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News Briefs
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March 2008:
EMC Acquires Infra Corporation Pty Ltd., ITSM Leader, as foundation management infrastructure for Closed Loop Service Orchestration.
Largest deal in Stratagem's 20-year history.
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EMC, one of the definitive leaders in the IT infrastructure, has acquired Stratagem client, Infra. EMC's strategic rationale is to leverage Infra's pure web-based ITSM solution as a foundation platform for its growing Closed Loop Service Orchestration strategy.
Sydney-based Infra has been a rapidly-growing and highly-successful vendor of ITSM solutions since 1991. After building a market-leading position in its home base of Australia, Infra was achieving growing success in the US and Europe in spite of its small size compared to its primary competitors of HP, BMC and CA. It did so based on its pure web architecture and native ITIL technology foundation.
Infra's customer wins include several Tier One accounts such as USAA, Adobe and PPG Industries in the US; and EDF Energy, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and the UK Atomic Energy Authority in Europe. Gartner recognized Infra's increasingly prominent position by placing it in a highly favorable position in its most recent report on the ITSM market. EMC recognized the opportunity to leverage this leading technology as a key foundation for its growing management software infrastructure.
Stratagem Context:
Stratagem led Infra's entire M&A and partnering efforts, pitching to the most prominent strategic buyers as well as many of the largest and most prestigious private equity firms. Our marketing success was evident by the fact that we received multiple offers for the company from these prominent firms. Stratagem led the negotiating efforts to bring each of these offers to a refined and detailed letter of intent and continued to stay extremely active during the due diligence and final legal process.
Clearly, this is an industry shaping transaction as it combines the world leader in IT infrastructure with the leading technology in IT Service Management built entirely on a web and ITIL platform. The prize is a $10 billion market for IT Service Management in the throws of a huge replacement cycle. We are proud to have executed such an important industry transaction - the largest in Stratagem's history.
March 2008:
Gartner-recognized leader in Enterprise Feedback Management, CustomerSat, merges with MarketTools to enable MarketTools to lead new category of Customer Insight Management
CustomerSat, a 10-year old firm, recognized by Gartner as one of a small set of leaders in Enterprise Feedback Management, had built a fast-growing, consistently-profitable, and highly-recurring SaaS business. Further, it did so on a minimum of outside capital. As a result of this track record, the company was approached by multiple players in the industry who were interested in acquiring it.
CustomerSat's founder, chairman, and CEO selected Stratagem to help the company formalize, evaluate, and optimize these and other options. Among offers from both publicly-traded and privately-traded companies, the strategic fit, personality match, and long-term opportunity led to CustomerSat's merger with MarketTools in March, 2008.
As a result of our work, CustomerSat’s founder and CEO, John Chisholm had the following to say.
"Having successfully grown a profitable business to the point that industry leading companies are interested in acquiring it, an entrepreneur might be excused for believing that the M&A process should be straightforward and readily manageable. It is not. The legal, financial, tax, and negotiating complexities are many and deep. There is no way we could have first framed and then chosen from among our many options in such an informed way, and successfully closed our merger with MarketTools, without the skill, guidance, diligence, and professionalism of Stratagem. Especially in Software as a Service (SaaS), CustomerSat’s market space, Stratagem brings a wealth and depth of knowledge, experience, and context that enables a CEO and management team to be efficient and focus on running their business while having the confidence that the M&A process is in good hands and staying on track. I heartily recommend them."
Stratagem Context:
Stratagem led every stage of the strategic partnering process, from evaluation of options, to building financial models and presentations, to negotiating the LOIs and definitive agreement, and finally, to the detailed due diligence process. As the company continued its focus to execute on its business plan, Stratagem picked up much of the effort to shepherd this transaction through the process to completion.
We are proud to have led this deal to conclusion and for having provided such a high level of service in the process.
You may read the entire MarketTools press release at:
MARKETTOOLS ACQUIRES CUSTOMERSAT
March 2008:
WebVisible secures $12M Series B Financing from Sutter Hill Ventures and Redpoint Ventures
WebVisible, Inc., a global leader in local interactive advertising, announced that it had received $12 million in Series B funding, led by new investor Sutter Hill Ventures, with participation from existing investor Redpoint Ventures.
