Financiers behind NSO Group in struggle for control of private equity firm

Rift at Novalpina Capital, whose fund owns surveillance equipment firm, has been largely concealed from public view

The company had been the focus of scrutiny for years – a seller of controversial surveillance equipment coveted by governments across the world. So when three financiers behind a private equity fund led the acquisition of NSO Group in 2019, they promised to do “whatever is necessary” to ensure the company’s technology would not be used to abuse human rights.

The trio pledged that their London-based firm, Novalpina Capital, would establish “a new model for public transparency”, an ambition they described as “wholly without precedent within the cybersecurity industry”.