Data warehouse provider and M&A client Netik has completed a buyout of its business from The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation and simultaneously acquired Capco Reference Data Services (CRDS) from Capco. Netik is now pursuing a vision of transforming from a purely software business into a software and service business, bringing together the CRDS capability to scrub multiple data sources to create a “single version of the truth” with the Netik data warehouse technology for reporting and data management. The data warehouse fulfils the role of on–site “container” and handles downstream distribution of the cleansed data. The vendor says it is already working with five clients interested in this expanded service–based proposition.
The transaction was achieved through a strategic investment by Palo Alto–based Symphony Technology Group — which, via another fund, is also an investor in Capco. The fact that Symphony is now primary investor in both Netik and Capco is essentially a coincidence, according to Netik — with Symphony having been raised as a potential investor by Netik’s advisor in the deal Marlin & Associates — but is one element of synergy in a move described by Netik founder and CEO John Wise as “the most synergistic thing Netik has ever done”.
Under the new set–up, the entire CRDS business, including the assets acquired through its purchase of Iverson, its outsourcing deal with ING and the Reference Data Manager rules–based matching system it inherited post Capco’s abortive joint venture with Reuters (Synetix), transfers to Netik. Wise says all 160 employees will join Netik, including Brian Lott, the COO of CRDS. Post the acquisition, Netik has more than 260 staff in five centres – California, New York, London, Dubai and Bangalore – servicing more than 80 financial institutions in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and North America. Symphony is now the majority owner of Netik, with Bank of New York Mellon a minority stakeholder.