Archive for Author: Marlin & Associates

We are not big on valuing companies based on “multiples” – be it a multiple of this year’s or last year’s revenue, EBITDA, net income, book value, or any other lone financial metric. The drivers of value are much more complicated than can be reflected by financial multiples. Sector growth rates, competitive positioning, management strength, scarcity value, strategic fit, expected future unit growth rates, profit expansion potential, and a host other factors have significant impact on enterprise value. Nevertheless, we were somewhat nonplussed to see the multiples paid for several recent transactions including McGraw-Hill’s purchase of SNL and Nikkei’s purchase…

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Earlier this week, McGraw Hill Financial (“MHFI”) announced its intention to acquire Charlottesville, Virginia-based SNL Financial (“SNL”) for $2.225 billion. The sellers included New Mountain Capital, which acquired 60% of SNL Financial in July 2011, Reid Nagle (founder) and other members of SNL management. We see this as a very strategic transaction for MHFI. SNL Financial has a number of very deep industry specific data sets with accompanying analytics that are unique in the market data sector. SNL began by providing in-depth data related to the U.S. savings and loan industry (hence the name ‘SNL’). The company’s products enabled specific…

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A few weeks ago The Suit, an online magazine, interviewed our founder, Ken Marlin, for their July issue. They focused on the many ways in which my 10 years as a Marine shaped the way my firm approaches business in general and the m&a process in particular. As noted in the article, it is all about focus, expertise, commitment, and developing smart people who use repeatable approaches to problem solving. That is a disciplined approach that I learned as a Marine and one that we practice at our firm. Our approach works. That is why Marlin & Associates is one…

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