NEW YORK, NY and OSLO, NORWAY--(Marketwire - September 22, 2009) - Marlin & Associates New York
LLC ("M&A"), the boutique investment banking firm specializing in
acquisitions and divestitures of U.S. and international middle-market
technology, information and business services firms, today announced that
M&A client NYSE Euronext has signed an agreement to sell Hugin Group to
Thomson Reuters. As part of the agreement, Thomson Reuters and NYSE
Euronext will expand their strategic partnership toward offering
value-added services to the issuer community.
Based in Oslo, Norway, with offices in Paris, France, and Leipzig, Germany,
Hugin has built its position as the leading pan-European provider of
investor relations and press distribution services. Currently, Hugin helps
over 1,700 companies in Europe to meet their communications and disclosure
obligations. In recent years, Hugin has introduced solutions for the newly
implemented EU regulatory framework and continues to develop innovative
technology and workflow solutions for IR and PR professionals for the
global market.
Marlin & Associates initiated the transaction, managed the process,
assisted in the negotiations and acted as exclusive strategic and financial
advisor to NYSE Euronext. The transaction is expected to be completed in
the fourth quarter of 2009, subject to customary regulatory approvals.
"Hugin is an attractive company with well-respected products, broad
customer penetration and strong leadership," said Ken Marlin, M&A's Founder
and Managing Partner. "Several years ago, we advised the previous owners
of Hugin on their strategic options and on their ultimate sale to Euronext.
And, it was a particular honor to have NYSE Euronext select us to advise
them on this process. We're pleased with the results. Hugin should be a
great fit with Thomson Reuters."
About Hugin Group
Hugin Group is the leading pan-European provider of innovative services and
professional support for connecting communication professionals with their
target audiences. At the same time, Hugin ensures compliance with market
authorities' regulations. From its start in 1995, Hugin has pioneered the
regulatory and news distribution service industry, developing methods
driving best practice. Hugin helps companies with their complete
distribution and compliance needs. Hugin's distribution channels connect
companies directly to hundreds of thousands of journalists, analysts,
institutional investors and their specific stakeholders. Hugin Group is
the favored partner of Investor Relations and Public Relations Officers,
offering a full range of services including: financial, regulatory and
media news distribution, online services, broadcast services and client
services. Hugin Group today forms an international group present in 11
countries through 12 offices in Belgium, France, Denmark, Finland, Germany,
Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and The
United Kingdom. Hugin solution is technically integrated to 27 stock
exchanges in 15 markets. Hugin has more than 1700 clients in 26 countries.
For more information, go to
www.hugingroup.com.
About Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information
for businesses and professionals. It combines industry expertise with
innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision
makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, healthcare and science
and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization.
With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan,
Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people and operates in
over 100 countries. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the Toronto Stock
Exchange and New York Stock Exchange. For more information, go to
www.thomsonreuters.com.
The Corporate Services business of Thomson Reuters provides more than 6,000
corporations worldwide with solutions across the Investor Relations,
Corporate Communications, Treasury and Business Intelligence functions.
Leveraging more than two decades of experience, the solutions are designed
to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of business decision-making.
About NYSE Euronext
NYSE Euronext (NYX) is a leading global operator of financial markets and
provider of innovative trading technologies. The company's exchanges in
Europe and the United States trade equities, futures, options, fixed-income
and exchange-traded products. With more than 8,000 listed issues, NYSE
Euronext's equities markets -- the New York Stock Exchange, Euronext, NYSE
Arca and NYSE Amex -- represent nearly 40 percent of the world's equities
trading, the most liquidity of any global exchange group. NYSE Euronext
also operates NYSE Liffe, the leading European derivatives business and the
world's second-largest derivatives business by value of trading. The
company offers comprehensive commercial technology, connectivity and market
data products and services through NYSE Technologies. NYSE Euronext is in
the S&P 500 index, and is the only exchange operator in the S&P 100 index
and Fortune 500. For more information, please visit:
www.nyx.com.
About Marlin & Associates
Founded in 2002, Marlin & Associates New York LLC is a boutique investment
banking and strategic consulting firm focused on providing highly
strategic, transaction-related services to U.S. and international
middle-market firms engaged in technology, information, online media and
business services. The firm is based in New York City, with offices in
Washington, DC and Toronto, Canada. The firm has been the recipient of
numerous awards, including "Middle Market Investment Banking Firm of the
Year," "Middle Market Financing Agent of the Year - Equity" and numerous
"Deal of the Year" awards. M&A's professionals have advised on over 200
successfully completed transactions in the technology and information
services sector, recently including:
-- Vhayu Technologies of Los Gatos, CA, which M&A advised on its sale to
Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI).
-- Standard & Poor's of New York, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies
(NYSE: MHP), which M&A advised in the sale of its Vista Research subsidiary
to Guidepoint Global.
-- Tenfore of London, which M&A advised on its sale to Morningstar, Inc.
(NASDAQ: MORN).
-- LexisNexis of New York, a division of Reed Elsevier Group (LSE: REL),
which M&A advised in the sale of its Mealey's Conferences subsidiary to
Business Valuation Resources (BVR).
-- InfoDyne Corporation of Park Ridge, IL, which M&A advised on its sale
to International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM).
-- LowerFees, Inc. of Westlake Village, CA, which M&A advised on its sale
to Bankrate, Inc. (NASDAQ: RATE).
-- Netik LLC of London and New York, which M&A advised on its
simultaneous acquisition of Capco Reference Data Services and replacement
of its primary investor, The Bank of New York Mellon Corp, with Symphony
Technology Group.
-- Hemscott of London, a division of Ipreo Holdings LLC of New York
(principally backed by Private Equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson), which
M&A advised on the sale of Hemscott to Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN).
-- StarMine Corporation of San Francisco, which M&A advised on its sale
to Reuters (now Thomson Reuters) (NYSE: TRI).
-- Applied Financial Technology (AFT) of San Francisco, which M&A advised
on its sale to Lender Processing Services (NYSE: LPS), formerly a division
of Fidelity National Information Services (NYSE: FIS).
-- Ventyx, Inc, an affiliate of Vista Equity Partners of San Francisco,
which M&A advised in its acquisition of Global Energy Decisions of Boulder,
CO.
-- Xcitek LLC's Market Data Division of New York, which M&A advised on
its sale to Interactive Data Corporation (NYSE: IDC).
-- Brainpower N.V. of Lugano, Switzerland, which M&A advised on its sale
to Bloomberg L.P.
-- Cameron Systems (Vic) of Sydney, Australia, which M&A advised on its
sale to Orc Software of Stockholm (STKM: ORC).
-- Derivative Solutions of Chicago, which M&A advised on its sale to
FactSet Research Systems (NYSE: FDS).
-- Beauchamp Financial Technology Ltd. of London, which M&A advised on
its sale to Linedata Services of Paris (PARIS: LIN).
For more information, go to
www.MarlinLLC.com.
Contact Information: CONTACT:
Marlin & Associates
Contact@MarlinLLC.com
+1 (212) 257-6300