Marlin & Associates | Boutique Investment Bank, Technology Investment Bank, Healthcare Market Analysis, Technology Consulting Advisor, Financial Technology

Marlin & Associates identified Triple Point as a potential opportunity, helped WCAS conduct a thorough review of TPT’s business and financial results and worked with WCAS to conduct negotiations - seeking and finding resolution for deal-related issues.  Ultimately, M&A helped WCAS acquire majority control of TPT acting acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to WCAS for one of the energy and commodities technology sector industry's largest and most significant transactions.  It is the fourth significant transaction in the energy and commodities technology sector on which M&A has advised.

Private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (“WCAS”) is one of the largest and most successful private equity investment firms in the United States.  Since its founding in 1979, WCAS has organized 15 limited partnerships with total capital of $20 billion, which it has invested into more than 150 companies.  The firm focuses its investment activity exclusively in information/business services and healthcare – seeking to buy growth businesses, partner with outstanding management teams and build value for investors through a combination of operational improvements, internal growth initiatives and strategic acquisitions. In mid-2011, Marlin & Associates (“M&A”) met with members of the WCAS senior management to discuss potential investment opportunities.  At that time M&A highlighted several potentially interesting opportunities including Triple Point Technology, Inc. (“TPT”, “Triple Point” or the “Company”).  Founded in 1993, Triple Point Technology, based in Westport, Connecticut, is a provider of software to manage commodities and enterprise risk.  The Company’s over 600 employees serve clients in Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, North America and South America from its development and support centers in Westport, Houston, Miami, Singapore, London, Pune and Chennai.  M&A was familiar with the Company, having advised TPT on its recapitalization by ABRY partners in 2006 and having maintained close ties to both TPT and ABRY over the intervening years.  Founded in 1989, ABRY Partners is one of the most experienced and successful media, communications, business and information services-focused private-equity investment firms in North America.

Marlin & Associates managed the process, assisted in the negotiations and acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Atrium Network.

Atrium Network (“Atrium” or the “Company”) is venture-backed company that offers a very high speed, low-latency, reliable, venue-neutral, infrastructure to connect its clients, primarily financial institutions, with approximately 24 exchanges, clearing houses, settlement depositories and other technology suppliers and trading venues in Europe and North America – including NYSE Euronext, Nasdaq OMX, CME Group and Chi-X Europe – and 300 sources of data in more than 11 countries.  The Company, domiciled in Luxembourg with most of its staff in London, and New York was founded July 2006 by two French men in an effort to create a better high-speed market infrastructure than the one they had helped to develop when both were employed by BT Radianz.  The solution they envisioned and built includes the telecommunications network and data feed handlers as well as associated required services such as co-location hosting and performance monitoring systems.  By early 2010, Atrium had more than 150 clients including banks hedge funds, high-frequency traders and other institutional investors on its own Financial Community Extranet that had points-of-presence in 19 locations across three continents.

Marlin & Associates assisted in the due diligence reviews, coordinated negotiations (seeking and finding resolution for deal-related issues) and acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to NYSE Euronext.

In late 2010, NYSE Technologies (“NYXT”), a division of NYSE Euronext, working together with Marlin & Associates, identified Metabit (the “Company”) as a highly strategic prospective acquisition candidate that could accelerate NYXT’s expansion into Asia, specifically Japan, and further NYXT’s goal of becoming the leading technology provider to financial services firms that operate in and trade into the Asia-Pacific region.  Metabit is a Tokyo based company that provides order-routing connectivity for buy-side and sell-side firms throughout Japan and Asia.  The Company offers a suite of ultra-low latency exchange connectivity to 14 liquidity venues in Asia, support for equities, futures & options, and contracts for difference products.  They also provide an execution system to enable buy side electronic trading.

Marlin & Associates managed the process, assisted in the negotiations and acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Photolibrary Group.

The Photolibrary Group was founded in 1967 in Sydney, Australia.  Over 40 years, the company had become a global player in the stock photography industry, establishing offices in fourteen countries on four continents.  As the evolution of digital photography and internet distribution caused considerable disruption to the stock photography industry, Photolibrary outlasted many of the traditional stock photography companies and remained a formidable independent player.  While the company had held some discussions with other industry players over time, the shareholders had different opinions as to the value of the business. Upon receipt of significant interest from a leading industry player and major competitor, Photolibrary’s board of directors engaged M&A to run a process to identify and evaluate potential buyers while progressing the discussion with the existing suitor.  Ultimately the shareholders agreed to sell the business to the largest industry player, Getty Images. 

Marlin & Associates managed the process and acted as the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Navinet in its acquisition of Prematics.

NaviNet, America’s largest real-time healthcare communications network, securely links leading health plans, industry partners and the government to hundreds of thousands of physicians, clinicians and other healthcare professionals. More than 70 percent of the nation’s physicians are enrolled in the NaviNet Network, which touches 121 million covered lives. NaviNet’s solutions and services for unified patient information management (UPIM) address the full lifecycle of healthcare data management by providing single-source access to patient-centric administrative, financial and clinical information to reduce costs, increase efficiencies and improve quality of care. They engaged M&A as the Company’s exclusive strategic and financial advisor.

Marlin & Associates managed the process, assisted in the negotiations and acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to iSuppli.

