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Transactions

February 2020
New York, NY
has been acquired by
Chicago, IL


Background

Hanweck is a New York-based provider of real-time risk analytics on global derivatives markets, focusing on the large-scale risk challenges faced by banks, broker-dealers, hedge funds, central counterparties, and exchanges. For these institutions, the number of instruments used, and positions held, range in the millions. Hanweck delivers risk analytics as-a-service in flexible ways, from feeds to APIs, which dramatically simplifies integration with their customers’ risk architecture. 

Hanweck’s board of directors engaged Marlin & Associates to help them evaluate their strategic and financial options in 2018. M&A prepared materials, ran a competitive process, and brought several highly qualified potential partners to the table. After extensive discussions with multiple potential partners, Hanweck’s management team and board determined that it was in the interest of their shareholders to discontinue the process, execute on their growth plan for another year and revisit options at a later date. M&A maintained the relationship and Hanweck re-engaged M&A to advise them on a strategic inbound offer.



Overview

M&A used its transaction and operations expertise in capital markets and enterprise software in collaboration with the company’s management team to refine materials that clearly communicated the strength and depth of the company’s product offerings, strong competitive positioning, and impressive financial profile. Additionally, the M&A team helped the company validate its growth plan focused on growing their sales team, geographic expansion, and increased offerings across asset classes. 

M&A then worked with Management to progress the diligence process of the strategic inbound, while also identifying and soliciting a small, select group of both strategic industry players. 

Ultimately, Management and Hanweck’s board concluded that the strongest fit was the initial inbound offer from Cboe Global Markets, one of the world’s largest exchange holding companies. From the start, both management teams were excited about the opportunities presented by the combination of Hanweck’s industry-leading technology and Cboe’s network, team and global brand recognition.

M&A Role

Marlin & Associates acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Hanweck on its sale to Cboe. M&A leveraged its deep domain expertise in the data & analytics and capital markets technology spaces to conduct a methodical and disciplined competitive process involving multiple potential acquirers simultaneously. 

M&A helped Management and the Board to evaluate the competing offers, negotiate terms, manage the due diligence review process, and close a transaction with Cboe.

"Marlin worked closely with our management team and board to help us achieve a very positive outcome for all stakeholders," said Gerald A. Hanweck, Jr., founder and former CEO of Hanweck. "Their strategic guidance and financial advice enabled us to successfully navigate the complexities of the acquisition." 

 

 

 

 

 

Press

Marlin & Associates Advises Hanweck on its Sale To Cboe Global Markets

February 04, 2020

CHICAGO – February 4, 2020 – Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), one of the world’s largest exchange holding companies, today announced it has acquired Hanweck Associates, LLC, a real-time risk analytics company based in New York, and the business of FT Providers, LLC, a portfolio management platform provider based in Chicago, commonly referred to as FT Options.

Hanweck and FT Options services will integrate with Cboe Information Solutions, which offers a comprehensive suite of data solutions, analytics and indices to help market participants understand and access Cboe markets. Cboe’s Information Solutions offering is designed to optimize the customer experience throughout the life cycle of a transaction, from pretrade to at-trade and post-trade, by providing insights, alpha opportunities, portfolio optimizations, risk management clarity and execution services. The addition of Hanweck and FT Options to this robust offering is expected to further enhance the customer experience through greater visibility into portfolio and balance sheet risk.

Ed Tilly, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cboe Global Markets, said: “Bringing data and analytics firms that pioneer unique information solutions to Cboe helps us accelerate the pace of innovation and better serve our global clients. Adding Hanweck and FT Options to our Information Solutions group will help us deliver a more integrated product suite in less time and support trading through better asset pricing and risk management software. We are excited to welcome the Hanweck and FT Options teams to Cboe Global Markets.”

Hanweck delivers real-time risk and margin analytics on global derivatives markets, bringing visibility and clarity to capital and balance sheet constraints of banks, broker/dealers, hedge funds, central counterparties and exchanges. Hanweck is expected to help Cboe clients better understand how their balance sheet is optimized through real-time margin calculations of non-linear instruments and analytics that optimize portfolio allocations and hedges.

FT Options offers a suite of customizable, automated, integrated applications that provide research and analytics functionality across options, futures and light exotics for proprietary trading firms, hedge funds and separately managed accounts. FT Options services will provide Cboe clients with tools designed to better manage risk, receive clarity on FLEX and OTC valuations, find market dislocations easier and help generate alpha opportunities.

“Cboe Information Solutions combines a holistic offering of value-add data services to help our clients meet their business and strategic objectives better, faster and smarter,” said Catherine Clay, Senior Vice President and Head of Information Solutions at Cboe. “The cutting-edge services provided by Hanweck and FT Options are additive and highly complementary to our offering, enabling us to take the customer experience to the next level by helping them evaluate their portfolio risk at all times.”

“Since 2006, Hanweck has been at the forefront of quant finance and technology innovation in the derivatives markets. Our services enable our clients to improve their trading and risk management decisions by integrating high-quality, realtime financial analytics into their workflow," said Gerald Hanweck, Jr., PhD, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of News Release.

@Cboe | /Cboe | /Company/Cboe | Cboe.com


Hanweck. "I’m excited to add our services to the exchange where volatility trading began, and to be a part of the Cboe team carrying that innovation legacy forward through seamless solutions for the derivatives marketplace.” “FT Options is a leader in the space -- created by experienced traders and risk managers to offer first-in-class, customizable portfolio management functionality to a broader user base. I couldn’t be more pleased to bring our team to Cboe and integrate FT Options’ risk and volatility analytics research platform into the robust volatility trading support Cboe’s clients have come to expect,” said Michael Izhaky, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of FT Options.

To learn more about Cboe Information Solutions, Hanweck and FT Options, visit www.cboe.com/ISG. Terms of the deals were not disclosed. The company funded the acquisitions with cash on hand. Cboe considers its acquisition of the Hanweck and FT Options businesses each and in the aggregate to be accretive for 2020 and is optimistic about the potential for growth going forward. The acquisitions are immaterial from a financial perspective.

About Cboe Global Markets, Inc.
Cboe Global Markets (Cboe: CBOE) is one of the world’s largest exchange holding companies, offering cutting-edge trading and investment solutions to investors around the world. The company is committed to defining markets to benefit its participants and drive the global marketplace forward through product innovation, leading edge technology and seamless trading solutions.

The company offers trading across a diverse range of products in multiple asset classes and geographies, includingc options, futures, U.S. and European equities, exchange-traded products (ETPs), global foreign exchange (FX) and volatility products based on the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX Index), recognized as the world’s premier gauge of U.S. equity market volatility.

Cboe’s subsidiaries include the largest options exchange and the third largest stock exchange operator in the U.S. In addition, the company operates one of the largest stock exchanges by value traded in Europe and is a leading market globally for ETP listings and trading. The company is headquartered in Chicago with a network of domestic and global offices across the Americas, Europe and Asia, including main hubs in New York, London, Kansas City and Amsterdam. For more information, visit www.cboe.com.

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Cboe®, Cboe Volatility Index®, VIX® and Cboe Global Markets® are registered trademarks of Cboe Exchange, Inc. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

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