| March 2013:
IBM announces it has completed the acquisition of Star Analytics.
IBM announced it has completed the acquisition of the software portfolio of Stratagem client, Star Analytics, Inc., a privately-held business analytics company. According to IBM, the combination of IBM and Star Analytics' software will help clients automatically integrate essential information, reporting applications and business analytics tools across their enterprise.
You can read the entire press release here:
IBM Completes Acquisition of Star Analytics, Inc
We are excited that Star and its investors have been able to gain the fruits of their hard efforts with this sale to IBM and are proud to have advised Star during the detailed marketing, negotiation and due diligence of this deal.
March 2013:
Tripwire anncounces nCircle acquisition.
Tripwire annouced its acquisition of nCircle to create a $140M company poised to lead multi-billion dollar strategic risk and security market.
You can read the entire press release here:
Tripwire, Inc. Acquires nCircle
Stratagem advised Cambia in a prior sale to nCircle in which a portion of the consideration was paid in privately-traded nCircle stock. This deal this marks the successful completion of that prior sale for the Cambia team and its investors.
In that original sale, David Meltzer, the Founder and CTO of Cambia, became the CTO and VP of Engineering of nCircle, demonstrating the value of the Cambia technology and team. Likewise in the nCircle sale to Tripwire, David's talent has been recognized as he is now VP, Engineering at Tripwire.
February 2013:
IBM announced definitive agreement to acquire assets of Star Analytics.
IBM is increasingly focusing attention on the analytics market and as part of that overall corporate strategy has announced its definitive agreement to acquire the software assets of Stratagem client, Star Analytics. The Star team will excitedly be joining IBM as part of this acquisition.
According to Leslie Rechan, IBM General Manager Analytics, IBM sees an enormous opportunity for its clients to apply Star Analytics to the information they have stored in their financial applications and to then easily access it within their IBM performance management and business intelligence solutions.
You can read the entire press release here:
IBM to Acquire Star Analytics, Inc
While the deal value was unannounced, the deal received notable media attention with write ups from industry-leading publications across a sphere of market sectors including Forbes, Bloomberg, MarketWatch, CIO, The 451 Group, ZDNet, eWeek, SmartData Collective, Slashdot, Motley Fool and many others.
You can read some of the press coverage here:
eWeek:
http://www.eweek.com/database/ibm-buys-star-analytics-in-self-service-big-data-play/
Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2013/02/01/ibm-to-buy-star-analytics/
SmartData Collective:
http://smartdatacollective.com/robert-kugel/103166/ibm-acquire-star-analytics-financial-data-integration
April 2012:
Proofpoint completes successful IPO on NASDAQ providing boost to NextPage valuation and liquidity.
Proofpoint, a pioneering company in Security as a Service, began trading on NASDAQ after completing a successful IPO led by Credit Suisse Securities and Deutsche Bank Securities. The offering was priced at $13.00 per share, above the price range on the prospectus of $10.00-$12.00 per share. The IPO raised over $92 million including the underwriters options. The share price then opened 30% above the IPO offering price. The value of the company is over 6 times its 2011 revenue.
You can read the press release from the IPO here:
Proofpoint, Inc. Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering
With this public offering of Proofpoint stock, NextPage and its investors received a notable boost to the value and liquidity of the Proofpoint stock it recieved in the sale of NextPage to Proofpoint.
At Stratagem, we are proud of what both Proofpoint and NextPage have accomplished. We are also proud to have introduced these companies so that they could combine forces to deliver leading edge information security and governance.
You can read some of the press coverage here:
MercuryNews.com:
Proofpoint finds eager buyers in IPO, stock increases on open market
February 2012:
Stratagem Partnering CEO, Brian Mutert, serves as mentor to IBM SmartCamp finalists.
SmartCamp is an exclusive event aimed at identifying early stage entrepreneurs who are developing business ventures that align with our IBM Smarter Planet vision. These mentoring and networking events put entrepreneurs in touch with investment firms, serial entrepreneurs, academics, marketing, communications, and technology experts that can help accelerate the solutions of startup companies to market.
In 2010 and 2011, IBM held SmartCamp in 9 cities around the world, including emerging markets. In each location, five finalists were selected for a one-day event to network with 25 world-class entrepreneurs, investors, and industry experts.