§iSuppli Corporation, the California-based global leader in technology value-chain research and advisory services  approached Marlin & Associates with a challenge.  Six months earlier, they had agreed to acquire Screen Digest, a London UK-based firm that operated in an analogous field. The deal was subject to a financing contingency, and iSuppli had been trying to raise the required capital - $20 million - on its own – in a tough environment.  iSuppli’s existing shareholders, including Goldman Sachs’ Hudson Street group and two other financial sponsors were constrained.  Goldman wasn’t making follow-on investments; and the other two firms were at end-of-life and prohibited from making additional investments.  Time was running short – iSuppli had four months to raise the capital and complete the acquisition or it was likely to lose the opportunity.  M&A rapidly put together a team of seasoned bankers and worked with the company to prepare a detailed Confidential Information Memorandum that described both iSuppli and Screen Digest; the potential for each to grow substantially on their own; and the synergies between them.  Then Marlin approached a select group of financial sponsors and strategic firms. Management meetings were held and bids solicited. With 90 days to go, several financial sponsors expressed interest in supporting iSuppli and its Screen Digest transaction at valuations and terms that were acceptable to the iSuppli board.  In addition, two strategic firms indicated interest in acquiring 100% of iSuppli together with Screen Digest, at values significantly higher than those indicated by the financial sponsors.  However, these values were still less than the value that some iSuppli board members had determined would be required for a complete exit. Some board members didn't want to sell at all (now). Further, Management was optimistic about the future and - as the holders of considerable amount of stock options – leaned towards working with a financial sponsor for a few more years before exiting.

Marlin & Associates managed the process under intense time pressure.  M&A provided guidance on developing options, weighing them and executing; M&A assisted in the due diligence reviews; coordinated negotiations - seeking and finding resolution for deal-related issues; and acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Qatar Insurance Services.

Qatar Insurance Services LLC (“QIS”) is a sovereign firm, based in Doha, wholly owned by the Qatar Financial Centre Authority, and owner/operator of Qatarlyst S.P.C., an innovative web-based, insurance and reinsurance trade fulfillment system that allows brokers, insurers, and reinsurers to conduct business through web-based portals rather than traditional paper-based methods.  Launched in 2009, over 40 insurance firms in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, and the UAE have been approved to use the Qatarlyst service. In early summer of 2010, QIS found itself at a strategic juncture.  One of the Company’s long time technology partners had approached them with an opportunity to invest or acquire the firm, but that opportunity had a limited time window.  At the same time, RI3K, a London-based pioneer and innovator of technology that supports paperless transactions for the commercial reinsurance industry, was rumored to available – as a result of a bogged down acquisition negotiation.  That opportunity also had a limited window of availability.  In evaluating these opportunities, QIS not only had to analyze the opportunities (and risks) associated with both potential acquisitions in isolation, they also had to assess how the acquisition of either firm could affect relationships with the Company’s existing technology providers; anticipate the likely impact of either deal on customers, prospects, suppliers and employees; and, most importantly,understand the relationship between these opportunities and QIS’s principal mission of supporting Qatar’s stated desire to become the region’s leading insurance and reinsurance centre. On the recommendation of a QIS board member, QIS management approached Marlin & Associates (“M&A”) with a request for strategic and financial advisory services.  They valued M&A’s industry expertise as well as their cross-border transaction experience.  They wanted M&A’s unbiased professional guidance on developing their options, weighing them, and executing.

Marlin & Associates managed the process, assisted in the negotiations and acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to SMARTS Group. 

SMARTS Group, a fast growing, privately owned company based in Sydney, Australia, is a global leader in providing market surveillance technology for stock, bond, commodity and derivatives exchanges; national regulators; and securities brokerage firms around the world. The company’s products allow exchanges, regulators, brokers and others to detect patterns that may suggest insider trading and other forms of market manipulation.  Their proprietary technology allows these users to collect massive amounts of trading-related data from disparate sources, and analyze that data in real time using sophisticated data mining and data visualization tools.  At the time of the transaction, twenty-two of the world’s securities exchanges; seven of the world’s most sophisticated regulators; and nearly fifty of the world’s leading securities brokerage firms (“brokers”) relied on SMARTS’ technology to insure the orderly conduct of securities markets. Over the years, SMARTS had been approached by a number of parties interested in some form of a combination or investment - venture capital and private equity players, bankers and industry participants all had indicated interest.   Finally, the SMARTS Board concluded that they were open to a number of strategic options ranging from an IPO to a minority investment to a sale of the entire firm, if the value was above a significant threshold.  That is when they asked M&A to help them identify and evaluate these various strategic options. 

Marlin & Associates was exclusive financial and strategic advisor to SWIFT.  M&A helped SWIFT conduct a thorough review of AMH’s business and financial results and worked with SWIFT to assess AMH’s strategic fit.  Ultimately, M&A helped SWIFT acquire 100% of AMH’s assets.

On October 15, 2010, SWIFT completed its acquisition of the Ambit Messaging Hub business from SunGard and created a wholly owned SWIFT subsidiary, Arkelis N.V.  This new SWIFT subsidiary will be managed from within, but be separate from the rest of SWIFT  The management and staff of AMH were transferred from SunGard to Arkelis, which will be led by Hans Cobben, CEO, who joined Arkelis from SunGard as part of the transaction.  Arkelis is based in Mechelen, Belgium, with offices in Frankfurt and Zurich.  The unit’s focus is to provide a leading-edge, single integration platform primarily for high-volume messaging customers in the financial services industry.  The AMH solution will be marketed by SWIFT as AMH (“Advanced Messaging Hub”).

Marlin & Associates initiated the transaction, managed the process, assisted in the negotiations and acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Avox as well as to its majority shareholder, Deutsche Börse.

