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Viewpoint Construction Software's corporate offices in Southeast Portland.

(Viewpoint image)

Massachusetts private equity firm Bain Capital has taken a mammoth $230 million stake in Portland-based

, the biggest investment in a privately held Oregon tech company since 2007.

The deal, announced Tuesday morning, cashes out two prior investors and, Viewpoint said, gives the Southeast Portland company the resources to buy other businesses, hire more employees and expand overseas.

“This will give us significantly more scale as a business as we continue to grow,” said Viewpoint chief executive Jay Haladay.

It’s yet another signal of Portland’s rapidly maturing tech community. The city’s cluster of small companies with big aspirations are transitioning into large businesses, and in the process attracting suitors from around the globe. Last winter, for example, Portland online banking startup Simple sold to the Spanish bank BBVA for $117 million, which plans to continue operating it as a Portland-based company.

Viewpoint declined to disclose terms of the investment, the value it gives the Portland company, or even say whether Bain will own a majority stake. Bain will hold three seats on Viewpoint’s board, but Haladay said his family continues to control “a big chunk” of the business.

Viewpoint had raised the possibility of pursuing an initial public stock offering as soon as this year – potentially the first Oregon tech IPO in a decade. Bain's investment takes that off the table for the time being, but Haladay said an IPO has never been at the top of his to-do list.

Viewpoint Construction Software

Business

: Project management and operational support software for contractors.

Founded

: The business dates to 1976; current management has been running it since 1990. (It used to go by the name Coaxis.)

Revenues

: Undisclosed, but Viewpoint forecasts $140 million in revenue this year.

Ownership

: Privately held. Bain now holds a large stake, and the family of Viewpoint CEO Jay Haladay retains a "big chunk" of the business.

Employees

: 700, including more than 300 at its Portland headquarters.

“I’m not in that contest because I want to do what is right for our business,” he said.

Viewpoint’s software helps construction companies manage large projects, and their own businesses. It has a relatively low profile in Portland’s tech community, at least relative to its size, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to overlook.

Viewpoint has more than 300 employees at its headquarters, at the east end of the Hawthorne Bridge, and another 400 in offices around the globe. Fueled by prior investments and a series of small acquisitions, the company’s revenue has ballooned from around $19 million in 2009 to a forecast of $140 million this year.

Bain is among the world’s best-known investment firms, in part because its co-founders included 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. The firm boasts $75 billion in assets and a portfolio that includes Burlington Coat Factory, Clear Channel Communications, Gymboree, The Weather Channel’s parent company, Toys ‘R Us and a host of other well-known businesses.

Various media reported last week that Bain has just raised $7.3 billion for a new buyout fund.

Bain's investment acquires the interest of two prior Viewpoint backers, Updata Partners and TA Associates, the latter of which put $76 million into the Portland company less than two years ago. Haladay said the prior investors had been good partners for Viewpoint, but that it made sense to have a single big investor with the resources to fund continued growth.

“They’re willing to make the investments out of their much larger investable pool of assets as we grow,” Haladay said.

Viewpoint plans to expand late this year into a second office, across the street from its headquarters

And while an IPO isn’t in Viewpoint’s immediate plans, Haladay said the scrutiny Bain gave his business – and the oversight it will now provide, will prepare it for that possibility somewhere down the road.

“I think it’s a good precursor of going through those steps of making your business model more reliable, more consistent,” he said. “That makes us a much better candidate to be a successful public business, as opposed to a company that lives and dies by the quarterly results.”

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