MeridianLink, one of OC’s best-known software companies, has returned to private ownership in a $2 billion deal.
The firm develops software for small banks, credit unions and consumer reporting agencies. It was co-founded by Tim Nguyen, a Vietnamese refugee who graduated from UCI and became a prominent Californian entrepreneur.
New York-based investment firm Centerbridge Partners said Oct. 24 that it had completed the acquisition of MeridianLink, which it announced earlier this year.
MeridianLink shareholders are receiving $20 in cash for each share of common stock they own.
With the completion of the transaction, MeridianLink common stock ceased trading, and the company will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.
The transaction includes a minority investment from Silversmith Capital Partners to further growth and innovation.
MeridianLink, formerly trading on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol MLNK, was the seventh-largest software company in OC on this year’s Business Journal list, with an estimated 270 local employees.
Harnessing AI Power
MeridianLink Chief Executive and President Larry Katz said in a statement that the company will work with Centerbridge and Silversmith to accelerate automation, harness the power of AI and data, and improve customer experiences.
Centerbridge Partners was founded in 2005 and, as of June 30, had approximately $43 billion in assets under management.
Founded in 2015, Silversmith Capital Partners is a Boston-based growth equity firm with over $5 billion in capital under management.
MeridianLink, founded in 1998, said its leading digital lending platform served nearly 2,000 community financial institutions and reporting agencies as of August.
The acquisition was announced in August amid slowing sales for the company.
While sales jumped about 75% from 2019 to 2021, they slowed in recent years, from 7.6% growth in 2022 to 4.2% in 2024. Analysts previously predicted that MeridianLink’s sales would grow 4.1% this year to $329.2 million, followed by a 5.9% increase in 2026.
Fleeing the Communists
Co-founder Nguyen’s family fled from the Communist regime in the early 1980s. They lived in a refugee camp for six years before eventually landing in Huntington Beach where his great-aunt sponsored his family.
After he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in information and computer science from the University of California, Irvine in 1998, he co-founded MeridanLink.
Nguyen has served in various roles as the company’s CEO, president and chief strategy officer.
He also received a 2021 Innovator of the Year Award from the Business Journal.
MeridianLink went public in 2021 after raising an upsized $260 million initial public offering.
