Blackwater/Xe sold to private investors

Private US security firm Xe, formerly known as Blackwater, bought by group of private investors.

NEW YORK: Private US security firm Xe, formerly known as Blackwater International, has been bought by a group of investors, they announced on Friday.

New York-based USTC Holdings said it will acquire Xe and its core operating subsidiaries, but did not disclose the price or terms of the agreement in a statement.

USTC Holdings is an investor consortium led by private equity firms Forte Capital Advisors and Manhattan Partners.

Xe's current owner Erik Prince, will sell his entire stake in the company and "will not be involved in the management or operation of the company," USTC Holdings said.

"The company going forward will be managed by a board appointed by the equity owners which will include independent, unaffiliated directors."

The New York Times reported Friday the sale came after the State Department threatened to stop awarding contracts to the company as long as it was owned by Prince, a former Navy Seal.

The company, once the best known security contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan, has come under pressure since Blackwater guards were accused of killing 17 civilians in Baghdad in 2007.

Prince put the company up for sale in June and moved his family to Abu Dhabi.

The Times said people involved in the negotiations said the sale was worth 200 million dollars, but Prince will receive payments into the future depending on the company's financial performance.

A lead investor is Jason De Yonker of Forte Capital Advisors, who helped Prince develop a business plan after he founded the company in 1997, and negotiated its first training contracts.