February 22, 2016 FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY VOLUME AND VALUE SHOWS MAJOR UPWARD TREND

Berkery Noyes’ Financial Technology report for full year 2015 showed that transaction volume rose 14 percent on a year-to-year basis. Aggregate value more than doubled, from $27.81 billion to $63.78 billion. FIS’ acquisition of financial software company SunGard Data Systems for $9.1 billion was the industry’s largest deal since 2012, when Intercontinental Exchange acquired NYSE Euronext for $10.18 billion.

The Payments segment, after rising 46 percent in 2014, saw volume decrease 21 percent in 2015. In terms of value, five of the industry’s top ten largest deals during the year occurred in the segment. The highest value Payments transaction in 2015 was Global Payments’ announced acquisition of Heartland Payment Systems, which offers payment processing services to merchants, as well as those in several vertical markets such as the education sector, for $4.31 billion.

The number of deals in the Capital Markets segment increased 42 percent over the past year, making it the sector with the largest yearly gain. Intercontinental Exchange was responsible for two of the segment’s top ten highest value deals during the year with the acquisition of Interactive Data Corporation, a provider of financial market data and analytics, for $7.45 billion; and Trayport, which offers energy trading solutions to traders, brokers and exchanges, for $646 million.

“Significantly, the median revenue and EBITDA multiples in the Capital Markets sector during 2015 have trended well above those of the entire financial technology industry,” said Peter Ognibene, Managing Director at Berkery Noyes. “While it took this sector the longest to recover from the financial crisis, buyers are piling in now and really driving up prices. We’re also seeing an increased number of software providers who have a recurring revenue business model.”

As for other markets covered in the report, acquisition activity in the Banking segment increased 35 percent, from 62 to 85 deals. The largest Banking transaction in 2015 was Diebold’s announced acquisition of Wincor Nixdorf, a provider of IT solutions and services to banks and the retail sector, for $1.8 billion. Regarding the Insurance segment, volume increased 22 percent, from 51 to 62 transactions. The largest Insurance related deal in 2015 was Vista Equity Partners’ acquisition of Solera Holdings in the property and casualty (P&C) sector for $6.25 billion.