CLEARLAKE TO ACQUIRE QUALUS, A PURE-PLAY POWER & ELECTRIC GRID SERVICES PLATFORM, FROM NEW MOUNTAIN CAPITAL

Investment to drive grid modernization and enhanced resiliency to meet growing power demand

SANTA MONICA, Calif. and LAKE MARY, Fla., March 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. (together with certain of its affiliates, "Clearlake") today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Qualus Corporation ("Qualus" or the "Company") from New Mountain Capital ("New Mountain Capital"). Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Qualus is a pure-play power solutions firm at the forefront of the nation's grid infrastructure transformation. The Company provides integrated front-end advisory and planning, engineering, digital solutions, program management, energy efficiency, and specialized field services supporting grid resiliency, security, and sustainability. Qualus addresses the technical complexity of the power network and surging load requirements created by the electrification of the economy – serving a diverse, blue-chip customer base of the nation's largest investor-owned utilities as well as commercial and industrial organizations.

"Today marks an exciting milestone in Qualus' journey," said Greg Herasymuik, Chief Executive Officer of the Company. "Qualus has established itself as a premier power solutions platform, providing specialized advisory, engineering, and field services to the power grid. The partnership with Clearlake brings strategic backing to further scale our capabilities and support our clients as they navigate increasingly complex operational requirements. We remain focused on our mission to ensure the long-term integrity and performance of the nation's critical power infrastructure."

"We are excited to partner with Greg and the Qualus team to address the nation's aging power infrastructure," said José E. Feliciano, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Clearlake, and Arta Tabaee, Partner and Managing Director at Clearlake. "The power sector is entering a sustained period of critical investment, and we anticipate demand will only intensify over the coming decades. Qualus is uniquely positioned as a differentiated provider anchored by deep engineering expertise, and we are committed to accelerating the Company's growth and supporting investment in its specialized capabilities." Naveen Shahani, Principal at Clearlake, added, "We see Qualus at the center of an industry facing a widening gap between grid demand and technical capacity. By leveraging Clearlake's O.P.S.® capabilities, the Company will be better equipped to serve the nation's largest utility and commercial clients."

Joe Walker and Lars Johansson, Managing Directors at New Mountain, added, "We are proud to have supported Qualus over the last five years during a transformative period of significant growth. We thank Greg and the Qualus leadership team for our partnership together, and we are confident in the Company's future success."

AEC Advisors served as lead financial advisor, with Harris Williams serving as co-financial advisor. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz served as legal counsel to Qualus and Clearlake, respectively. Apollo, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, and Clearlake acted as joint lead arrangers on the financing.

ABOUT QUALUS

Qualus is a pure-play power solutions firm at the forefront of power infrastructure transformation, with differentiated capabilities across grid modernization, resiliency, security, and sustainability. The firm partners with utilities, commercial, industrial, data center, and renewable and energy storage developers, offering comprehensive solutions through boutique and integrated advisory, planning, engineering, digital solutions, program management, energy efficiency and specialized field services. Qualus also provides software and technology enabled services and develops breakthrough solutions for critical power industry challenges such as distributed and variable resource integration, emergency management, and secure data exchange. For more information, please visit qualuscorp.com.

ABOUT CLEARLAKE

Clearlake is a leading global alternative asset manager founded in 2006 with over $185 billion of assets under management. Clearlake offers a broad range of investment solutions across private equity, credit, infrastructure, secondaries, co-investments, and other related private market strategies. Through Pathway Capital Management¹, a Clearlake company, the firm serves institutional and wealth investors seeking diversified access to private markets.

Clearlake seeks to partner with experienced management teams by providing patient, long-term capital to businesses across multiple sectors. The firm aims to drive value through its active, hands-on operating approach, O.P.S.® (Operations, People, Strategy), which combines deep operational expertise with strategic and talent-focused initiatives. Headquartered in Santa Monica, Clearlake maintains 13 offices across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. For more information, please visit clearlake.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

¹The foregoing information includes Clearlake's pending acquisition of Pathway Capital Management, which is expected to close in Q2 2026, subject to the receipt of required regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

ABOUT NEW MOUNTAIN CAPITAL

New Mountain Capital is a New York-based investment firm that emphasizes business building and growth, rather than excessive risk, as it pursues long-term capital appreciation. The firm currently manages private equity, strategic equity, credit, and net lease real estate funds with approximately $60 billion in assets under management. New Mountain seeks out what it believes to be the highest quality growth leaders in carefully selected industry sectors and then works intensively with management to build the value of these companies.  For more information, please visit newmountaincapital.com.

Media Contacts:

SOURCE Clearlake Capital Group; New Mountain Capital