For the Global SmartCamp Finals week of events, IBM planned a full day of mentoring sessions on Wednesday February 1 for the winners from each of the 9 events around the world. This event was held at the Bentley Reserve in San Francisco's financial district.
Profitero won the IBM Global Enterpreneur of the Year; IDXP won the People's Vote Award.
January 2012:
Benu, the leader in healthcare exchanges merges with ClearBenefits, a leading SaaS vendor of health benefits management solutions.
Located in Santa Clara, CA, ClearBenefits offers benefits enrollment technology, benefits outsourcing, employee communication and wellness services through a robust multi-tenant SaaS platform. The company's flexible benefits platform is used by companies in industries ranging from healthcare to technology to business services.
Founded in 1999, ClearBenefits has more than a decade of experience providing best of breed benefits management technology, support and integrated administration services and was one of the first to offer a SaaS-based solution. Early online solutions were designed to eliminate paperwork and streamline processes in the human resources department. With ClearBenefits’ market expertise, it led the expansion of benefits management software to include sophisticated rules and logic to handle the complex world of benefits management.
Since 2001, Benu has been a market leader in developing and managing Healthcare Exchanges which are marketplaces for health insurance companies to sell their products side-by-side and compete for members by enabling consumer choice and pricing transparency. Fundamental to Benu’s approach for Healthcare Exchanges is its proprietary Risk Adjustment Solution. Risk Adjustment aligns premium and risk for Healthcare Exchange participants ensuring the long term viability of the exchanges.
In looking at merging, the two companies saw important synergies in their product sets and tremendous opportunity to leverage sales through their complimentary distribution channels. In addition, the companies would achieve superior economies of scale to bolster both their financial as well as competitive positions
Stratagem Context: Stratagem led ClearBenefits M&A efforts introducing multiple prospective buyers within a very short period of time. This successful effort notably increased ClearBenefits’ negotiation position with Benu to markedly increase the deal value ClearBenefits received. As with all private-to-private transactions, there were numerous challenges in closing the transactions that Stratagem helped ClearBenefits navigate.
January 2012:
Proofpoint acquires NextPage to add enterprise governance solution in advance of IPO.
NextPage developed a groundbreaking solution to dramatically enhance the information governance capabilities in enterprises and significantly reduce costs in the case of eDiscovery situations. This solution was proven in notable accounts – particularly in information sensitive market segments. With NextPage, organizations can track and act on any information—regardless of where it’s stored. Using patent pending algorithms for detecting and maintaining a “Digital Thread,” NextPage acts like both a GPS for documents (it knows where and what they are) and a remote control (it can control their lifecycles by applying policies). NextPage does not require users to store documents in a central repository, and unlike Information Rights Management solutions, NextPage does not require users to change their day-to-day work patterns or habits.
NextPage’s patented Digital Thread technology fingerprints documents and track their versions and destinations across disparate systems. NextPage’s solution allows organizations to sift through their data, tracking multiple copies of documents against their internal document retention policies and then sends them to low cost storage or disposes of them entirely.
Proofpoint is a rapidly growing provider of security-as-a-service using cloud technologies to deliver its breakthrough service. As a result, the company was able to go public in a successful IPO in April 2012. As part of its clear strategy to expand its product line, Proofpoint had previously acquired email archiving and eDiscovery capabilities. The acquisition of NextPage adds file archiving and governance to its product portfolio. In addition, in the acquisition, Proofpoint gained key talent, including NextPage’s CEO, Darren Lee, who was promoted to run Proofpoint’s entire Governance and Archive business unit.
In looking at merging, the two companies saw important synergies in their product sets and tremendous opportunity to leverage sales through their complimentary distribution channels. In addition, the companies would achieve superior economies of scale to bolster both their financial as well as competitive positions
Darren Lee, NextPage's CEO had this to say: “Stratagem brings great assets in their domain expertise, industry relationships and solid work ethic. Just focusing on their industry relationships, we were able to meet with players from all key companies that had an interest in NextPage as an acquisition candidate. This included introducing Proofpoint to us at a critical time that led to closing our acquisition by them.”
Stratagem Context: Stratagem introduced NextPage and Proofpoint where neither company was aware of the other prior to that introduction. Once introduced, Stratagem worked side-by-side with NextPage in making the strategic pitch to Proofpoint and continued to help NextPage foster the relationships that led to the deal.
