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Mining M&A Up Fifty Percent To End the Year

2012-02-23T16:00:09Z

Global M&A activity in the mining sector grew by about 50 percent last year to surpass $US100 billion, according to KPMG.

Copper producer and Firmex customer, Quadra FNX Mining was part of the largest Canadian deal in the final quarter of the year. They received a cash offer valued at $CDN3.5 billion from Poland’s state-controlled copper miner, KGHM Polska Miedz.

Close to one third of metals companies surveyed by KPMG expect to expand through mergers and acquisitions over the next two years. Canadian companies are expected to continue to be the primary targets. In the final quarter of 2011, Canadian firms made up 21% of the global M&A value in the mining sector. Total activity in Canada is up 30 percent year-over-year to about $US34 billion.

Mining and resource companies, like Quadra FNX, use Firmex Virtual Data Rooms to facilitate these highly confidential and complex deals. The Firmex Virtual Data Room provides a secure and easy way to organize and share the large amounts of data related to developing a mine, with the many experts involved in the valuation.

In 2011, Firmex data room usage amongst our mining customers matched the growth in M&A mining activity. Between 2010 and 2011, data room activity of our mining customers grew 88%.

To learn more about using Firmex Virtual Data Rooms to keep your M&A deal moving visit: http://www.firmex.com/solutions

Source: KPMG

What’s Ahead for the M&A Market in 2012 and Beyond? - Webinar Recap

2012-01-17T21:55:09Z

Today we enjoyed an in-depth outlook of the M&A Market in 2012 with Dennis Roberts, author, Chairman and CEO at The McLean Group. His insights into how cross-border deals, technology, healthcare and an aging baby boomer population are affecting the M&A landscape, were invaluable.

Dennis spoke to the impact of new technologies on business, citing that 40% of S&P 500 companies were not there 10 years ago. He also discussed how an aging baby boomer population has accelerated growth in healthcare, pharma and biotech. He also referenced specific data related to the last year, revealing that in 2011, one in three M&A transactions in the U.S. were cross border deals.

Watch the webinar and hear the full discussion with Dennis Roberts on the 2012 M&A market outlook.

Download slides

Visit http://www.firmex.com/company/events to learn more.

M&A Master Class Series - Part 4 Recap

2011-12-09T16:31:24Z

Today we enjoyed our fourth collaborative Master Class with Andrew J. Sherman, author and Partner at Jones Day. He led us through his best practices to ensure success in post-close integration with a Buy-Side perspective of M&A.

Andrew spoke to the challenges in post-close integration. Citing at KPMG survey, Sherman agreed that cultural and people issues present the biggest challenge during the post deal period. He also referenced specific data points related to post-deal integration, citing a Deloitte survey Sherman highlighted that although the desired outcome of integration may be to rapidly capture cost & revenue, synergies were not achieved in 70% of cases.

The news wasn't all bad though, Andrew provided tips, tricks and checklists for retaining key employees, overcoming cultural issues, establishing a transition team and more.

Watch the rest of Andrew’s webinar to hear more of his tips to ensure success in post-close integration.

Download slides

Visit http://www.firmex.com/company/events to learn more.

‘Power Industry - Power Play’ a PCE Companies’ Perspective

2011-12-02T19:37:36Z

America's power sector is at a crossroads. Rising demand for clean forms of power is now juxtaposed against the growing need for inexpensive energy, creating a situation that is increasingly conflicted. Recent economic challenges have made decisions even more difficult for electric power producers. In 2009, electricity generation decreased 4.1 percent, settling at its lowest level since 2003, representing the largest decline in six decades. In addition to the recent economic downturn, expanding environmental policy and increasing prices of certain fuels have forced electric power producers to invest in alternatives to coal such as natural gas. Investment decisions also have been impacted by the recent accident at a nuclear power plant in Japan that, at least temporarily, diminished renewed enthusiasm for nuclear power expansion.

