Michael Sanchez has a nearly 30-year history of success in IT and financial services in Greater Philadelphia, including the sale of his own 2,000-employee company. That track record makes Sanchez’s return to the region intriguing, and his newest venture one to watch.
Sanchez, who spent the last year running a cycling facility in Washington, D.C., recently founded Savana Partners, a private equity investment firm that will acquire and invest in technology and services businesses in government, regulatory compliance, financial services and healthcare sectors. Because of the down economy, Sanchez’s latest venture is as opportunistic as it is ambitious.
“There’s an opportunity to pick up assets relatively inexpensively and transform them back to market,” says Sanchez. “That could be companies with debt overhang that found themselves in a tough position but otherwise has fantastic technology and marquee clients.”
Savana’s first acquisition took place last month. Sanchez scooped up the assets of Wayne-based software provider Epitome Systems for its market leading business process automation features. As a result, Sanchez is hiring about 30 programmers, analysts, and sales and marketing employees.
Sanchez founded Sanchez Computer Associates in Malvern in 1979, went public in 1997 and was acquired by Fidelity National Financial, the nation’s largest title insurer, for $180 million in 2004. Sanchez took over Fidelity’s Information Services arm and grew it from $5 million to $600 million in four years before leaving for the nation’s capital. Sanchez, a cycling enthusiast, is still involved in Cycle Life, USA, what he describes as an urban country club for cyclists.
The serial entrepreneur, however, is back on the Main Line with his full attention on is current acquisition.
“We’re looking at other things but I’m very focused on Epitome and building it into a success,” says Sanchez.
Source: Michael Sanchez, Savana Partners
Writer: Joe Petrucci
