoke to LBO Wire.
It wasn't vacation — far from it. He was near the production site of his firm's newest investment, avVenta Worldwide. After looking at 150 deals last year, TZP chose this one, taking a significant minority stake in the digital marketing company for $20 million in cash.
TZP now owns between 30% and 50% of the company, which outsources digital marketing for companies like Yahoo Inc., Oreo, Blackberry, Dell Inc., Apple Inc. and Capri Sun. Katz said the company programs things like the car ads on Yahoo or 3–dimensional views of trucks on General Motor Corp.'s Web site. It can save companies 50% to 70% on the cost of in–house advertising, he said.
"Because of proliferation of new technology like flash and animation, everyone wants to differentiate their products, and it's hard to find specialization for that," Katz said. "The typical agency just can't do it."
Charleston, S.C.–based avVenta had about $20 million in revenue last year, and is doubling each year, according to Katz. The company has around 550 employees. Its digital production studios are located in San Jose, Costa Rica. It hopes to expand into Asia.
Katz touted the strengths of Costa Rica as a place to do business, saying it has a "phenomenal" education system. The company works closely with the government to train students for very specialized programming processes, and plans to hire around 300 to 500 new employees this year, adding around 20 per month.
Along with senior principal Dan Galpern and avVenta President Jay Noce, Katz was there for charity purposes, using the digital programming skills of avVenta employees to create Web sites that better facilitate online donations for the recent earthquake relief.
Founded in 2007, TZP Group is led by Katz – a former associate and vice president at The Blackstone Group – and has a total of nine professionals.
The firm makes control investments in business and consumer services companies with enterprise values of $50 million to $250 million, specifically targeting companies doing travel content and distribution, real estate services, consumer and commercial finance, direct and loyalty marketing, vehicle and equipment services, consumer healthcare, and media content and distribution.
New York City–based TZP is working from a committed fund, details of which Katz declined to discuss. The firm is still fund–raising, he said.
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