Alternatively, renewable energy has been fully embraced by some for its clean energy benefits, federal production and investment tax credits and cash grants, as well as help electric power producers comply with state Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS). Even in the face of uncertainty about future tax and energy policies, investment in renewable and conventional forms of power is expected to remain strong as older, less efficient power plants are retired and demand continues to build. The U.S. Department of Energy projects that demand will increase approximately 24 percent by 2035, rising roughly 1 percent per year. Which source of power will benefit the most is uncertain. What is clear is that all of these sectors have characteristics that will ensure future investment.

Power Sources

Key factors facing the power industry include:

Nuclear power, while experiencing a setback, is still viewed as one of the only large-scale clean resources that can help satiate the demand for clean power in the U.S. Investment in this sector might slow as safety concerns are addressed.
Natural gas is undergoing a boom due to abundant supply and low prices.
Renewable energy such as wind and solar have attracted impressive investment levels as developers leverage production and investment tax credits or cash grants, which offset a significant portion of development costs.
Coal faces a challenging future as it competes with the demand for clean energy and cheap natural gas, but it will retain a significant position in the power landscape for the foreseeable future.

Outlook

Electric power producers are currently forced to navigate dynamic, evolving markets with capacity plans that are constantly developing. The long-term need for inexpensive, yet clean, forms of power has created an interesting dynamic. The market seems to be dictating a diversified approach that leverages inexpensive, clean resources such as natural gas that are used in combination with traditional forms of power (i.e. coal and nuclear) as well as renewable energy (i.e. hydro, wind and solar), with decreasing dependence on coal. As federal and state environmental, regulatory and tax policy comes into sharper focus and the economy begins to steadily grow, electric power producers will be able to make long-term investment decisions that encompass these resources and lead to a period of sustained growth.

If you have any questions or comments on this article please contact Mike Rosendhal of PCE Companies at 407-621-2136 or by email at mrosendahl@pcecompanies.com.

To read Mike's complete article, “Power Play” that includes more in depth analysis of power options and sources, from the November issue of American Cranes & Transport magazine click here.

M&A Master Class Series - Part 3 Recap

2011-11-18T15:30:51Z

Today, we once again enjoyed our third collaborative Master Class with Andrew J. Sherman, author and Partner at Jones Day. He led us through his due diligence best practices and pitfalls with a Buy-Side perspective of M&A.

Andrew likened the due diligence process in M&A to dating, "Some people like to disclose everything on a first date, most of us reveal information about ourselves on a phased basis as we get to know the other party. The due diligence process in M&A is more akin to that, as long as you're not witholding information that would change the nature of the transaction." Transparency and openness are keys to conducting successful due diligence. Sherman added that, "Those who are successful in due diligence leave their ego at the door."

Listen to the rest of Andrew’s webinar to hear more of his due diligence best practices, how to avoid surprises and common mistakes, analyzing business issues in due diligence and how data rooms are playing a role in the due diligence process.

Download slides

Visit http://www.firmex.com/company/events to learn more.

‘Financial Reporting Valuation - The Market Participant’ a PCE Companies’ Perspective

2011-11-14T21:32:14Z

ASC 820 - Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures sets forth the definition of Fair Value as "The price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date". Paramount to the definition is the concept of the "Market Participant".

The Market Participant is further defined in ASC 820 (SFAS No. 157) as "...buyers and sellers in the principal (or most advantageous) market for the asset or liability that have all of the following characteristics:

1. Independent of the reporting entity (that is, they are not Related Parties).
2. Knowledgeable, having a reasonable understanding about the asset or liability and the transaction based on all available information, including information that might be obtained through due diligence efforts that are usual and customary.
3. Able to transact for the asset or liability.
4. Willing to transact for the asset or liability (that is, they are motivated but not forced or otherwise compelled to do so)."

