2008 Key Highlights
- The largest transaction for 2008 was
the CME Group’s acquisition of the New
York Mercantile Exchange for $9.03
billion.
- The most active buyer in the Financial
Technology & Information industry by
way of volume of announced transactions
for 2008 with 5 transactions was
Morningstar, Inc. (Tenfore Systems,
Ltd., 10K Wizard Technology, LLC,
InvestData Pty Ltd, Fundamental
Data Limited and Financial Computer
Support).
- The segment with the largest transaction
volume for 2008 was Trading Workflow
with 61 transactions.
2008 Key Trends
- Total transaction volume in 2008 decreased by only 1 percent over
2007 from 121 in 2007 to 120 in 2008.
- Total transaction value in 2008 decreased by 70 percent over 2007,
from $57.16 billion in 2007 to $17.15 billion in 2008.
- The segment with the largest increase in
volume in 2008 over 2007 was Trading
Workflow with a 22 percent increase
from 50 transactions in 2007 to 61
transactions in 2008.
M&A Market Overview
Despite a brutal market sell-off, the failure
of more than a few financial institutions
and the onset of a sharp recession, M&A
activity in the Financial Technology
and Information industry held steady
throughout the 4th qtr and 2008 as a
whole; at least in terms of the number of
transactions closed. As anticipated, we
saw a steep drop throughout the year, but
especially in the 4th quarter, of the large,
levered transactions which came to typify much of the M&A landscape
the previous few years. We have already begun to see transactions
where the Buyer is strategic and the size and scope of the deal are
decidedly "tactical" in nature and would expect continued acceleration
of that. As risk aversion continues among Buyers, these types of deals
will tend to proliferate as they carry a lower risk factor than larger
deals. We expect M&A activity to be most active among such niches as
Risk/Compliance, Data/Content and Services.