i-Deal LLC, a provider of capital markets workflow applications, and Hemscott Group Ltd, a provider of financial data and investor relations services, have merged.
The combined company has been named Ipreo LLC. Ipreo has also acquired Marketpipe, a UK-based provider of financial services technology focusing on new-issuance fixed income applications. Ipreo will have approximately 600 employees globally, based in the United States, United Kingdom, and India. Combined revenues will be approximately USD100 million for 2006. As a result of the transaction, Ipreo is majority owned by private-equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson LLC, with significant minority stakes held by Citibank and Merrill Lynch, the original sponsoring members of i-Deal. Under the new organisation, Scott Ganeles will be CEO, Kevin Marcus will be President and COO, and Ros Wilton will be Chairman.
i-Deal is a recognised leader in the capital raising and new issue arena, providing software and analytics to top investment banks globally across the equity, fixed income and municipal markets. Hemscott is an international supplier of business and financial information and online corporate investor relations solutions. Hemscott owns and operates an extensive proprietary database of company and contact information which it delivers to financial institutions and web portals throughout the US and UK. Hemscott also owns big dough, the premiere investor contact database and CRM system relied upon by both the investment banking and corporate investor relations communities globally.
Ipreo combines the market-leading solutions and high customer service standards already established by i-Deal and Hemscott in their respective market segments. Ipreo has been formed to leverage the combined offerings and expertise to provide enhanced connectivity between different players in the financial markets, connecting people, information and processes in ways that will integrate tasks, streamline workflows, and link parties together more effectively.
“Both firms are recognized leaders in their respective segments of the market, and both are driven by an innovative and entrepreneurial culture,” says Scott Ganeles, the CEO of Ipreo.
“The result is a company that is based on a solid foundation of experience and expertise, but with the scale and resources to provide enhanced services to a global market,” adds Ros Wilton, the Chairman of the combined group. “We are very pleased to have completed this merger, which creates a leading global financial information and services group. The merger further strengthens our group’s product offering and demonstrates the expansion we are committed to.”
The first initiative of the newly formed organisation is the acquisition of privately held Marketpipe, a UK-based provider of fixed income new-issue software applications. The company designs, licenses and operates some of the most technologically advanced applications in the financial markets.
With the acquisition of Marketpipe, Ipreo becomes the only truly global provider of new-issuance solutions in the fixed income space. This transaction will also significantly strengthen and further develop the new issue network that Marketpipe has been spearheading aroundthe standardisation and communication of fixed-income new issuance.