A Market Participant will fall into one of three categories; a buyer who is in the same business segment of the industry as the taret, to the extent that the buyer provides the same service or product; a buyer who is in the same general market place or industry with the target, providing ancillary products or services, that wishes to enter into the same business segment as the target; or a purely financial buyer, an example of which is a private equity group.

The Market Participant Rate of Return ("MPRR") is the return required by the Market Participant to enter into the investment. Where does one look for a proxy for the MPRR? Might firms in the same industry as the subject of the appraisal be considered Market Participants? Are actual bidders in the auction process on the purchase of the entity Market Participants? What about firms contacted by the investment banker for the seller? What happens when the acquired entity was purchased in a stressed situation or without the auction process? The facts and circumstances of each engagement must be assessed when answering these questions.

One method used to estimate the MPRR is to assess publicly-traded companies which are in the same two or four digit SIC code as the target. Entities reporting in the SIC codes will fit into the two categories of market participant that are in the same industry as the subject. The financial buyer will most likely look to this same pool of potential investors to aid in their determination of required return based on the return of the respective industry. Therefore, all three types of market participant buyers should be represented in the analysis.

After selection of the Guideline Companies, an estimate of the 'market' cost of capital is performed. Use of the CAPM build up method is typical, as many sources provide the requisite data to perform the exercise. Average industry weight of debt-to-equity is also readily available for most of the guideline companies and is typically used to weight the debt and equity. The resulting WACC determined using guideline companies as the proxy for the Market Participant WACC provides us with a "floor" return. The Market Participant will require a rate of return in excess of its cost of capital. This concept is fundamental to investment theory. The added risk of making an investment in the appraisal subject must be assessed and is based upon the perceived investment in it, in terms of size, risk profile, performance, and growth expectations.

Market Partcipant synergies and buyer specific synergies must also be addressed as they relate to the cost of capital. Will the addition of the appraisal subject allow for additional borrowing, thereby decreasing the cost capital? Does the combined entity have better access to capital? The ASC allows for Market Participant synergies to be considered in the determination of fair value, but not buyer specifc synergies. Buyer specific synergies are ultimately embedded in goodwill.

As the accounting world grapples with the application of the fair value standards and as companies attempt to apply the concepts, PCE stands ready to assist in the determination of fair value for financial reporting.

If you have any questions or comments on this article or any valuation topic, please contact Brett Cooper of PCE Companies at 813-273-6610 x 101 or by email bcooper@pcecompanies.com.

M&A Master Class Series - Part 2 Recap

2011-10-20T18:44:16Z

Today, we once again enjoyed an enthusiastic and collaborative session with Andrew J. Sherman, author and Partner at Jones Day. He took us through the Buy-Side perspective of M&A and focused on how to qualify your seller and uncover hidden value.

Building on his weather forecast in Part 1 of the series, Andrew alluded to the clouds parting for M&A in 2012. Using a bullhorn he gave the call to action to Buyers, “Attention K-mart shoppers – deals to be had!” Companies are sitting on $2.5 trillion and this value will be flowing back into the markets. Buyers need to be prepared to capitalize on the buyer’s market that currently exists but not to rush into acquisitions. Vigilant due diligence is crucial.

Listen to the rest of Andrew’s webinar to hear more on qualifying sellers including his 7B’s for Buyers, an in-depth discussion around Buy vs. Build evaluation, developing and acquisition plan and using a Target Evaluation Template for assessing top tier sellers.

Download slides

Visit http://www.firmex.com/company/events to learn more.

Software Performance Correlates with End User Productivity

2011-10-18T07:58:13Z

Over the course of the last year, Firmex has made major investments in our product group. From deep talent hires to doubling our head count in development, to investing in SOC 2 audits and partnering with a content acceleration provider – we are serious about ensuring our customers enjoy a consistently high experience when it comes to working with Firmex.

