Houlihan Lokey Advises Wind Point Partners

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Wind Point Partners (Wind Point), a Chicago-based private equity firm, has acquired Eze Castle Integration (ECI).

Wind Point is an active investor in technology-enabled services businesses, with current investments including Pavion, Envera, and Enviromatic Systems.

Founded in 1995, ECI provides outsourced cybersecurity, cloud, and IT managed services to clients across regulated industries, including financial services, insurance, and manufacturing. With more than 775 employees operating across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, ECI delivers a comprehensive, fully integrated suite of services that allows clients to outsource their technology needs to a single trusted partner.

Wind Point is partnering with ECI’s leadership team, led by CEO Jeff Schmidt, CFO Andy Breton, Chief Innovation Officer Rich Itri, and COO Pete Magyar. Under the team’s leadership, ECI has achieved strong organic growth while investing in next-generation capabilities, including cybersecurity, governance, compliance, and its proprietary managed AI platform, ELLA™. Wind Point and ECI plan to build on this momentum through both organic initiatives and strategic acquisitions, with a focus on expanding services and capabilities in key markets.

Wind Point evaluated ECI alongside a distinguished group of executives, including two members of Wind Point’s Executive Advisor Partner program, Tony Anderson and Joe Mertens, who will join ECI’s board. Mr. Anderson is the former Vice Chair and Midwest Area Managing Partner of Ernst & Young LLP. Mr. Mertens is the former CEO of Sirius Computer Solutions, an IT solutions and managed services provider acquired by CDW in 2021. They will be joined by Kelly Chambliss, former Head of IBM’s Americas Consulting Practice and former COO of IBM Global Consulting, and Bob Pryor, former CEO of NTT Data. Collectively, Wind Point’s advisors bring decades of experience scaling technology and professional services businesses, providing valuable insight as ECI executes its growth strategy across cybersecurity, AI, and international expansion.

Jeff Schmidt, ECI’s CEO, commented, “ECI built its category position over three decades by earning trust in regulated industries with zero room for error. Now AI is resetting who wins next, and we’ve already spent years running ELLA™, our AI platform, in production for clients who can’t afford to experiment.”

Alec Petrie, Vice President at Wind Point, added, “ECI has built a remarkable platform over three decades, combining deep vertical expertise in regulated markets with a comprehensive suite of services that clients depend on for their most critical technology needs.”

Joe Lawler, Managing Director at Wind Point, noted, “ECI is an established leader in its markets and has reached an exciting inflection point in its growth journey. The attractive platform fundamentals and clear M&A roadmap fit squarely within our strategy and align closely with our Vision. Talent. Transformation.℠ approach to building market-leading businesses.”

Houlihan Lokey served as a buyside advisor to Wind Point.

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