Deutsche Börse AG (“DB”), long known as Germany’s largest and most important stock exchange, has evolved over time to become one of the world’s preeminent providers of a wide range of transaction-related services.  Today, Deutsche Börse counts itself among the major index providers in the world as well a leader with respect to as a wide range of other services that cover the entire securities and derivatives trading process chain, including transaction settlement, the provision of market information, and the development and operation of electronic trading systems. Between 2005 and 2007, Deutsche Börse acquired a 77% stake in privately-held Avox Ltd. (“Avox” or the “Company”), a Wales (United Kingdom) based firm that is a market leader in cleansing and maintaining high-quality reference information on legal entities and counterparties.  This data is needed by financial services firms globally to support a variety of operational, risk management and regulatory compliance activities, including ‘Know Your Customer’ (“KYC”) and Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) reporting. With the backing of Deutsche Börse and under the guidance of Ken Price, one of Avox’s founders, Avox grew to more than 100 employees and was serving more than 20 blue-chip financial institutions around the globe, including; Citi, Barclays, Nomura International, Standard Bank, Allianz, Eurex, SWIFT, Mitsubishi UFJ and Royal Bank of Canada. In recognition of its achievements, Inside Reference Data named Avox 'Best Counterparty Data Provider of the Year’ in 2009 and 2010. In late 2009, after a comprehensive strategic review, Deutsche Börse determined that the strategic fit originally envisioned with Avox was not as strong as initially positioned.  Having observed M&A advise several similar companies, and aware of the needs of Avox’s founders who continued to own a significant minority position in Avox, Deutsche Börse asked Marlin & Associates ("M&A") to work with the Company, its founders, and Deutsche Börse to advise them as they explored options to divest DB’s interest in the Company. 

Marlin & Associates initiated the transaction, managed the process, assisted in the negotiations and acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to the sellers.

Strategic Analytics is a risk analytics software company that targeted large banks and consumer finance institutions with portfolios of retail loans (auto, credit card, mortgage, home equity, personal loans, etc.). The Company’s software enables clients to produce loan portfolio analysis for risk management; and accurate forecasts of loan portfolio performance for portfolio rebalancing; as well as a wide range of management reports including “what if” stress testing results. Two of Strategic Analytics founders, Joe Breeden and Anthony Giancola, had both worked for the Los Alamos-based Center for Adaptive Systems Applications (CASA) – a spin off from Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Santa Fe Institute, focused on applied machine learning, adaptive computation, and other data mining techniques for the prediction of customer behavior.   The third founder - David Franklin, who had relocated to Santa Fe from Greenwich, CT, had been a principal in a firm that performed industry market share surveys and analyzed compensations. Together, they started Strategic Analytics to provide leading-edge risk management and analytical software solutions. Nine months after they came together, the Company filed for patents on its proprietary Dual-time Dynamics technology, and signed its first customer, Discover Card.  Nine years later the Company’s software was being used to analyze more than $2 trillion in retail assets and the founders were ready to join another larger firm with the resources to help them take the firm to the next level.

Marlin & Associates was pleased to have initiated this transaction, helped manage the process, assisted in the negotiations and acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to LIM.

In the 1980s, when Tony Kolton was a young accountant at Northwest Industries, he met and befriended a young PhD computer whiz named Shamim Naqvi. Over the years they kept in touch. Tony obtained a master’s degree in tax and a law degree, but diverted his career to trade options on the floor of the Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE). Shamim Naqvi moved on to Bell Labs, which, for a time, allowed him to work at Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (“MCC”) the first, and - at one time - one of the largest, computer industry research and development consortia in the United States. Under the leadership of Admiral Bobby Inman, whose previous positions had been Director of the National Security agency and Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. MCC was an American answer to Japan's Fifth Generation Project, a large Japanese research project aimed at producing a new kind of computer by 1991. MCC was part of the Artificial Intelligence boom of the 1980s. In 1987, Tony Kolton recognized an inflection point in the stock markets and sold his positions before the markets crashed. He was searching for next. At about that time, his friend Shamin Naqvi told him of amazing advances in artificial intelligence that he was working on. In 1989, with MCC winding down, Tony and Shamin teamed with Jan Lukens, then a senior marketing manager at Coca-Cola, to form Logical Information Machines (“LIM”). In short order they added expertise from three other MCC alumnae: Ravi Krishnamurthy, PhD, who had helped design DB2 in 1980 at IBM’s Tom Watson Research Center; Dr. Ruben Gamboa, PhD and; Danette Chimenti. Together the team created a proprietary time-series database technology that they called “Historis”; and a desk top application they called the “Market Information Machine” (“MIM”) that makes use of “Proloq” a near-English query language developed by Shamim Naqvi and helps clients make sense of the mountains of information contained in the data base. Over the next few years, LIM evolved from a software company to become a leading provider of data and analytics for some of the world's largest asset managers, banks, oil companies, power and natural gas trading firms, utilities, and agriculture and commodities trading firms. The company collects, unifies, and conducts quality assurance on data from more than 180 providers in the energy, financial, and agriculture sectors and provides clients with one central source for data intelligence and analysis. Clients also have the flexibility to use LIM's tools for analyzing their own proprietary data, which they may have been collecting for years. Traders and risk managers relied on LIM as their information hub. The Company employed people in Austin, Houston, Chicago, New York, and London.

Marlin & Associates initiated the transaction, managed the process, assisted in the negotiations and acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to NYSE Euronext (NYSE:NYX).

In 2005 and 2006 Euronext N.V., the pan-European exchange, acquired the three leading European based providers of services for the European Investor Relations (IR) community: Hugin AS, the Norwegian provider of web-based news distribution services, which Euronext acquired in late 2006; CompanyNews, the French news distributor acquired in early 2006; and Directnews, the German distribution company acquired by Hugin AS in 2005. The three firms were merged and took the name “Hugin Group,” with headquarters in Oslo, Norway and Paris, France. Hugin became Europe’s leading distributor of financial, regulatory, and other business news. Competing with distributors like PR Newswire and Business Wire, the Company offered European IR and PR professionals a secure, web-based Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) system that allows these professionals to connect directly (as well as via news wires and news media) to thousands of journalists, analysts, institutional investors, and other stakeholders. By 2009, Hugin Group was serving about 1,700 clients across 26 countries.

Marlin & Associates managed the process, assisted in the negotiations and acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Vhayu's management and investors, which included Menlo Ventures, Garage Technology Ventures, and Silicon Valley Bank.

