Background
Fortitude Partners is a leading growth-focused investment firm seeking to make add-on acquisitions in banking software for its platform portfolio companies, MC Software and CV Systems. CV Systems has been a leader in the financial-services software industry, providing automated teller machine (ATM) software, online transaction processing, financial settlement, fraud detection, cybersecurity, and other technologies.
Objective
CV Systems wanted to pursue complementary acquisitions to expand its products and solutions suite for financial-institution clients. The company wanted to combine its legacy mainframe products with innovative technologies across its distribution footprint to better serve its financial clients and improve their strategic initiatives — including real-time integrated payments, fraud detection, cybersecurity software, and item processing.
Transaction Process
HRC ran a proper buy-side search canvassing the market for any domestic banking-software companies with the appropriate revenue profiles and advised on the transaction. Fortitude Partners was seeking to acquire software companies at value pricing — which in today's market requires a proactive and aggressive search effort to identify. As such, HRC maintained a thorough search process to identify the right fit at the right valuation. HRC ran the process for a year, meticulously researching and proactively reaching out to a large acquisition universe. After HRC performed initial financial and operational assessments, Fortitude Partners issued multiple term sheets before signing one with Conix Systems.
Outcome
Conix Systems was acquired by CV Systems. The acquisition expanded CV Systems' product offerings and enabled it to deliver products across a variety of delivery channels for clients based on their specific needs.