Guardian Capital Partners has sold Direct Line to CBRE Group, Inc.

Direct Line

Direct Line, based in Fremont, CA, is a leading technology services provider enabling mission-critical data center infrastructure for the world’s technology leaders. Direct Line’s 1,000+ skilled technicians deliver over 1,000 projects annually across data center markets in the U.S. and Asia Pacific. The Company has proven success in the deployment of next-generation infrastructure technologies across the data center lifecycle – from design & plan and install & build through Day 2 maintenance and technology upgrades & retrofits, including delivering the latest wave of AI/ML platforms. For more information, please visit https://dl-global.com/.

The Deal

After Guardian’s investment in 2018, the Company strategically invested to scale the platform. This included enhancing operations and delivery; adding data center services offerings; expanding geographic reach; and forging long-term partnerships with blue-chip clients. Today, Direct Line’s world-class platform and technical capabilities differentiate the Company in serving the world’s largest technology companies across the hyperscale, co-location and enterprise segments. Positioned at the forefront of the growing global digitization trend, the Company is poised to capitalize on the $30 billion data center support services market, which is projected to grow 16% annually through 2028.

Our Perspective

Saurin Mehta, Managing Director and Co-Head of Lincoln’s Business Services Group, commented, “We continue to see heightened demand for companies providing highly technical, mission-critical services into the high growth data center market. Direct Line’s scale, technical expertise and strong client relationships differentiate the Company and helped drive an exceptional outcome for the shareholders and leadership team. We are confident that Direct Line will continue flourishing under CBRE. Further, we expect to see strong ongoing investment into the data center sector from both strategic and financial investors. The industry’s long-term tailwinds will support double-digit growth for the foreseeable future.”

Guardian Capital Partners

Guardian Capital Partners is an operationally focused private equity firm based in suburban Philadelphia. Guardian makes control investments in lower middle market consumer, niche manufacturing, and specialty business services companies. Guardian partners with management teams to provide equity capital to fuel the growth of privately held businesses. We believe the private equity experience and complementary skill sets of the Guardian team provide a unique combination of operating and finance capabilities resulting in certainty of execution and meaningful long-term value creation for its portfolio companies. For more information, please visit www.guardiancp.com.

CBRE Group, Inc.

CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBRE), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Dallas, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2023 revenue). The company has more than 130,000 employees (including Turner & Townsend employees) serving clients in more than 100 countries. CBRE serves a diverse range of clients with an integrated suite of services, including facilities, transaction and project management; property management; investment management; appraisal and valuation; property leasing; strategic consulting; property sales; mortgage services and development services. For more information, please visit www.cbre.com.

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