Vhayu was founded in 1998 by Intel technologists who together brought more than twenty years of experience designing and developing high performance hardware and software solutions. The Company grew to become a leading provider of lightning-fast results to capture and analyze live-streaming and historical data. To accelerate growth, Vhayu received two rounds of funding from Menlo Ventures, Garage Technology Ventures, Deutsche Bank’s Investment Arm, and Silicon Valley Bank. By the beginning of 2009, eight of the top ten global financial institutions relied on Vhayu’s Velocity solutions for mission critical operations. Thomson Reuters had emerged as a valued distribution partner responsible for nearly half of the company’s revenue and Vhayu’s velocity had become an increasingly important part of Thomson Reuter’s internal infrastructure.

Marlin & Associates New York LLC managed the process, assisted in the negotiations, and acted as the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Standard & Poor’s in the sale of Vista Research.

Standard & Poor’s (“S&P”), a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE:MHP), is a leading global provider of credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, and investment research. Vista Research is one of the world’s premier expert networks – a research service for institutional investors, consultants, and corporations that allows them to connect with industry experts. When S&P acquired Vista, the theory was that the Vista business, which targeted US and European hedge funds and asset managers, would be a complement to S&P’s other, more analytical equity-research-related products, which targeted many of the same clients. Three years later, a strategic review by new S&P management concluded that the synergies between Vista and S&P were illusory. S&P Management decided to focus on more quantitative forms of research and to divest Vista. That’s when they called M&A.

Marlin & Associates New York LLC managed the process, assisted in the negotiations, and acted as the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Tenfore’s investors.

Tenfore collects data on global equities, commodities, derivatives, indexes, and foreign currencies from more than 160 sources and consolidates the data for real-time distribution to clients.  Tenfore also offers front-end software terminals that leverage the Company’s market data, along with analytics and third-party application plug ins. After several years of development, Tenfore experienced significant growth in 2006 and 2007 as demand for the Company’s now-complete consolidated, low-latency global market data feed increased.  In early 2008, the investors decided the timing was appropriate to realize a return Tenfore collects data on global equities, commodities, derivatives, indexes, and foreign currencies from more than 160 sources and consolidates the data for real-time distribution to clients.  Tenfore also offers front-end software terminals that leverage the Company’s market data, along with analytics and third-party application plug ins. on their investment as Management had successfully executed the growth plan for the Company.

Marlin & Associates New York LLC managed the process, assisted in the negotiations, and acted as the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to LexisNexis.

LexisNexis Group, a subsidiary of Reed Elesevier (LSE:REL), is a leading provider of legal, tax, regulatory, risk, and other business information solutions to professional, corporate, and government customers. Mealey’s Conferences , which was owned by Lexis Nexis, produces professional education and development seminars on litigation and related topics for attorneys and insurance industry executives. It also produces webinars and teleconferences, publishes proceedings of its events, and delivers on-demand, in-house custom training. Seven years after LexisNexis bought the company, LexisNexis sharpened its corporate-wide strategic focus on electronic information services, and decided to divest Mealey’s Conferences. They asked Marlin & Associates (M&A) to handle a sale process.

Marlin & Associates New York LLC was pleased to have initiated this transaction, helped manage the process, assisted in the negotiations and acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to InfoDyne Corporation.

When Guy Tagliavia founded InfoDyne Corporation, his mission was to make transactional market data blazing fast, highly available and massively scalable. Fifteen years later, InfoDyne counted among its customers some of the most prestigious and sophisticated financial services organizations in the world. The company was recognized as a technology leader in the rapidly emerging market niche of providing mission-critical, high-volume, ultra-low latency market data processing systems. And, Tagliavia had managed to fund growth from internally generated cash, avoiding taking funding from outside sources. He still owned the firm.

Marlin & Associates New York LLC assisted Netik’s management team in identifying a number of financial sponsors; presented Netik to these sponsors; managed the process; and advised and assisted Management as they negotiated with several interested parties and ultimately closed this transaction.

Netik has long been recognized as a leading provider of financial data integration, financial data warehousing, data hub, and information-reporting solutions for the securities industry.  In 2004, Netik’s founders sold the Company to Bank of New York (BNY), so that BNY could use Netik as the foundation of a new outsourcing business.  In early 2007, following the announcement of BNY’s merger with Mellon Financial, and knowing the bank’s strategy had changed, the founders (who had remained as Netik’s managers) approached Bank Management with an eye towards repurchasing the Company.  They asked M&A to help arrange private equity financing for the transaction. During the summer of 2007, M&A and Management held conversations with several leading private equity houses.  Symphony Technology Group, based in Palo Alto, was selected as the best potential partner due to their desire to invest into Netik and to build a leading investor services business based on key financial services and software through organic growth and acquisitions.  It also helped that one of the Symphony funds controlled CAPCO and that all parties saw potential benefits to brining Netik and CRDS together.

Marlin & Associates New York LLC initiated the transaction, helped manage the process, assisted in the negotiations and acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to ORIMOS S.A.

Guido Hagemann, founder of ORIMOS S.A., realized early that high-performance, computer-based, fixed-income analytical applications would become an important component of global fixed income trading. As a former consultant who developed derivative pricing models for large, global financial institutions, he believed that he knew exactly want the market needed. To capitalize on this market knowledge, Hagemann organized a core development team in Berlin, Germany, and acquired a base technology platform. 12 years later, with administrative offices now relocated to Switzerland and sales and support operations in London, the company had amassed a blue-chip list of multinational client organizations that were active in the global fixed-income trading market. The firm was recognized as one of Europe's leading providers of automated fixed-income pricing engines.

