RE:RE:RE:QTRH could go to...........mrmoruibund, word on the street is that QTRH had the opportunity to buy ETC at the time that Align did, but the timing was not right.
So after about a year of Align funding ETC, QTRH circled back and ETC now came with the Longmeadows Bridge (6+2+2 years) and Ohio River Bridge (10+3+3 years) contracts (est. ~$125M USD, not including the option years or add-ons during the contract term), a stronger management team and more fully developed technology.
Good for Align. Good for QTRH, in light of acquiring a more developed and staffed business and, as you note, in light of the TransCore acquisition by ST Engineering at 20x EBITDA. Align's press release, at the time of QTRH's acquisition, is on point:
"ETC management, alongside ACP, executed upon several strategic objectives far earlier than originally planned, which resulted in strong momentum early in ACP’s hold. “During our partnership, ACP helped the Company add key management talent including a strong COO and CTO, streamlined ETC’s technology roadmap and improved the Company’s operating leverage and scalability. Accomplishing these objectives early on led to a number of key customer wins,” said Langley. “ACP’s investment came at a time of increased focus on U.S. infrastructure requirements, and we believe ETC is well positioned to build upon its strong historical growth with Quarterhill given the combined companies offer increased scale and synergistic technology solutions."
"The investment from ACP last year was a critical next step in the growth journey for ETC,” said ETC CEO Bret Kidd.
(https://aligncp.com/news/align-capital-partners-exits-tolling-technology-company-etc/)
As homework says, the risk is market risk.