January 2011:
Google acquires Stratagem client, eBook Technologies, a leading provider of advanced EPUB-compliant software for eReading systems. In the process, Google picks up key talent that virtually founded the eBook market and continues to lead the direction of EPUB and related standards.
eBook Technologies Inc. (ETI) boasts what is arguably the most advanced and richest set of software solutions to power eReading systems thanks to an accumulated investment of $50 million and 200 developer years in R&D. Further, ETI, led by founders John Rivlin and Garth Conboy, due to its long history in this market, has been instrumental in creating and advancing EPUB and other important standards driving the electronic publishing industry.
ETI’s software delivers a fast, efficient and high fidelity EPUB renderer, and importantly, offers key advances to address next generation issues. Due to its longevity and continual breakthroughs in the business, ETI has amassed a wealth of IP.
Google clearly recognized the value that ETI and its team bring as Google rapidly advances its position in this exploding and strategically important market. We look forward to watching Google and ETI leverage their talents to bring exciting platforms for tablets and e-reading systems to tens, if not hundreds, of millions of users worldwide.
Commenting on Stratagem’s impact, John and Garth said:
“The Stratagem team did a great job guiding us through the entire sale process including developing marketing materials, introducing us to prospects, helping us through the negotiation and managing a very detailed due diligence process with Google. Hopefully we'll get a chance to do it again!”
Stratagem Context: Stratagem served as ETI’s exclusive financial advisor and led its entire M&A efforts in this exciting, industry-shaping transaction. We worked side-by-side with the ETI team to gain audiences with and market ETI to Google and several of the other largest players in the market. Beyond just successfully marketing the opportunity, Stratagem’s insight and experience from our work on over 100 transactions were particularly essential in helping ETI navigate numerous issues that often derail similar complex transactions while bringing this acquisition to fruition.
November 2010:
Stampede Technologies, long-standing technology leader in WAN Optimization, is acquired by Comtech EF Data, a dominant provider of satellite bandwidth efficiency solutions for the military market.
Comtech EF Data has been a dominant provider of satellite bandwidth efficiency solutions for the military market. As the market evolved to be more dominated by HTTP/HTTPS traffic and more browser-based applications came on-stream, advanced WAN Optimization became an increasingly critical competitive factor for Comtech. Likewise, Comtech coveted the large commercial satellite market and was looking for a compelling entry point and competitive offering.
Stampede, one of the earliest providers and long-standing technology leaders of WAN Optimization solutions, provides a critical boost up in both of Comtech’s target market segments and greatly advanced Comtech’s key strategic initiatives. In particular, Stampede excels at the difficult task of Layer 7 application acceleration, particularly in HTTP/HTTPS environments where Stampede has demonstrably the best optimization. Furthermore, Stampede crafted a technology architecture that allows it to deliver solutions at a far better total cost of ownership than their larger competitors.
The fit between the two parties is excellent. Daniel Enns, Comtech’s Senior Vice President Strategic Marketing and Business Development, stated “the combined solutions enable Comtech EF Data to provide unrivaled satellite bandwidth savings and link utilization.”
Stratagem Context: Stratagem led Stampede’s M&A efforts to this successful conclusion in spite of a very difficult economic climate even though Stampede competitors were also marketing themselves for sale concurrently with our work. The key elements to success were maintaining a strong focus on Stampede’s differentiation and value add throughout the negotiation process with a seasoned acquirer.
Read the press release
http://www.comtechefdata.com/newsreleases/11042010.asp
November 2010:
WebVisible Founder, Kirsten Mangers, Named Woman Entrepreneur of the Year.
Kirsten Mangers, Founder of Stratagem client, WebVisible, was named Woman Entrepreneur of the Year by the United States Global Entrepreneurs Association (USGEA).
Kirsten co-founded WebVisible in 2001 to help small businesses get leads online coming from her directly relevant experience as VP of Interactive Sales for SBC (now AT&T). Since co-founding the company, she led WebVisible’s growth and secured three rounds of funding. Coming off of a year in 2009 when WebVisible grew revenues by 113%, the Company closed a $20 million Series C financing, led by Focus Ventures and Adams Street Partners, with continuing participation by previous investors, Redpoint Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures.
Kirsten’s prior accolades are also impressive. In 2009, Kirsten received the Outstanding Woman in Technology Award from TechAmerica and recently was a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Orange County/Desert Region.