When Mark and Mike approached Marlin & Associates (“M&A”), Lower Fees was in a relatively early stage of development: technology had been developed; the data base had been completed for several service provider categories and revenue was starting to flow.  Mark and Mike were trying to decide whether they should continue self-funding the business, seek outside capital or contemplate a sale to a strategic partner. For more than a year, M&A worked with the Company, helping management to refine their business plan and to present that plan to more than a dozen prospective investors and partners.

Lower Fees, Inc. (sometimes known as “Fee Disclosure.com”), based in California’s Westlake Village, provides consumers with the data, tools and context in which they can understand, negotiate, manage and ultimately reduce the vendor fees associated with closing a residential real estate transaction.  The company also provides real estate professionals and the firms that service real estate transactions with an online platform that can help them identify potential clients and differentiate themselves from their competition. Founders Mark Zimmerman and Mike Kratzer - two real estate professionals – recognized that buyers and sellers of residential real estate often pay thousands of dollars in unnecessary (or overpriced) fees for services such as title insurance, engineering inspections, termite extinction, radon remediation, escrows, document preparation, appraisals, legal representation and more.  They set out to create a comprehensive data base of real-estate service providers and their fees along with tools and an online platform to help users better understand these fees in a local context.

Marlin & Associates New York LLC managed the process, assisted in the negotiations and acted as the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Ipreo Holdings LLC. The acquisition of Hemscott allows Morningstar to continue building on its strategy of creating a premier global equity database and expanding its presence outside of the United States.

Since 1985, Hemscott has been providing hard-to-replicate, consistently stated financial information and in-depth director information on publicly traded companies. The Company’s web site, Hemscott.com, is one of the United Kingdom’s leading online financial information portals. Hemscott’s “CoreData” unit (formerly Media General Financial Services) is one of the largest providers of fundamental financial data in the US. Hemscott IR is a leader in providing data to power online investor-relation websites; and bigdough.com, which Hemscott acquired in late 2004, is a leading provider of information on US and European institutional fund managers, analysts and journalists. The Company was founded in the UK and has extensive customers in the UK, Europe and US. More than 80% of the Company’s employees are based at its state-of-the-art technology center in New Delhi, India. In December 2006, Hemscott merged with the US Company, i-Deal, to create Ipreo Holdings LLC. However, soon after the merger, it became apparent that the combination of bigdough with i-Deal presented more opportunities than did the combination of i-Deal with the original three Hemscott businesses. A year later, Ipreo’s management and Ipreo’s majority owner, private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS) decided to engage a professional advisor to help them develop strategic alternatives for Hemscott. After meeting and evaluating several firms, they selected Marlin & Associates (M&A).

Marlin & Associates New York LLC initiated this transaction, managed the process, assisted in the negotiations and acted as the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to StarMine Corporation.

After attending a seminar on earnings estimates, StarMine’s founder Joe Gatto wrote a business plan for a better system to measure these estimates – as well as the performance of Wall Street analysts.  His “SmartEstimate” system was more objective – and more accurate than the then most popular sources of such measurement I/B/E/S and FirstCall.  Three years later, Gatto received an initial round of financing from American Century Ventures followed shortly thereafter by a second round that included American Century, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and Instinet Group Inc. Seven years after receiving its initial funding, Gatto’s company, StarMine Corporation, had become a leading provider of fundamental research systems and automated analyses to investment managers.  The Company had developed a full suite of products to accurately predict earnings surprises and value stocks on a relative or absolute basis as well as to objectively measure the performance of Wall Street analysts.  The Company was profitable and growing 40% per year.  They had clients in the US, UK, Europe, Australia and South Africa and the Company was developing an international physical presence. While Joe Gatto and his board were certain that the Company could continue to grow revenue at significant rates and remain highly profitable without a partner, they also were ready for some liquidity and were aware that the Company had reached a stage where growth required increased administration and international infrastructure.  Based on the Company’s very high predicted growth, Gatto and the Company’s financial sponsors decided that the next phase of the Company’s growth would be facilitated if the Company were teamed with the right strategic partner.  To help them find that right partner and negotiate an acceptable transaction, they turned to Marlin & Associates.

Marlin & Associates New York LLC (“M&A”) initiated this transaction, managed the process, assisted in the negotiations and acted as the strategic and financial advisor to Applied Financial Technology, Inc.

Applied Financial Technology (“AFT”) introduced its first analytic tools in 1996.  Within a few years, the Company had become one of the fastest-growing providers of intelligent and predictive risk analytics, analysis and data for the mortgage industry.  AFT’s quantitative analytics, which can be fully integrated into a variety of third-party systems, are used by brokers, banks and investors to price, fund, trade and hedge mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. The Company’s models and other products help fixed-income traders, analysts, portfolio managers and risk managers predict, quantify and manage risk associated with prepayment, default, and changes in interest rates.  The company also spawned a sister company: Financial Systems Integrators, Inc. (FSI), a front-end desk-top application that makes use of AFT’s models and other data to allow users to manage portfolios containing a wide range of complex debt securities, including portfolios that contain Collateralized Mortgage Obligations, Asset Backed Securities and Mortgage Backed Securities, as well as more conventional debt instruments. More than a year prior to engaging M&A, the principal owner approached M&A.  While the principal owner was certain that he could continue to grow revenue at significant rates and remain highly profitable without outside investment, he also wanted some liquidity and was aware that the Company had reached a stage where growth required increased administration and infrastructure.  Based on his very high predicted growth for the coming year and the fact that the Company’s financial controls could benefit by some strengthening to support further discussions (no full-time CFO, no audit) we counseled a careful approach for the then-current year. A year later, with revenue and profit growth on target, a CFO in place and an audit underway, AFT engaged M&A to provide strategic and financial advice.

Marlin & Associates New York LLC (“M&A”) identified Global Energy as a potential opportunity, helped Vista conduct a thorough review of Global Energy's business and financial results and worked with Vista to assess Global Energy's strategic fit within Vista's portfolio. Ultimately, M&A helped Vista acquire 100% of Global Energy through Vista’s portfolio company, Ventyx, Inc.