WebVisible, whose robust software platform manages interactive advertising campaigns for small-to-medium-sized businesses around the world, will use the funds to achieve the next level of technology innovation, promote growth in its reseller channels, and increase sales penetration. Additionally, the company will continue its international growth as sales partnerships surge throughout Europe with Asia Pacific and South America on the horizon.
Jim White, Managing Director at Sutter Hill states about the deal... "WebVisible’s comprehensive software platform and proven services solution are creating the online advertising standard for local merchants around the world,” White said. “Sutter Hill Ventures recognizes the global growth opportunities and importance of the local online advertising space. Our investment in WebVisible acknowledges their market leadership and innovation in interactive advertising technology solutions."
Stratagem Context:
Stratagem was the exclusive investment banker to assist WebVisible in its Series A investment with Redpoint Ventures, initiating the transaction by introducing the parties and leading the entire effort to a successful conclusion as more fully stated below. In addition, Stratagem introduced WebVisible to Sutter Hill during the Series A fund raising effort, thus paving the way for Sutter Hill's leading the Series B round of financing.
May 2007:
nCircle Completes Acquisition of Cambia Security to Dominate Agentless Security Management
nCircle, the leading provider of agentless security risk and compliance management solutions, completed the acquisition of Cambia Security, the leader in agentless configuration auditing. The combination is designed to enable enterprises to manage their security risk and automate compliance and auditing efforts with an integrated solution.
Abe Kleinfeld, President and CEO of nCircle states about the deal... "Cambia's best-in-class, proven agentless configuration compliance technology enables nCircle to deliver a security risk and compliance management solution that is unparalleled in the market today," "Our customers have seen significant benefits from nCircle's security risk solutions and are asking that we expand our agentless technology to address their configuration compliance challenges as well. This combination will transform the way enterprises perform these critical security and IT operations by providing a comprehensive solution for managing security risk and compliance."
Stratagem Context:
Cambia Security hired Stratagem to be the exclusive investment banker to assist Cambia in its strategic partnering process. On short notice, we were able to dive in and quickly market Cambia as a strategic partnering candidate to several potential strategic partners. After meetings with several interested parties, nCircle surfaced as the lead candidate to acquire the company.
March 2007:
Consona Completes Acquisition of KNOVA Software for $47M
Consona Corporation (formerly known as M2M Holdings),
a privately held holding company jointly owned by Battery Ventures and Thoma
Cressey Bravo, has completed its agreement to acquire KNOVA Software
Holdings Inc. in an all-cash transaction valued at $5.00 per share,
or $47 million.
Stratagem Context:
Onyx Software, now a subsidiary of Consona retained Stratagem to help the company formulate and execute
an aggressive buy-side partnering plan to grow top line revenue
and enhance its competitive position by strategically building out
the Onyx product line.
At the time that Onyx announced its agreement to be acquired by Consona, Stratagem
and the company had vetted several market sectors and specific opportunities
and had offers out on two potential acquisitions. One of these potential
acquisitions was for Onyx to acquire KNOVA.
The press release at the time of the acquisition announcement states the following. "The most immediate and obvious advantage of this acquisition is a broadened, more powerful customer management offering based on the individual strengths of the KNOVA and Onyx applications," said Jeff Tognoni, CEO of M2M Holdings. "Leveraging Onyx's leading Service-Oriented Architecture and KNOVA's existing application programming interfaces for customer relationship management integration, the two products can be quickly integrated with one another using Web services. In a short period of time, Onyx customers will be able to seamlessly enhance their application with sophisticated tools for the contact center, as well as with powerful Web-based self-service."
December 2006:
Home Director announces deal to acquire Destiny Networks, leader in home & theater control
Home Director, Inc., a provider of reliable infrastructure and control products for the Connected Home market, has acquired stratagem client, Destiny Networks, Inc., a leading provider of configurable home and theater control solutions.