As a CEO, I am constantly faced with decisions about where to invest in the business. On the surface - since our customers see Firmex the most through the use of our Virtual Data Room - investing in it, seems like a good decision. And then I read a whitepaper (InfoWorld: CIOs Feel the Pressure to Optimize the Online Experience) that detailed a recent survey on where CIOs are prioritizing their investment. In 65% of the companies, End-user Satisfaction is the top driver. They go on to discuss that end-users experience with the technology used to do their work (usability, performance, availability) is directly related to productivity and alignment with business objectives. The better the experience they have with the technology, the more productive they are.

Our latest release incorporates a number of improvements around performance. By partnering with Cotendo, a content acceleration platform, Firmex has doubled the speed at which our users can upload their secure documents to share with potential buyers and sellers around the world. In some areas, we are seeing as high as 8 times the performance speeds. Knowing that this investment will contribute to the productivity (and increased end-user satisfaction) of Firmex users, I feel very comfortable with $$ well spent.

4 Tips on Closing a Buyer

2011-10-07T07:59:11Z

I have spoken to many entrepreneurs and intermediaries. Some of my peers in my CEO circle who are approached by a potential acquirer, are at times more focused on “what’s in it for me” versus their buyer’s mindset.

Bottom line is first you need to qualify your buyer. Once you’re satisfied you need to make sure you’re easy to deal with. This should not be a tug of war. It’s a courtship ending in a marriage!

Four Facets of a Good Courtship

Qualify the Buyer:

What is driving them to consider acquiring your business? What other options do they have? Do they have a history of acquisitions? What kind of multiples did they pay on the other deals? What kind of range are they thinking of on this deal? What risks do they see in the deal?

Be Transparent and Upfront:

If you embellish profitability, growth or management capability or if you omit to discuss liabilities these things are often uncovered during the due diligence process and will torpedo the deal. Don’t “over reach” for a better price after an initial understanding as that’s not being transparent.

Be Organized:

Keep your business documents organized, up-to-date and ready for sharing. A deal can come fast and furious. Avoid unnecessary delays because documents aren’t readily available. Have all your employment, vendor, and customer agreements signed and updated and logically organized in a secure document repository. If your paperwork is a mess or missing documents, your buyer’s confidence will erode as it is a reflection on how you run your business.

Make Sure your Management Team is Onside:

If they are not onside then they can be unhelpful in the process and may even undermine it.

PS. Use a Virtual Data Room - that goes with “Be Organized."

M&A Master Class Series - Part 1 Recap

2011-09-29T20:00:34Z

Recently I participated in the M&A Master Class webinar alongside Andrew J. Sherman, author and Partner at Jones Day. What an incredible opportunity to listen to a leading authority on M&A, up close and personal. This session took listeners through not only his views on the current state of the market but also key steps to prepare for selling a company. The slides to his presentation are posted on the Firmex website, but I thought I would re-iterate his views on the current state of the market, which he took us through in our conversation.

He characterized the global M&A market in four trends:

TREND 1: CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS

Too many players in the US and North American markets are sitting on the sidelines, unwilling to rise above the cloudiness in the forecast. This has had a significant impact on both the number of mergers and acquisitions being initiated as well as transactions taking longer to close. When transactions take longer, momentum is lost, and deals can get de-railed. As well, post-911 and post-Madoff, there is definitely a wider/deeper approach to due diligence – no one wants to be duped. This is a reflection of how clients are using Firmex data rooms, and why Firmex is such an integral solution to the M&A transaction business.

TREND 2: USING EXCESS CASH TO BUY vs. BUILD TECHNOLOGY

There is an excess of companies sitting on large amounts of cash, estimated to be as high as $2.5 trillion at the Fortune 500 level. Companies like Microsoft and Google are estimated to be sitting on amounts in the $50 billion range alone.

Shareholder patience is being tested since there is little return on idle cash. Companies are waiting for the right opportunity to invest. We are also seeing a trend called “innovation interruptus” which means corporations are being told to lower their risk and buy companies or products rather than build them from scratch. This should buoy M&A activity. Another positive trend is there will be a large amount of inter-generational wealth going to be transferred with the aging of the Baby Boomers – as high as $30-$40 trillion. Owners children are not interested in carrying on with the family business, which will need to be sold. These are big numbers!