Global Energy Decisions, LLC (“GED”) provides software solutions, trading platforms, analytical tools, market data, advisory and strategic consulting services and more to the energy industry. Formed by CEO Ron McMahon in 2001, with the financial backing of private equity firm, Quadrangle Group, GED made six acquisitions to form a leading provider of energy-related services. Global Energy is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado with additional offices in Columbus, Ohio; Vancouver, Washington; Kansas City, Missouri; Houston, Texas; and Raleigh, North Carolina. Initially, Management of GED together with Quadrangle, approached M&A to advise them on strategic alternatives. At the time, M&A was advising another energy information technology company and was not able to accept the assignment. As a result GED hired another advisor. Six months later, when the principals finally went to market, M&A was free to discuss the situation with potential buyers. From previous conversations, M&A knew that Vista Equity Partners was actively seeking to acquire control of strong technology companies and was particularly interested in companies that would be a strategic fit for its portfolio company, Ventyx, Inc., a leading Service Delivery Management solution provider for the utilities, telecommunications and cable/broadband industries. We believed that the strategic and financial profile of GED would fit Vista’s criteria. In February 2007, Vista engaged M&A to help them conduct a strategic and financial review of Global Energy’s business, and, if possible to acquire GED.

Marlin & Associates New York LLC (“M&A”) initiated this transaction, managed the process, assisted in the negotiations and acted as the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Xcitek LLC.

Founded in 1986, the New York City-based Xcitek market data division is the leading provider of corporate actions information relating to equities, warrants, corporate bonds, government, agency and municipal bonds and other financial instruments issued by US and Canadian entities.  Xcitek’s founders knew that bottom-line portfolio performance can be influenced and anticipated by announcements of corporate actions such as splits, liquidations, mergers, divestitures, acquisitions, capital changes, bankruptcies, law suits, reorganizations, name and domicile changes and distributions.  The data describing these events is voluminous, complex, hard to find, inconsistent and manually intensive to interpret and process.  Xcitek’s founders conceived designed and built a service to automatically collect, compile, process and distribute this information.  As a result, the company’s services came to be used by over 1,600 financial institutions worldwide, via electronic data feeds, proprietary web-based offerings and an extensive network of redistributors.  The Company earned numerous industry awards. Prior to engaging M&A, the owners had been approached by several strategic and financial firms, who were interested in acquiring, investing or partnering with the Company.  The owners turned down all such approaches.  But, when one of the founders died unexpectedly, the other owners paused to reflect.  Another of the founders had already retired and a third was approaching retirement.  The owners decided it was time to explore their strategic alternatives.  They engaged M&A to advise them.

Marlin & Associates New York LLC (“M&A”) initiated this transaction, managed the process, assisted in the negotiations and acted as the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Hugin ASA.

Hugin ASA is one of Europe’s leading distributors of investor and customer related communications.  From its offices in nine European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK), the Company distributes press releases, e-mails, faxes, video and other forms of corporate communications on behalf of more than 1,200 client companies located in 20 European countries. The company was founded in 1985 by MIT graduate and former McKinsey consultant Karl-Christian Agerup, along with partner Ingar Ostby, an investor and industry veteran. Together, they had formed a venture-capital firm that provided initial funding to Hugin.  Initially, Karl-Christian led the Company personally - establishing operations in multiple countries.  Over time they brought in additional financial backing from two of Scandinavia’s largest media firms: Schibsted and Orkla, as well as from life insurance firm Nordea.  Eventually, Karl-Christian stepped away from day-to-day management to focus on other investment activities, and turned the Company over to professional managers. Over the next few years, the company rapidly grew. Prior to engaging M&A, the Company was approached by several strategic firms interested in Hugin’s leadership position within this burgeoning sector.  While the Company was growing well, with Europe in the early stages of significant regulatory reform (including expansion of the EEC, a new European “Transparency Directive” and strengthened financial reporting requirements) and with increasing consolidation within the global corporate communications industry, Hugin’s Management and Board concluded that they should explore opportunities to join Hugin with a strategic partner.  They engaged M&A as the Company’s exclusive strategic and financial advisor. 

Marlin & Associates New York LLC (“M&A”) initiated this transaction, managed the process, assisted in the negotiations and acted as the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Triple Point.

Triple Point Technology (“Triple Point” or the “Company”) provides software to help energy and physical commodities firms affect transactions, reduce risk and manage global supply chains. The Company was founded in 1993 by Peter Armstrong and Allie Rogers - two industry veterans who were soon joined by a third, Paul D’Amico. All three had previously worked at the Phibro Division of Salomon Inc.  Over the next few years, the company rapidly grew to serve commodity and energy companies in 17 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and South America.  These clients were engaged in buying and selling a wide variety of commodities - including energy-related commodities such as power, oil, gas and coal, as well as commodities such as metals, agricultural products, freight and “soft” commodities such as coffee, cocoa, sugar and grain.  The company - headquartered in Westport, Connecticut - added development and support centers in Houston, London, and Pune (India).  Prior to engaging M&A, the Company was approached by several strategic firms looking for an acquisition partner, as well as by private equity and venture capital firms interested in TPT’s leadership position within this burgeoning sector.  Two of the three owners were young and not quite ready to exit this growing business, while the third was ready to move onto other challenges.  All three were open to the idea of taking some chips off the table.  Ultimately they decided to engage M&A as the Company’s exclusive strategic and financial advisor.

M&A was the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Brainpower.

