Atlanta-based BIG Language Solutions announces its acquisition of ISI Language Solutions, a leading provider of customized services in more than 150 languages for the healthcare, insurance, life sciences, and pharmaceutical industries. The deal closed on September 11, 2020.
Over the last 10 years, the global language services industry has doubled in size reaching $49.6 Billion in 2019. Forecasted growth by 2021 is expected to reach $56.2 Billion globally. Jeff Brink, a 25-year language industry veteran, known for his innovation and success in building leading language service providers (LSPs), founded BIG with the purpose of disrupting the highly fragmented industry. By assembling a portfolio of high-performing and complementary LSPs, Brink and his team add significant value to each company by investing heavily in technology to improve the customer experience and provide marketplace differentiation.
“It’s been a year since BIG Language Solutions launched, and we have been extremely busy putting infrastructure in place, expanding our portfolio of companies, and growing into our name,” says Brink. “This second acquisition, ISI, fits well with our regulated industry expansion strategy, and their team is highly regarded within the industries they serve.”ISI was founded in 1982 in Los Angeles, CA and has been at the forefront of language access, ensuring limited English speakers have access to vital government and social services. The company is owned and led by COO Emilie Villeneuve and President Michael Bearden. “Emilie and I have known for some time that our next stage of growth would be fueled by aligning with a strong industry partner with access to new and enhanced technologies and systems,” says Bearden. “Our connection with Jeff and the team at BIG was immediate as we discovered synergies in our business, culture and ethical practices. Joining the BIG family of companies allows us to build a growth-oriented infrastructure with proprietary tools and back-office efficiencies while still delivering the customized, personal service we are known for. ISI is nearly 40 years old, and we have such renewed excitement about our future and what lies ahead for our employees and our customers.” The launch of BIG’s buy-and-build investment strategy began with its acquisition of Miami-based Protranslating in June 2019, a leading LSP founded in 1973 serving global and Fortune 500 companies. “Over the last year since joining BIG, we’ve made significant growth and customer-oriented investments to position the company for the long term,” says Luis R. de la Vega, President of Protranslating. “All the while, we have maintained and built upon the culture that has allowed us to become an integral part of our customers’ global content supply chains. We’re excited to accelerate our growth further and collaborate with the great team at ISI.” Adds Brink: “Our partnership with Protranslating has been very positive and we anticipate the same with ISI as a leader in healthcare with a phenomenal reputation, great leadership, and a very bright future. We are delighted to welcome Michael, Emilie and the entire ISI team to the BIG family of companies.” BIG’s seller-friendly acquisition model has proven successful as the company is currently very active with M&A activity even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Company leadership has developed a large pipeline of LSPs under NDA/consideration and continues to receive strong feedback from sellers on the buy-and-build model, especially in these uncertain times. “Our approach is simply to empower continued success of member companies and add value so they can accelerate their evolution,” concludes Brink. BIG was founded by Brink in partnership with MSouth Equity Partners, a private equity firm with offices in Atlanta and Nashville and substantial resources including $2.2 billion in assets under management. BIG offers LSP owners the opportunity to join its Legacy Advisory Board in addition to an ownership position in BIG, enabling owners the ability to maximize their exit monetization. For more information, visit biglanguage.com. About BIG Language Solutions: BIG Language Solutions is disrupting the language industry by assembling a portfolio of high-performing and complementary language service providers, then adding value and leveraging synergies for the collective benefit of these companies and customers. BIG’s acquisition focus is on successful and profitable LSPs around the globe with motivated owners who want to remain involved and share in the group’s success. Based in Atlanta, BIG is led by language industry veterans with a history of innovation and success and founded in partnership with MSouth Equity Partners. Learn more at biglanguage.com. About ISI Language Solutions: Founded in 1982, ISI Language Solutions is a leading provider of industry-specific language and localization solutions. The company is based in Los Angeles and specializes in providing turnkey linguistic support for organizations in healthcare, insurance, life sciences, and pharmaceutical. ISI has earned certified status for information security by the Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) confirming that ISI meets the industry’s most stringent standards for managing information security risk. Learn more at isilanguagesolutions.com.