The pipeline of transactions is currently clogged up – and shareholders will only have so much tolerance to companies sitting on cash. Companies need to start putting their cash to work, and businesses with aging Baby-boomers need to be sold.

TREND 3: SLOW DOWN ON CROSS BORDER TRANSACTIONS

In 2008-2010 there was a significant uptake in cross-border transactions, including a number of Canadian and other foreign companies looking to acquire inexpensive US companies and assets. It was like America was on sale.

In the last 3 to 6 months, there has been a slow down of cross-border transactions. This is largely due to the stabilization of US corporate EBITDA multiples in late 2010 and 2011, and growing uncertainty in the economy. Sellers will have to downwardly adjust their expectations or expect more performance-related compensation or deferred compensation.

TREND 4: DEALS ARE TAKING LONGER TO CLOSE

As many as 60-70% of transactions fail to meet their pre-transaction objectives. Buyers have become more cautious and are taking due diligence very seriously which is extending the time it takes to get a deal done. Hopefully with the right due diligence practices in place, the buyers will have more successful outcomes with their acquisitions and grow more confident.

Andrew went on to discuss key issues in selling a business, starting with the motivations of the buyer and seller, a review of a strategic approach to preparing to sell your company and ending off with some pitfalls to avoid along the way. This was both an informative and collaborative presentation which left me excited about our next session on October 20th, Buy-side M&A: Qualifying your Seller & Finding Value.

Visit http://www.firmex.com/company/events to learn more.

ILTA Conference 2011 Day 1

2011-08-23T17:01:32Z

Greetings from hot and sunny Nashville!

The first official day of the ILTA 2011 Rev-elation Conference got off to a great start with 1200 participants in attendance.

For those who aren’t familiar, ILTA’s annual conference is a great event that brings together attorneys, legal IT professionals, practice support, litigation and knowledge management experts to share knowledge for developing new for their firm’s success. Best of all, there’s Law2020™, ILTA’s multi-year, multi-platform educational programming initiative focusing on how law firms will have to adapt in order to thrive over the next decade.

Monday offered 48 sessions ranging from “future-proofing” your law firm, to Securing SaaS-based Legal software, to SharePoint in the Cloud. Virtual Data Rooms and Client Extranets were discussed in several sessions – especially how to deliver a cost-effective data room, when the attorney needed it “yesterday” and the practice support manager needed it “two days ago.”

Firmex CEO Joel Lessem (@joellessem) participated in Applying Litigation Support Tools to the Transactional Practice. It was a full room and the Twitter hashtags #lpspg4 and #ilta11 were busy during the session with great quotes like “Lit Support is hijacking the data room” and “Documents are more secure online than printed and left around the office, but no one believes it yet.”

Joel was also interviewed by Shy Alter of ii3 for ILTA TV on the topic of Virtual Data Rooms as an example of a cost-effective turnkey document sharing and collaboration solution. This interview will be available on Wednesday at: http://conference.iltanet.org/MainMenu/EducationalProgram/TV-Guide.aspx

The day culminated at the evening’s ILTA Vendor Hall of Fame Party, where Legal CIOs watched zombie flash mobs (?!) and everyone enjoyed Nashville pulled pork sliders and ILTA-ritas. What happened at the after-parties shall remain unpublished....

If you’re at ILTA, drop by and say hi to Firmex at Booth 127.

Why communication is important to your deal

2011-08-10T11:00:18Z

Starting yesterday, over 100,000 users have access to a new Firmex release when they next log in. What has the team been busy working on for the last few months? Making it easier for you to communicate.

The markets are turbulent, economies shaky, headlines nerve-wracking. But whether it’s a merger, acquisition, divestiture, or fundraise, you need your transaction to get done with as little delay, confusion or distraction as possible.