Based in Lugano, Switzerland, Brainpower N.V (“Brainpower”, or the “Company”) a publicly listed company (Deutsche Bourse – “BPW”), was founded by Rocco Pellegrinelli, - a former investment manager, together with two highly regarded technical managers. They set out to deliver a world-class platform that would help European investment managers identify and take advantage of market opportunities. They patterned the Company after Factset and Bloomberg and offered fast access to a wide range of financial information combined with sophisticated, proprietary analytics and an efficient delivery and display environment. Over time, more than 100 of the most sophisticated investment-management firms in Switzerland, Italy and Central Europe came to rely on the Company for insight into their portfolios and securities holdings. Prior to engaging M&A, the Company was approached by several firms looking for an acquisition partner. While no transaction resulted, these conversations helped Management (and the Board) conclude that the right transaction - with the right partner - could benefit customers - leveraging the company’s products and capabilities; could provide an exciting career path for employees; and could provide appropriate value for shareholders - with lower execution risk than continuing independently. They engaged M&A as the Company’s exclusive strategic and financial advisor.

M&A was pleased with the role it played in identifying and developing multiple options for the Company and keeping the m&a process moving forward during some challenging periods - This was a process that stretched over two years. An initial deal was negotiated, agreed, and then terminated after the parties could not agree on some important terms. A second deal was negotiated agreed, and then put on "hold" when the prospective buyer itself entered into negotiations and was ultimately acquired. Ultimately M&A was able to help europrospectus join with a very high-quality firm, while at the same time helping the Company's owners to receive a price that was well in excess of their expectations.

europrospectus.com Ltd. based in East Sussex UK, was founded in 1997 by Marc ter Kuile, a former capital market professional – and funded by one of Europe's leading private capital firms HAL Investments B.V. of Amsterdam.  The Company grew rapidly - offering a clause- and field-searchable data base of debt, equity, warrant and m&a prospectuses issued by firms worldwide along with software tools that allowed customers to obtain fast, easy access to the database. In late 2003, HAL and Mr. ter Kuile agreed that the best way to achieve the goals of the Company’s investors, employees and customers would be to see if there were appropriate strategic partners for Europrospectus.  They engaged M&A as their exclusive strategic and financial advisor.

M&A was the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Cameron Systems.

When John Cameron wrote his first “FIX” engine on his laptop computer, while commuting to London by train, he had no idea that, within a few short years, the Company he later founded (Cameron Systems (VIC) pty) would become the world’s leading provider of electronic trading connectivity. In 2001, John established a company in his home country of Australia and brought in his second employee – partner Martin Koopman. By 2005 the Company had 162 customers in 25 countries – and more users than any other provider in the industry. His firm was growing at triple digit rates. John, a self proclaimed “techie” was spending increasing amounts of time on airplanes and guiding the company’s technology, sales and administration. It was time to begin considering how best to ensure that the company, the customers and the employees could be best passed to new owners, while achieving appropriate liquidity for the owners. The company engaged M&A to provide strategic and financial advice.

M&A was the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Beauchamp Financial Technology, Ltd.

Stuart Farr and Bruce Mennell, founders and principal owners of Beauchamp Financial Technology, Ltd. (BFT), leveraged their backgrounds – Stuart with experience in designing and implementing middle office applications, Bruce as a developer and systems architect — to create Beauchamp Financial Technology, Ltd. (BFT). A few years later, they obtained financing from Goldman Sachs and Soros Funds Limited. By 2005, BFT had become the leading provider of trading and portfolio management software for alternative investment managers. The Company had 120 employees at offices in London (Headquarters), Dublin, New York, Boston, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Riga, Latvia. They served over 170 clients in six countries in Europe, North America and Asia. At that point, the company had crossed into clear profitability, and was growing fast. But, the hedge fund software market was becoming increasingly competitive and the thought of raising the additional capital needed to take BFT to the next stage held little appeal for them. Together with Goldman and Soros, they agreed that that the company should seek a strategic partner that could help take the company to the next level. They engaged M&A to provide strategic and financial advice.

M&A was the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to DisplaySearch.

Ross Young founded DisplaySearch after writing a book on US – Japan high-tech competition entitled: Silicon Sumo. A well-respected expert and consultant, Ross soon after invited his father, Barry, to join him to help manage the business. Within a few years Display had become the leading provider of quantitative and qualitative market research and analysis for a rapidly growing niche within the high technology electronics industry – firms that produce market or sell products that are used to produce – or that contain - flat-panel display devices - notebook PCs, handheld games, PDAs, mobile phones, medical devices, and more. Together, they built a rapidly growing company with offices in Austin Texas (Headquarters); Chicago; Houston; Richmond; and Tempe Arizona, as well as an international presence operating from offices in Tokyo Japan; Seoul Korea; and Taipei Taiwan. The Company was growing fast, and was highly profitable. Management had big dreams for expansion. At the same time, they faced a requirement to spend increasing amounts of time on administrative duties, a need to add infrastructure, and growing competition. Ross and Barry concluded that they should see if there were a suitable strategic partner that could help them take the company to the next level. They engaged M&A to provide strategic and financial advice.

M&A was the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Derivative Solutions.

Doug Wheeler leveraged his background as a portfolio manager to found Derivative Solutions. In a few years the company had become one of the leading providers of fixed-income analytics, portfolio-management and risk- management solutions to financial institutions. The company was growing rapidly and quite profitable. The next step was to take the Company international and expand the product line. However, the complexity and time involved with these activities along with the requirement to build more infrastructure held little appeal for him. Doug’s preference was to see if there were a strategic partner that would value the Company he had built, and provide for a larger role for him and his team. He engaged M&A to provide strategic and financial advice.

M&A was the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to GSI.

Phil Brown, Richard Harrison and Nick Keenan, founders and senior managers of Washington D.C. - based Global Securities Information, Inc. (GSI), created the world’s premier online securities research service for legal professionals, investment bankers and others seeking rapid, in depth access regulatory filings related to publicly traded securities. The company, often better known by its brand name LiveEdgar, was being used by over 20,000 active users at more than 1,200 firms including virtually all of the Am Law 100, 97 of the Top 100 Global Law Firms, and 80% of all law firms in the United States with more than one hundred (100) attorneys. They had 150 employees in 13 cities. The founders concluded that the time had come to join with a strategic partner. They engaged M&A to provide strategic and financial advice.

