February 3, 2015 MAJOR DEAL ACTIVITY IN THE PAYMENTS SEGMENT LEADS TO AN ACTIVE 2014

Berkery Noyes’ Financial Technology report for full year 2014 revealed that transaction volume experienced an eight percent rise over the past year. Meanwhile, there was a 19 percent increase in the number of deals backed by financial sponsors, from 62 to 74 transactions.

Aggregate value increased from $27.37 billion to $28.66 billion, a five percent gain. The median revenue multiple improved from 2.3x to 3.0x, while the median EBITDA multiple rose from 11.9x to 13.3x. The upswing in valuations was driven in large part by Payments deal activity.

The Payments segment underwent a 44 percent rise in volume on a year-to-year basis. Moreover, four of the industry’s top five largest deals in 2014 occurred in the segment. The industry’s highest value transaction was Bain Capital, Advent International, and ATP Private Equity Partners’ acquisition of Nets Holding A/S, a provider of payments, information, and digital identity solutions, for $3.14 billion. Regarding the mobile payments subsector, the largest deal in 2014 was Intuit’s acquisition of Check for $360 million.

Transaction volume in the Capital Markets segment fell nine percent throughout the past year. This followed a 17 percent improvement from 2012 to 2013. In terms of value, four of the industry’s top ten largest deals in 2014 occurred in the segment. The largest Capital Markets transaction during the year was Centerbridge Capital Partners’ acquisition of IPC Information Systems, a provider of trading communication technology, for $1.2 billion.

Other notable deals in the segment included the acquisitions of Ipreo Holdings for $962 million and Deal Logic for $700 million. Ipreo, a provider of market intelligence, data, and technology solutions was acquired by Blackstone Group and Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR). This followed KKR’s acquisition of Ipreo for $425 million in 2011. Deal Logic, a data and analytics provider for financial institutions, was acquired by a consortium led by The Carlyle Group.