Michael Liddle, CEO of Home Director stated, "[Homebuyers] want easier control of their home entertainment centers and whole house music systems. They want the ability to monitor and control the environment of their homes. They want solutions that integrate seamlessly with the convergence of data, voice, and video. And they want to do all of this with a platform that is 100% reliable and can scale to meet their future needs. We believe the combination of Home Director and Destiny Networks will enable the roll-out of products that meet these needs. The platform that Destiny Networks developed is the only one we've seen that can be widely deployed to the average homebuyer."
Stratagem Context:
Stratagem was hired as the exclusive agent to represent Destiny Networks in if efforts to find a merger partner for its powerful, leading-edge solution. Stratagem's team rolled up the sleeves to package and present the Destiny Networks solution to a broad variety of consumer electronics providers and distribution companies, including gaining quality interest from several of the top names in the business, as well as smaller and more aggressive companies, such as Home Director.
December 2006:
M2M Holdings Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire KNOVA Software for $47M
M2M Holdings,
a privately held holding company jointly owned by Battery Ventures and Thoma
Cressey Bravo, has announced a definitive agreement to acquire KNOVA Software
in an all-cash transaction valued at $5.00 per share,
or $47 million.
Stratagem Context:
Onyx Software, now a subsidiary of M2M Holdings, retained Stratagem to help the company formulate and execute
an aggressive buy-side partnering plan to grow top line revenue
and enhance its competitive position by strategically building out
the Onyx product line.
At the time that Onyx announced its agreement to be acquired by M2M, Stratagem
and the company had vetted several market sectors and specific opportunities
and had offers out on two potential acquisitions. One of these potential
acquisitions was for Onyx to acquire KNOVA.
August 2006:
Stratagem Client, Onyx Software, Completes Acquisition By M2M Holdings for $92M
Onyx® Software Corporation (NASDAQ: ONXS),
a worldwide leader in enterprise customer management and process
solutions, has completed its agreement to be acquired by M2M
Holdings Inc. in an all-cash transaction valued at $4.80 per share,
or $92 million. M2M is the a holding company of Made2Manage Systems,
Inc., is jointly owned by Battery Ventures VI, L.P. and Thoma Cressey
Equity Partners.
Stratagem Context:
Onyx retained Stratagem to help the company formulate and execute
an aggressive buy-side partnering plan to grow top line revenue
and enhance its competitive position by strategically building out
the Onyx product line.
At the time that Onyx announced its agreement to be acquired, Stratagem
and the company had vetted several market sectors and specific opportunities
and had offers out on two potential acquisitions. These external
growth drivers were factored into M2M's decision to move forward
with its acquisition offer.
In addition, Stratagem worked tightly with the company and its Board
of Directors to help them evaluate and then defend against two separate
hostile runs at Onyx by CDC Corporation, before accepting the subsequent
and superior offer by M2M. M2M's cash offer of $4.80/share was a
33% gain from the stock price at the time Onyx hired Stratagem.
June 2006:
Stratagem Client, Onyx Software, Signs Definitive Agreement To Be
Acquired By M2M Holdings for $92M
Onyx® Software Corporation (NASDAQ: ONXS),
a worldwide leader in enterprise customer management and process
solutions, has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by M2M
Holdings Inc. in an all-cash transaction valued at $4.80 per share,
or $92 million. M2M is the a holding company of Made2Manage Systems,
Inc., is jointly owned by Battery Ventures VI, L.P. and Thoma Cressey
Equity Partners. M2M plans to operate Onyx as a separate business
unit from Made2Manage and to vigorously support the Onyx product
line and customer base.
The transaction is expected to close in the third calendar quarter
of 2006, subject to approval by Onyx shareholders.
Stratagem Context:
Onyx retained Stratagem to help the company formulate and execute
an aggressive buy-side partnering plan to grow top line revenue
and enhance its competitive position by strategically building out
the Onyx product line. Stratagem worked integrally with the Onyx
executive and product teams to identify and evaluate solution areas
and prospective partners that would be most synergistic to Onyx
and that provide the highest growth potential and shareholder value.