M&A was the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Interactive Technologies.

Tom Dackow spent a full career as an industry consultant before he and his wife, Edith, founded Interactive Technologies, Inc. (Interactive), a Summit New Jersey (headquarters) and London England-based company that developed and marketed software to help international and domestic banks, investment management companies, depositories, and exchanges to better manage the complex, customized fee arrangements that are an increasing part of the financial services arena. The company grew rapidly to a point where 60 of the world’s most prestigious financial firms were using the company’s technology. At that point, Tom, 62 years old, and his wife Edith had a company that was worth millions – on paper. But, their ability to enjoy the fruits of this labor were limited, as Tom spent increasing amounts of time guiding the company’s technology, sales and administration.. It was time to begin considering how best to how best to ensure that the company, the customers and the employees that had brought together could be best passed to new owners, while achieving appropriate liquidity for the founders. They engaged M&A to provide strategic and financial advice.

M&A was proud with the role it played - first helping the CEO raise US $92 million in less than three weeks - and ultimately in the role we played helping the shareholders of FMC materially increase the purchase price for the firm.

Financial Models Company (FMC); a publicly traded company based in Canada (TOC: FMC), develops software for investment managers. The Company has more than 200 clients and subsidiaries in the United States, Australia and Europe. In late 2004, FMC entered into discussions to be acquired by a publicly traded European financial IT firm. Ultimately, Mr. Stamos D. Katotakis, FMC's co-founder, CEO, and largest shareholder, was not convinced that the indicated value was adequate (about $120 million). His co-founder and another large shareowner disagreed. On December 8th, 2004, pursuant to an agreement among the Company's three largest shareowners, the other two large shareowners formally offered to sell their shares to Mr. Katotakis at C$12.20/share - the price that the European suitor was willing to pay. Katotakis had 21 days (over Christmas) to raise the capital to buy out his two partners - or go along with the other deal. On December 13th Mr. Katotakis engaged Marlin & Associates. On December 29th 2004, the last day of his window, Mr. Katotakis was able to announce that he was accepting the "selling notices" from his two partners, and was offering to take FMC private. ABRY Partners, LLC of Boston, committed to providing the $92 million required to purchase the shares not already owned by Katotakis. The story did not end there. On Jan 20th the European firm increased its offer to C$14.76 / share. Soon after, SS&C Technologies, a US financial-software company, offered C$17.70 (US$14.28) $145 million. Ultimately, On February 26, 2005 SS&C was able to announce that it had reached agreement to acquire FMC for about US$160 million.

M&A provided valuation services in support of GovPX’s negotiations with ICAP.

GovPX, Inc. was founded by the leading US bond dealers and inter-dealer brokers, in an effort to meet a congressionally mandated requirement to bring more price transparency to the US Treasury marketplace. By 2004 the company had achieved its mission. Real-time and intra-day derived prices on the full range of securities and derivatives on securities issued by the US government and its agencies had become available from multiple sources. At the same time the US bond market as well as the inter-dealer broker landscape had changed markedly. Several of the firms that had originally founded GovPX were no longer in existence, or no longer independent. Lawrence Leuzzi, GovPX Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, had been involved with the firm since inception. He and the GovPX board of directors recognized that there was one logical buyer of the firm - ICAP plc, the world's largest voice and electronic interdealer broker. ICAP had been involved with the firm since inception, participating in the launch of additional information sets and delivery options. The widely recognized GovPX brand and its network of subscribers was an attractive fit to ICAP’s existing information business. GovPX engaged M&A to provide valuation services in support of negotiations with ICAP.

M&A was the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Infocon America.

Mark Hartsell founded this southern California based ASP, to help business-to-business publishers and premium content providers manage, market, sell and electronically deliver articles, single issues, subscriptions and site licenses directly and manage subscriber events - all through the publisher's existing web site. Mark grew the company to a point where it was profitable and growing. But, he recognized that his customers and employees would be better served if the firm were part of a larger organization. The company engaged M&A to provide strategic and financial advice.

M&A was the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Capital Access International.

Husband-and-wife team of David Farrington and Carrie Thomas combined their Wall Street experience and started Capital Access International (CAI), a company focused exclusively on the information needs of the global fixed income community. Later, they accepted growth capital from a venture capital firm.  Over time, Dave and Carrie and their team grew CAI into the industry’s leading provider of institutional investor profile information and bond ownership analysis to thousands of fixed income professionals on both the buy- and sell-side. In the classic vein of entrepreneurs the world over, David and Carrie reached a point where they were ready to move on to other challenges and enjoy the fruits of their labor – and their venture partner was ready for liquidity. The time was right: they had built a company that was worth millions on paper, but they had limited liquidity and the thought of raising the additional capital needed to expand CAI into a global enterprise held little appeal for them. Dave and Carrie concluded that they should see if there was a suitable strategic partner that could help them take the company to the next level.  They engaged M&A to provide strategic and financial advice.

M&A was the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Inlumen.

Inlumen, Inc. was founded by a team of experienced technologists who set out to develop and market one of the first news and alerting engines capable of delivering personalized real-time news to traders’ desktops. In 1996, the Company became one of the pioneer news providers on the web. In 1999, control of the Company was acquired by a group of strategic and financial investors, who invested over $40 million to strengthen its infrastructure. However, with the tech crash of 2000 organic growth began to slow. (Many of the Company’s customers were wiped out). Sales prospects were made more challenging with the subsequent slowdown in the financial services industry following 9/11/01 (the Company’s other core target market). In 2002 the investors engaged M&A to provide strategic and financial advice.