June 2005:
Stratagem Partnering Promotes William Anderson

Stratagem Partnering, a San Francisco investment bank focusing on strategic partnerships for software and Internet firms, announces the promotion of William Anderson to Analyst.

William has been with the firm since 2001 and is a primary asset in tracking the firms and trends in software and Internet industries as well as assisting with all client engagements. Prior to joining Stratagem, William performed research and analysis for Sectorbase, a financial services firm providing institutional investors with proprietary product-specific research across the technology, healthcare, media, and finance industries.

Before Sectorbase, William was the network administrator at Solid State Optronics, a designer and manufacturer of miniature, optically-isolated interface devices. He developed and implemented the company's internal and external networking strategy and acted as the liaison between the company and its technology partners.

"We're proud of the accomplishments William has achieved and the contribution he has made to Stratagem", said Brian Mutert, President and CEO of Stratagem. "We look forward to benefiting from his continued growth".

Based in San Francisco, Stratagem Partnering is a boutique investment bank founded in 1988 with the mission to provide software and Internet firms with a high value alternative to the typical cookie-cutter approach to strategic partnering. Stratagem (www.stratagem.com) has devoted the past 17 years to helping our clients with M&A, fund raising and other high value strategic partnering transactions with more than 100 successful transactions during this time.

July 2004:
FastObjects Acquired by Versant

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.

May 2004:
Merant acquisition completed by Serena for $380M

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.

Apr 2004:
Novadigm acquisition completed by HP for $117M

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 instutional 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.

Mar 2004:
Merant announces agreement to be acquired by Serena for $380M

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.

Feb 2004:
Former CEO of Astound takes helm at FaceTime

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.

Feb 2004:
Novadigm announces agreement to be acquired by HP for $117M

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.

Dec 2003:
Haansoft acquires Thinkfree

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.

Oct 2003:
Documentum announces acquisition offer by EMC for $1.7B

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.

Jun 2003:
Geodesic acquisition completed by VERITAS Software

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.

Jun 2003:
Stratagem President serves as one of four judges selecting winners at Technologic Partners' Enterprise Outlook 2003 conference

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.

Jun 2003:
Merant Delivers Major New Version of Industry’s Most Comprehensive Change Management Platform

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.

Apr 2003:
Evolve Software is acquired by Primavera Systems

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.

Jan 2003:
Geodesic signs strategic investment deal with Precise Systems

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.