At the time that Onyx announced its agreement to be acquired, Stratagem
and the company had vetted several market sectors and specific opportunities
and had offers out on two potential acquisitions. These external
growth drivers were factored into M2M's decision to move forward
with its acquisition offer.
In addition, Stratagem worked tightly with the company and its Board
of Directors to help them evaluate and then defend against two separate
hostile runs at Onyx by CDC Corporation, before accepting the subsequent
and superior offer by M2M. M2M's cash offer of $4.80/share is a
33% gain from the stock price at the time Onyx hired Stratagem.
According to Phil Minasian, Chief Strategy & Development Officer
at Onyx, "Partnering is always a tricky business, and Stratagem
was always right at my side, dependable, ready and able to offer
help, and 'dig in' in whatever way needed. Stratagem not only served
as a trusted advisor, but they also worked shoulder-to-shoulder
with us in doing the research, building the models, finding and
evaluating specific partner opportunities and negotiating with prospective
partners. In spite of a demanding workload and short timeframes,
Stratagem consistently delivered high quality work, efficiently
focused at the heart of the central issues. If you are looking for
truly collaborative and capable advisors with impeccable integrity,
I would highly recommend a close look at Stratagem."
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February 2006:
View from the Corner Office
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A discussion with Terry DiNatale & Kirsten Mangers
of SME Global Solutions -- WebVisible
Discussion dated November 3, 2005
From an old Chinese dictionary -- Yin and Yang:
"Yin is complimentary to Yang and vice versa. There does not exist
any antagonism between opposites in Nature. They are always complimentary."
Kirsten Managers and Terry DiNatale are truly the
embodiment of Yin and Yang. A fixture at nearly every major industry
event, we have watched as they have battled to establish an ongoing
business model for their effort - SME Global Solutions, in the emerging
local search/IYP marketplace. Even in the earliest days of their
efforts, before the Yellow Pages industry came to accept the Internet
as its newest growth platform, Kirsten and Terry were tireless in
their efforts to explain how this new media can work for traditional
print Yellow Pages publishers.
And then in mid-September, great news: SME Global Solutions, the
overall company that holds the WebVisible brand name, announced
it had secured $5 million in Series A financing from Redpoint Ventures.
SME Global Solutions will use the funding to grow a concentrated
local advertising service, WebVisibleTM, to serve exclusively its
growing list of local market customers and partnerships, including
Dex Media, BellSouth, Verizon, Yellowpages.com, Knight Ridder, Interland,
The Berry Company and others.
Kirsten Managers has guided the company as Founder and President
since 2001. Although she doesn't look a day over 30, Kirsten has
over 20 years of experience in the interactive and yellow pages
industries with GTE, Pacific Bell, and SBC; including positions
in Sales, Sales Management, Strategic Planning and Marketing. Previous
to WebVisibleTM, she has held positions with SBC Interactive, Go2
Systems and Engage Technologies as Vice President of Sales & Business
Development. She is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University in
California and heads the office in Irvine, California. When not
working, she loves to race "fast" cars (as she calls them).
Terry DiNatale co-founded the company in 2001 and has belied
his relaxed southern approach by aggressively established himself
as an effective presence in the online local advertising landscape,
laying the business foundation for what has become the 2005 evolution
of WebVisible. Terry has accumulated 25 years in the yellow pages
and local online industry in various sales, marketing, human resources
and product development positions. From 1999, Terry was Vice President
of Internet Sales and Marketing for BellSouth Intelligent Media
Ventures, LLC; then, Vice President and General Manager of Engage
Technologies Local Market division in 2000. Terry is a graduate
of the University of Georgia and an overly proud native of Atlanta.
Read the entire discussion at YP Talk's web site:
View
from the Corner Office
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September 2005:
WebVisible Receives $5M from Redpoint Ventures
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Stratagem secures Series A investment for burgeoning
leader in local online advertising from premier venture capital
firm.
Stratagem Context:
WebVisible, (pka SME Global Solutions) is one of the emerging leaders
in the exciting and fast growing local online advertising market.
