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Transactions

October 2015
New York, NY
has been acquired by
Palo Alto, CA


Background

Alacra, Inc. is a leading provider of Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Reference Data business information solutions, serving financial institutions worldwide. The company leverages business information from more than 175 unique databases in its workflow solutions to help clients more efficiently and consistently onboard clients, screen clients, and manage vendor risk and front office business research. The company was founded in 1996 by its management team and backed by several well-known investors.  

The governance, risk and compliance (GRC) market in which the company operates has garnered significant attention from industry leaders and financial sponsors alike as financial institutions face increased scrutiny from regulators and fines and penalties are issued. Over the years, M&A advised the company several times as it contemplated acquisitions and grew.   And as it grew, the company garnered interest from several potential suitors. By 2014 the company’s workflow applications were enabling approximately 300,000 end users at more than 200 financial institutions, professional service firms and corporations to find, organize, analyze and present mission-critical business information.



Overview

In 2012 and 2013, there were several soft approaches to the company about combing but the Alacra board was inclined to wait until early 2016 to sell the company, at which point they expected to run a formal auction process. By that time, they expected that a new product line would have had an opportunity to mature and contribute. In early 2014, the company was approached by a large international technology firm more aggressively proposing acquisition. Management indicated that they were open to the combination and worked well with the suitor’s team. The Board asked M&A to advise. However, after several rounds of discussion it became clear that the parties were far apart on expected value.

In early 2015, Alacra was approached by another potential strategic acquirer - GTCR-backed Opus Global Holdings, LLC. Led by industry veteran Doug Bergeron, and backed by more than $500 million in committed capital, Opus Global was seeking to build a powerhouse in the GRC market. They had acquired Hiperos in July 2014 and believed the combination of Hiperos with Alacra would create an even stronger competitor in the growing market. While the Board thought that the timing might still be early to reap the desired value, Management agreed that the combination could make strategic sense. Alacra’s board of directors had an important decision to make – negotiate with Opus Global or run a formal sale process. The Board again asked M&A to advise. On September 30, 2015, Alacra was sold to Opus Global Holdings, LLC. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

M&A Role

Marlin & Associates acted as the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Alacra. M&A worked with the company’s management, shareholders and legal advisors to negotiate terms, determine the best structure, manage an efficient due diligence review process, resolve a series of critical issues, forge compromise and bring the complex transaction to closure.

Steven Goldstein, Alacra’s co-founder and CEO said: "The Marlin & Associates team was absolutely invaluable in guiding us through every aspect of this transaction. Without their expert strategic and financial counsel, continuous daily leadership, and creative approach to overcoming hurdles, we never would have gotten it completed."

Press

Opus Global, Compliance and Risk Leader, Acquires Alacra

October 02, 2015

October 2, 2015

Adds leading AML KYC capabilities to leading SaaS-based Compliance Platform 

Opus Global, a leading provider of SaaS-based compliance solutions, today announced that it has acquired Alacra, Inc., a leading provider of Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Reference Data business information solutions.

The integration of Alacra into Opus Global will create an unmatched combination of compliance data with third party management excellence and network-based information exchange.  Alacra's 170+ external providers will be able to integrate compliance data into the Hiperos Third Party Network (acquired by Opus Global in June 2014).  Opus Global expects to extend the Hiperos Network to hundreds of thousands of third parties and their customers currently managed through Hiperos Software.      

Alacra is a world leader in KYC, AML and Reference Data services for regulatory compliance. It is the second company to be acquired by Opus Global, following the July 2014 acquisition of third party management leader Hiperos, LLC.  Opus Global was co-founded by GTCR, a Chicago-based private equity firm, and Doug Bergeron, former CEO of VeriFone.  The firm is investing up to $500 million to realize its vision of an integrated SaaS platform delivering world-class compliance faster, better and at lower total cost.

"Alacra is a superb addition to Opus Global," said Doug Bergeron, CEO and founder of Opus Global. "Alacra's AML and KYC strengths perfectly complement our existing anti-bribery/anti-corruption capabilities.  KYC has become one of the greatest compliance challenges facing financial institutions today. Rapid onboarding is vital to growing their businesses, yet the process has become increasingly onerous and unwieldy." he continued. "Financial institutions need high quality client data delivered rapidly and processed accurately.  Alacra does that better than anyone, with a blue ribbon client roster that includes many of the world's biggest and most prestigious banks."

Mr. Bergeron will assume the role of Executive Chairman of Alacra. Co-founders Steve Goldstein and Michael Angle will continue to serve in their existing roles.

"Alacra combined with our existing Hiperos product offering, will enable us to further our innovation of new compliance product offerings not currently available in the market."  Bergeron continued. "Compliance will become more powerful, more manageable and easier for our customers as a result."

"Our growing third party ecosystem is fueled by the integration of best-of-breed data, service providers and partners.  It will turbo-boost the Hiperos Third Party Network on which our ecosystem is based, further catalyzing growth in third parties and compliance traffic across the network."

"We are very excited to become part of Opus Global," said Steve Goldstein, CEO and co-founder of Alacra. "We look forward to being an integral part of their strategy to build a world leading compliance platform. Customers will be the big winners, with faster easier access to world class compliance data, and more ways to utilize it quickly and effectively in their compliance programs," he continued.

"The pressure on banks to improve KYC processes is ongoing.  There has been a growing need for leading edge technology to make this achievable, and Alacra provides the needed market solution.  Our decision to join Opus Global provides the platform and resources to accelerate growth by further penetrating existing markets, exploring new geographies and markets, and innovating new products and services."

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Alacra has offices in New York and London, adding to existing Opus Global offices in Palo Alto, Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Branchburg, N.J. Marlin & Associates acted as exclusive financial and strategic advisor to Alacra. 

About Alacra 

Alacra develops workflow applications that enable 300,000 end users at over 200 financial institutions, professional service firms and corporations to find, organize, analyze and present mission-critical business information.  With nearly 175 unique databases available to our clients, Alacra has under license the largest collection of premium business information in the world.  These databases are incorporated into configured solutions that bring an efficient, consistent and thorough process to client onboarding, client screening, vendor risk management and front office business research. By combining licensed and web-based content, Alacra also provides a range of entity reference data solutions that enable our clients to maintain extremely accurate legal entity data and meet global regulatory requirements. For more information, please visit http://www.alacra.com.

About Opus Global      

Opus Global is a compliance platform provider headquartered in Palo Alto, California, created through a $500 million partnership between GTCR, one of the world's leading private equity firms, and Doug Bergeron, former CEO of VeriFone. Through direct investments and targeted acquisitions, Opus Global's mission is to build the world's leading compliance platform by integrating leading technology solutions addressing the increasingly complex compliance requirements and risks faced by companies across all industries.  Opus Global seeks to be a long term partner to its customers, delivering significant value to their businesses through superior software solutions and related services.  For more information about Opus Global, please visit http://www.opusglobal.com.

 

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