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TABB Group announced that its M&A Advisory practice provided commercial due diligence to The Carlyle Group in its September 26 acquisition of ITRS Group, a global provider of real-time monitoring systems for the world’s financial institutions.
“We’re pleased to have provided The Carlyle Group with the market insight and analysis they needed for their acquisition of ITRS Group,” says Robert Iati, partner and global head of consulting at TABB Group. “Our M&A Advisory team analyzed the systems-monitoring market, sized the opportunity and talked with customers to independently assess the value of the products and solution providers. To do so, we drew on our depth-of-market knowledge, independent research and analyses based on daily, interactive communications with leading buy-side clients, top-tier investment banks, brokers, proprietary trading firms, asset managers, hedge funds, regional and global exchanges and industry associations.”
With over 600 installations worldwide and a client list that includes 8 of the top 10 global investment banks and several brokers, exchanges, hedge funds and data vendors, ITRS is headquartered in London with offices in New York, Hong Kong and Manila. In the year ended March 2011 the firm generated over £16 million in revenues. Since 2002, The Carlyle Group's European Technology team has invested in 22 companies. Their fund’s recent financial technology sector investments include FRS Global, Trema, Apama and ITRS Group.
In addition to assisting The Carlyle Group, TABB Group’s M&A Advisory practice has handled the following engagements:
- A leading private equity firm sought TABB’s advice to gain a better understanding of available opportunities in the financial markets technology and content space. This included an analysis of the market opportunities for software in the OTC derivatives space and its current and future competitive position in the marketplace.
- A major private equity firm wanted to grow its business by buying a targeted electronic trading firm. Objectives included providing the client with information on the target company relating to its products, ascertaining its reputation with clients and identifying opportunities.
- A top-tier private equity firm solicited TABB’s counsel for the multi-billion dollar acquisition of a leading global data provider. Due diligence included customer assessment, competitive positioning and prospective revenue growth.
- A billion-dollar technology solutions provider needed a taxonomy of the industry across multiple business areas, including sizing each segment, identifying leading vendors and recommending the best potential targets for acquisition, complementing existing business lines.
- A global provider of front- and back-end solutions needed an unbiased assessment of its product suite to facilitate a pitch deck and ultimate sale. TABB subsequently reviewed its products and offered an assessment for six potential private equity buyers during the acquisition process.
- A leading technology vendor asked TABB to analyze more than 20 providers of risk-management solutions to create a short list and detailed profiles of potential acquisition targets that aligned with their existing product suite to enhance their client base and revenue.
- A private investor needed to discreetly assess market opportunities for the launch of an ultra-low latency fiber network between major trading markets. TABB sized the market, identified potential buyers, suggested price points and pinpointed potential obstacles to the new network’s development.
- A group of private investors that owned leading-edge clearance technology engaged TABB to develop a market entry strategy to acquire an existing correspondent clearing firm.
- A bulge bracket global broker dealer contracted with TABB Group for due diligence covering the acquisition of a top-tier agency broker. TABB assessed the target asset’s position, evaluated their technology capabilities and products and projected future revenues of market segment participants. This engagement led to a successful acquisition.