Specifically, WebVisible's software and services solution enables
any firm with an ad sales channel that touches local merchants to
easily sell, deliver and manage online advertising. Leveraging the
founders' long history in the Yellow Pages industry, the company
built an admirable early lead with customer such as Dex Media, Interland,
BellSouth, Verizon and others. What they needed was an infusion
of operating capital to grow their business and to expand their
lead in this hot market.
While the founders had a wealth of operating experience, they had
virtually none in the venture capital arena. Stratagem entered and
orchestrated the entire fund raising process for the company from
market preparation through deal closure. Our market preparation
included writing the business plan, designing a complex forecasting
model and building the PowerPoint presentations. And on the front
line, we contacted and pitched VCs to secure meetings, managed the
meetings and follow ups, and ran the process to bring competitive
terms sheets to the table. Our efforts presented the founders with
attractive alternatives, from which they chose Redpoint Ventures,
one of the premier venture capital firms with a rich history of
highly successful investing.
"Stratagem designed and executed a fundrasing strategy that expertly
led us through the time consuming and delicate VC process. As a
result, we were able to close a highly attractive financing with
one of the most prestigious VC firms. We absolutely could not have
done it without their help." said Kirsten Mangers, Founder & CEO
of WebVisible.
"We interact with many investment bankers, but we were particularly
impressed with Stratagem's professionalism and high quality service."
said Greg Martin, Principal with Redpoint Ventures. "We would be
happy to work with them again and recommend them to others."
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July 2004:
FastObjects Acquired by Versant
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Versant has acquired FastObjects, the exclusive
North American distributor of the FastObjects database management
product, in an all cash transaction.
Stratagem Context:
We worked with FastObjects over a 7-month period to negotiate and
close the sale of FastObjects to Versant Corporation (NASDAQ: VSNT),
an industry leader in data management and integration software.
Initially, our negotiations were conducted with Poet Holdings, the
German-based owner of the FastObjects product line. Following Poet’s
merger with Versant, Stratagem led the continued negotiations with
Versant through deal closure.
Although the value was not announced, our work led to a 2.5-fold
valuation increase from the initial offer. Further, we significantly
improved the deal structure to an all-cash transaction, thus providing
immediate liquidity to the FastObjects shareholders. Finally, we
were able to negotiate a deal that satisfied the founder’s
personal desire to step aside upon deal closure.
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May 2004:
Merant acquisition completed by Serena for $380M
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Serena acquired Merant for a 34% premium over
Merant’s recent share price, with the combined company now
owning the number two market position in software configuration
management behind IBM/Rational.
Stratagem Context:
We worked with Merant during an 18-month buy-side engagement to
help Merant's new management define and execute an M&A and strategic
partnering strategy. Starting from a blank sheet of paper, we took
a lead role in defining a plan, putting new processes in place,
directly closing two transactions and advising on a third closed
transaction. Other deals were in the hopper when Serena made its
proactive offer. Our work contributed to Merant's share price tripling
during our engagement, and was further validated by comments from
Serena's CEO in the press conference announcing the merger.
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Apr 2004:
Novadigm acquisition completed by HP for $117M
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HP announced the completion of its acquisition
of Novadigm, a leader in IT Asset Management solutions. Novadigm
products are available from HP’s Software Global Business
and will be further integrated with the HP OpenView management software
portfolio.
Stratagem Context:
Novadigm was barely out of the development stage when the company
hired us to help it get to the next level. We succeeded at providing
the company with a range of strategic and financial options, with
Novadigm's Board choosing to go with an institutional investment round
we brought to the table and closed. This successful financing enabled
the company to build the solid business foundation it needed for
a subsequent NASDAQ IPO and eventual acquisition by its long-time
strategic partner, Hewlett-Packard.
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Mar 2004:
Merant announces agreement to be acquired by Serena for $380M
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The Boards of Directors of Merant and SERENA
Software announced that they reached agreement on the terms of a
recommended cash and share offer to be made by SERENA for the entire
issued and to be issued share capital of Merant, including all Merant
shares represented by Merant ADR’s.
Stratagem Context:
Merant was a Stratagem buy-side client. Our role with Merant is
summarized above, following the May, 2004 news brief on completion
of Serena's acquisition of Merant.