As a busy lawyer, investment banker, or project manager, you’ve made it clear to us how critical it is for you to be able to communicate with everyone taking part in your deal, project or matter. Maybe you’re moving up a deadline, changing some terms, or just reminding folks of what comes next.

But, your emails might be overlooked, or worse yet, caught in spam filters. And did you remember to add everyone who needed this information on the message? Will you be able to quickly go back and confirm what was sent when, and to whom?

In this release, we’re really happy to introduce the Firmex Message Center – a straightforward and useful way for those of you running the show to communicate everyone in your deal.

Of course, you can still send messages using email. Just log in to Firmex, browse and select the individual, company, or permission group of users. Or better yet, just type in a few letters of their name in the To: box and see all your options.

And now with this release, you can also select to send a message to a user’s Firmex Message Center – so next time they log in, they will see their unread messages in a central location.

And for those very important messages, have them displayed on a schedule, to the users you want, front and center in their Firmex application. Display the highest priority ones at the top automatically, with colored backgrounds indicating their importance. Format your messages using Rich Text to make sure you get your point across clearly. And schedule messages to start and expire when you want.

Of course you always want your deal or project to run as smoothly as possible, and our team is working hard to help in every way we can.

More on other highlights of this release coming soon.

How to Lose a Billion Dollars

2011-08-04T09:30:20Z

One of my favourite books is Billion Dollar Lessons by Paul Carroll and Chunka Mui. The book is distilled from researching 2,500 significant business failures. The authors describe:

The extent of the failures was stunning. Since 1981, 423 U.S. companies with assets of more than $500 million filed for bankruptcy. Their combined assets at the time of their bankruptcy filings totaled more than $1.5 trillion....Their combined annual revenue was almost $830 billion.

Seven common mistakes they list are:

Illusion of Synergy
Faulty Financial Engineering
Deflated Roll-ups
Staying the (Misguided) Course
Misguided Adjacencies
Fumbling Technology
Consolidation Blues

Among the many examples in the book is Iridium, the disastrous Motorola satellite phone spin off that lost billions. The assumption was that people would not mind stepping outside to make a phone call. Or Conseco’s acquisition of Green Tree Financial, famous for giving 30-year mortgages on mobile homes that amortize in a much shorter time than the mortgage. This led to Conseco’s 2002 Chapter 11 filing in 2002. Even better known was the AOL/Time Warner tie up, based on imaginary synergies which were disastrous for Time Warner!

While all these “lessons” are fascinating perhaps the biggest take away is:

CEO’s desire to leave a legacy and do something bold - especially since the CEO has already accumulated enough money to retire there is little personal risk
Tendency for the CEO to be surrounded by “yes” men/women

Carroll and Mui’s advice?

The strategy-making process is very faillable. Be open to be challenged by management and get a second opinion.

Top 3 reasons why SaaS is critical in a successful IT strategy

2011-07-19T08:59:03Z

The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business model of internet-based software has already transformed the way we manage our personal lives and analysts continue to predict that SaaS will further revolutionize the workplace for several key reasons:

Lower total cost of ownership for users. SaaS providers can offer businesses a lower price because they can pass on their lower costs of development and distribution
More freedom for users to compare vendors. Companies can evaluate services for a fit to their business before taking on significant financial or operational risk
Better features and service for users. The relatively low switching costs of SaaS versus traditional on-premise software forces SaaS providers to focus on features and services to retain clients

Respected IT research firm Gartner is predicting that businesses will increase spending on SaaS implementations by nearly 21% in 2011 vs. 2% for on premise software. SaaS solutions have been evolving for more than a decade with steadily growing adoption rates. The research shows that SaaS has achieved mainstream credibility in the market. Analysts are predicting that SaaS adoption will accelerate in the next year given increasingly tight IT capital budgets, which is pushing many more CIOs and IT leaders to embrace the economics of computing on a subscription or pay-per-use basis.