Stratagem Context: Stratagem was WebVisible’s exclusive advisor in introducing the Company to and representing WebVisible in its $5 million Series A funding with Redpoint Ventures. During that effort, Stratagem also introduced WebVisible to Sutter Hill Ventures, which led WebVisible’s $12 million Series B financing roughly one year later. Stratagem is proud to have identified such a compelling young business being run by such a dynamic founder and to have led the Company in its early capital formation that enabled it to grow to its current state.
Read the press release:
http://webvisible.com/about-us/news-room/press-releases/announcement.php?ID=65
February 2010:
VMWare acquires Ionix assets from EMC for $200 million to deliver improved management and deployment of servers and applications in a virtualized data center.
EMC, one of the definitive leaders in IT infrastructure, sold key software products and expertise from its Ionix IT management business to VMWare in an all cash transaction for up to $200 million. A key part of the transaction was EMC’s Service Manager product line (historically from a Stratagem client, Infra Corporation, which EMC acquired in 2008 in Stratagem’s largest deal in its 20+ year history).
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VMWare is clearly the leading vendor of virtualization and cloud enablement platforms with revenues of $2 billion. To maintain its lead and differentiation versus notable competitors such as Citrix and Microsoft, VMWare is devoting considerable resources to maintaining and advancing its lead in the efficient management of virtualized data centers. Hence, this acquisition plays a critical role in VMWare maintaining its market-leading position.
While the Ionix assets were an important contributor to EMC’s business, the assets are likely to be even more valuable in the hands of VMWare where their capabilities can be leveraged with VMWare’s virtualization offerings for even greater strategic value. In the deal, EMC still maintains the brand name and reseller rights to the line to continue to deliver these core IT management capabilities to their clients and compete more directly with IBM, HP, BMC, CA and others. Further, EMC gains by advancing the business of VMWare, of which it owns a substantial majority stake.
Stratagem Context: Stratagem was Infra’s exclusive advisor in representing Infra to EMC and all other strategic and financial acquirers. As a rapidly growing and extremely profitable company, it was a prized asset, albeit with the notable challenges of being headquartered in Australia and having huge competitors in IBM, HP, BMC, CA and others. Stratagem not only led the sale, obtaining multiple offers on the company, but achieved a valuation that was the largest in Stratagem history and one of the largest software acquisitions in Australian history. We are also happy that as a result of this transaction, the Infra team is joining the vibrant and rapidly growing firm, VMWare.
Read the press release http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/emc-ionix.html
February 2010:
WebVisible Raises $20 Million Series C Financing, Led by Focus Ventures and Adams Street Partners with Continuing Participation by Redpoint Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures.
After a year in 2009 where WebVisible grew revenues 113%, the Company plans further rapid expansion in 2010 aided by a new round of capital. The Company announced the closing of a $20 million Series C financing led by Focus Ventures and Adams Street Partners. Previous investors of Redpoint Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures also participated in the round, continuing their support for the Company.
Focus Ventures provides expansion stage venture capital for leading technology companies, seeking companies that have completed the initial development phase of their product or service, have demonstrated clear market acceptance, and are seeking additional capital to expand their sales and marketing efforts and/or to execute strategic acquisitions. Hence WebVisible is the perfect type of investment for Focus Ventures. Commenting on WebVisible’s growth, Steven Bird, a General Partner at Focus Ventures said, “to achieve that kind of growth during one of the most tumultuous years in recent history shows the strength of the company and the vibrancy of the industry sector.”
Adams Street Capital is one of the oldest and largest firms offering growth capital and private equity and has funded over 220 companies since its inception in 1972. The firm currently invests from more than $1.1 billion in actively managed funds. Adams Street partner, Dave Welsh stated “"WebVisible has eight years of experience as a leader in local online advertising, a proven scalable platform able to serve the needs of merchants around the world, and a forward-thinking leader who has walked the talk.”
Stratagem Context: Stratagem was WebVisible’s exclusive advisor in introducing the Company to and representing WebVisible in its $5 million Series A funding with Redpoint Ventures. During that effort, Stratagem also introduced WebVisible to Sutter Hill Ventures, which led WebVisible’s $12 million Series B financing roughly one year later. Stratagem is proud to have identified such a compelling young business and to have expertly led the Company in its early capital formation.
Read the press release
http://webvisible.com/about-us/news-room/press-releases/announcement.php?ID=43
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.
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." |