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Feb 2004:
Former CEO of Astound takes helm at FaceTime
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FaceTime Communications, a leading provider
of IM security and management solutions, announced the appointment
of Kailash Ambwani to CEO. Mr. Ambwani has a successful 15-year
track record with startup, early-stage and mid-size technology companies.
Most recently, Mr. Ambwani was COO with global P&L responsibility
for Genesys Conferencing, a leader in integrated audio, video and
Web conferencing services.
Stratagem Context:
Prior to Genesys, Kailash was president and CEO of Astound Inc.,
a leading provider of Web conferencing and real-time collaboration
solutions. While at Astound, Kailash hired us to help the company
build value through strategic partnering. Our efforts provided Astound
with a lucrative OEM partnership, a $5M strategic investment and
a $65M company sale to Genesys Conferencing - all within a 12-month
engagement.
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Feb 2004:
Novadigm announces agreement to be acquired by HP for $117M
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HP announced that it has signed a definitive
agreement to acquire Novadigm Inc., which will add powerful automation
capabilities to the HP OpenView portfolio. Novadigm is a leading
provider of policy-based change and configuration management software
that offers customers the flexibility to automate management of
software assets and heterogeneous resources.
Stratagem Context:
As an early stage enterprise software company, Novadigm engaged
us to cultivate strategic and financial options to help the company
get to the next level. Our role with Novadigm is summarized above,
following the April, 2004 news brief on HP's acquisition of Novadigm.
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Dec 2003:
Haansoft acquires Thinkfree
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Thinkfree, developer of an award-winning, all
Java office suite has been acquired by Haansoft, developer of the
#1 selling office productivity solutions in Korea. Thinkfree brings
to Haansoft valuable technology and distribution partnerships that
Haansoft can leverage to expand its business outside of Korea.
Stratagem Context:
We led the sale of Thinkfree to Haansoft, a public Korean software
company, in an all cash deal. During our engagement with Thinkfree
we also laid the groundwork for an OEM license deal with a top tier
enterprise software company and publishing agreements with two notable
retail software firms. We included terms in the Haansoft agreement
to provide Thinkfree shareholders with additional downstream consideration
from these partnerships.
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Oct 2003:
Documentum announces acquisition offer by EMC for $1.7B
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Documentum, Inc., a leader in enterprise content
management software, announced that it has reached a definitive
agreement to be acquired EMC, leader in information storage, in
a stock transaction valued at approximately $1.7 billion. This acquisition
combines two leading information-centric technology companies with
a shared commitment to enable organizations to maximize the value
of their information across the enterprise. Dave DeWalt, Documentum's
president and CEO, will become an EMC executive vice-president,
will run EMC's software business, and will retain his title as president
of the Documentum division.
Stratagem Context:
We worked side-by-side with Dave when he was the
VP of Sales & Marketing at Eventus, a company that we sold to
Segue Software. Thanks to our solid work and success, we have maintained
a close relationship with Dave and he is an enthusiastic supporter
of Stratagem. Dave also provides an avenue for us to arrange high
level meetings with Documentum for our synergistic clients.
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Jun 2003:
Geodesic acquisition completed by VERITAS Software
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VERITAS Software Corporation (Nasdaq: VRTS),
after its acquisition of Precise Software Solutions, the leader
in application performance management, completed the second stage
of a two-stage deal by acquiring the assets of Geodesic Systems.
Geodesic is the developer of REMIDI, a ground-breaking solution
that detects, diagnoses and automatically remediates destructive
software errors while the software is running. The companies’
combined offering will provide IT professionals a unique solution
to run mission critical applications with optimal performance and
continuous availability.
Stratagem Context:
We represented Geodesic Systems in this two-stage partnering deal
that began with a strategic financing (see January announcement
below) from Precise Software and subsequently led to this sale to
VERITAS. Geodesic developed and sold an innovative and highly technical
runtime application service level management solution. Precise,
and subsequently VERITAS, were interested in Geodesic’s unique,
patented solution because it could proactively repair applications,
in contrast to traditional reactive monitoring. VERITAS completed
the purchase of Geodesic after its acquisition of Precise. Because
of the specifics of the deal, the acquisition was structured as
an asset purchase.