Research Vice President at Gartner, Tom Eid, had this to say, "Initial concerns about security, response time and service availability have diminished for many organisations as SaaS business and computing models have matured and adoption has become more widespread."

As a SaaS solution for document sharing and collaboration, Firmex virtual data rooms are designed to tackle many of the strategic IT challenges that face law firms, financial advisors, and corporations.

On August 22, I will be presenting at the 2011 ILTA Conference (International Legal Technology Association) with a panel of experts to discuss the impact of SaaS on IT strategy and tools to share documents for litigation and corporate transactions. If you are going to be attending ILTA, please drop by booth #127 to meet the Firmex team.

M&A market activity and trends

2011-07-12T13:30:48Z

Marlin & Associates has issued our July 2011 Market Update. As you will see, it provides our sense of M&A values, activity and trends for the dozen plus technology, information and healthcare sectors that we follow.

Click here for our Market Update.

Source: Marlin & Associates, Capital IQ and Public sources. All data as of 6/30/11. Transactions are meant to reflect overall industry rather than be a comprehensive list of all transactions.

There were some sizeable transactions in June, including:

S1 Corporation and Fundtech announce agreement to merge; valued at $700M
DST Systems acquires Subserveo
Ericsson acquires Telcordia Technologies for $1.15B
Fiserv acquires CashEdge for $465M
Solera Holdings completes acquisition of Explore Information Services for $520M
Visa acquires Fundamo for $110M
DG FastChannel acquires MediaMind Technologies for $517M

It is also important to note that for the sectors that we track, valuations have recovered and companies are trading close to or in line with valuations before the economic downturn in 2008.

Revenue multiples have shown more improvement compared to valuations based on EBITDA.
Enterprise software & systems companies and healthcare provider systems & services companies have improved significantly since 2008 and are trading at new 5-year "highs".
SaaS revenue multiples are also above 2007 levels.

It has been a busy month for us. We advised Subserveo on its sale to DST Systems (noted above). We were also recognized with six “Deal-of-the-Year” awards for advising on recent significant merger-and-acquisition transactions. We are always honored to be recognized for helping technology-enabled firms successfully transact.

Marlin & Associates is an independent boutique financial and strategic advisory firm and investment bank focused on advising owners and managers of U.S. and international companies that provide technology, digital information, and healthcare-related products and services. The firm is based in New York City, with offices in Washington, DC and Toronto, Canada and has been the recipient of numerous awards including “Middle Market Corporate Deal-of-the-Year”; “Middle Market Financing Agent-of-the-Year”; “Middle Market Financial Technology Deal-of-the-Year”; “Middle Market Financial Services Deal-of-the-Year”; “Middle Market Information Technology Deal-of-the-Year”; “Middle Market Professional Services Deal-of-the-Year”; “International Technology Deal-of-the-Year”; “Middle Market Computer and Information Technology Deal-of-the-Year”; “Middle Market Financing Deal-of-the-Year”; and “Middle Market International / Cross-Border Deal-of-the-Year”. In addition Marlin & Associates has twice been named as the “Middle-Market Investment Bank of the Year.”

M&A’s senior members have come together from some of largest and most prestigious global companies. Our professionals include executives with operating backgrounds as well as investment bankers with extensive transactional experience. Together, they have advised on over 200 successfully completed transactions in eleven countries.

Blog

Mining M&A Up Fifty Percent To End the Year

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4 Tips on Closing a Buyer

Four Facets of a Good Courtship

Qualify the Buyer:

Be Transparent and Upfront:

Be Organized:

Make Sure your Management Team is Onside:

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M&A Master Class Series - Part 1 Recap

TREND 1: CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS

TREND 2: USING EXCESS CASH TO BUY vs. BUILD TECHNOLOGY

TREND 3: SLOW DOWN ON CROSS BORDER TRANSACTIONS

TREND 4: DEALS ARE TAKING LONGER TO CLOSE

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ILTA Conference 2011 Day 1

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