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Jun 2003:
Stratagem President serves as one of four judges selecting winners
at Technologic Partners' Enterprise Outlook 2003 conference
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Technologic Partners, the publisher of VentureWire,
announced the winners of the Investors’ Choice award at the
conclusion of its two-day Enterprise Outlook private equity conference.
The award goes to the ten enterprise software and services startups
presenting at the conference judged most likely to succeed. The
winners are: Atomz, Celequest, Endeca, Exigen Group, Iteration Software,
Optiant, Perfect Commerce, Striva, Teamplate, and Trigo Technologies.
Stratagem Context:
Dick Shaffer, editor-in-chief of the VentureWire publications and
events, invited Stratagem president, Brian Mutert, to serve on the
panel of four judges that select the finalists for the Investors’
Choice Award. This conference brings together some of the most exciting
private companies in the Enterprise Software arena so that they
can present to a top-flight group of venture capitalists and investment
bankers. Dick and his team select the judges based on their industry
knowledge and reputation within the market. The awards are important
because they identify the companies most likely to success in high
growth, competitive markets – providing tremendous marketing
and visibility value. Three of the companies selected by Brain were
acquired within the next 12 months in high value transactions.
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Jun 2003:
Merant Delivers Major New Version of Industry’s Most Comprehensive
Change Management Platform
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Merant, a leading provider of software and services
that deliver flexible control of code, content and other business-critical
assets, introduces Dimensions Enterprise Edition, the first comprehensive
enterprise change management solution capable of supporting mainframe
and distributed platforms with a single, enterprise-wide repository.
Stratagem Context:
Merant hired Stratagem on an 18-month engagement to help the new
management define and execute an M&A and strategic partnering
strategy, with an early focus on partnerships to strengthen Merant’s
existing product line. Stratagem’s first transaction was an
OEM and joint-development agreement with Catalyst Systems that provided
Merant with two of the three major components included in Dimensions
Enterprise Edition: Dimensions for z/OS and Merant Build. The introduction
of Dimensions Enterprise Edition provides Merant with the ability
to more effectively compete with Serena and IBM/Rational for large,
enterprise-class sales.
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Apr 2003:
Evolve Software is acquired by Primavera Systems
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Evolve Software, the leading provider of service
delivery automation software has been acquired by Primavera Systems,
the leading provider of project management, execution and control
software and services. The combined private company will offer the
most complete set of project portfolio management solutions for
both project- and service-oriented organizations.
Stratagem Context:
Evolve hired Stratagem to bring capital into the company as it prepared
to ship its first product. The company was in a cash crisis, just
weeks away from laying off most of its staff and possible bankruptcy.
We brought multiple strategic and financial options to the table,
ultimately closing a bridge loan and $10M equity investment from
Sierra Ventures. It took less than three months from initial contact
to final funding. Evolve used the capital to successfully launch
its new product and to reach the IPO market only about 18 months
later.
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Jan 2003:
Geodesic signs strategic investment deal with Precise Systems
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Geodesic Systems, developer of a sophisticated
solution that causes server applications to run faster and crash
less often, has received a strategic investment from Precise Software
Solutions, the leader in application performance management. Under
the agreement, Geodesic also grants Precise OEM distribution rights.
With Geodesic’s solution in its product suite, Precise is
poised to dramatically change the complexion of the systems performance
and availability market. Precise will now be the only vendor in
this market capable of detecting, diagnosing and automatically remediating
highly destructive software problems while an application is running,
and without accessing or changing the source code.
Stratagem Context:
Stratagem represented Geodesic Systems in a two-stage partnering
deal: a strategic investment from Precise Software and subsequent
sale to Veritas Software (see June announcement above). In the first
stage, Stratagem secured $3M in strategic capital from Precise Systems
along with an OEM license agreement and a downstream purchase option.
In spite of the highly technical and novel nature of Geodesic’s
solution, we won audiences for Geodesic with the majority of leading
development tool and service management companies.
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