LONDON and CHICAGO, Nov. 22,
2011 /PRNewswire/ -- London-based FFastFill plc (LSE: FFA), the
leading provider of Software as a Service (SaaS) to the global
derivatives community, today announced that it has entered into an
agreement to acquire the trade and assets of Chicago-based technology consulting and
software solutions business, WTD Consulting, Inc. (WTD), for a
maximum consideration of up to $12.0
million (7.6m pounds
Sterling). The transaction is expected to close no later
than 2 December 2011.
The new technology and team strengthens FFastFill's US-based
business and enables the company to complete the customisation
required to take its back-office product, Eclipse, into the US
market. WTD has extensive post-trade processing and
consulting experience in both the exchange-traded derivatives (ETD)
and over-the-counter (OTC) markets which FFastFill intends to
leverage across its global customer base.
Said Hamish Purdey, FFastFill
Chief Executive Officer: "By bringing together both our teams
and technologies in this highly complementary acquisition, we will
be able to drive additional growth as we build on FFastFill's
significant strengths in SaaS and more aggressively capture
opportunities in the US marketplace. The transaction with WTD
not only solidifies our position in the ETD market but positions us
well to benefit from the significant regulatory changes taking
place in the United States that
are steadily driving the clearing of traditional OTC methods toward
a central counterparty clearing model."
David Evans, WTD CEO, said:
"We are very proud to join FFastFill and to leverage our technology
and services for the benefit of our customers. By combining
resources and capabilities, the resulting company will provide a
broader portfolio of services and products, based on a solid global
infrastructure. In very short order, our mutual customers will see
the value of our combined vision."
The WTD consulting business asset will be acquired by newly
formed FFastFill Consulting, Inc., and the product and operation
business assets by US-based subsidiary FFastFill Inc. Prior
to the deal closing, customer contracts will be assigned to the two
companies. WTD has a customer base of 30 firms, including a number
of global banks.
The customers of WTD's Prysm middle-office system for
exchange-traded derivatives will continue to be fully supported by
FFastFill while the Prysm functionality is integrated into
FFastFill's Seals NG platform, a matching and allocation system to
provide futures and options clearing functionality across global
derivatives exchanges. Customers using WTD's popular iDash product
will receive similar support, with plans for FFastFill to offer the
product as a SaaS offering over time.
The acquisition also adds 40 members of staff based in
Chicago. All WTD staff will be offered new employment
contracts with FFastFill, and some will continue to be deployed on
customer sites.
Ryan McElvogue, Managing
Director, FFastFill Inc, said: "WTD has an outstanding
reputation based on robust technology, quality individuals and
outstanding customer service. We are very pleased to welcome
these professionals to the FFastFill US team and look forward to
continuing this tradition of excellence while expanding the breadth
and depth of our US operations."
Patrick Mayo, President of WTD,
said: "Joining FFastFill is a very positive step for both our
clients and our employees. This union will allow us to continue to
provide consulting expertise to our existing customers as well as
expand our consulting services across the globe."
When the acquisition is complete, Mayo will be Managing Director
of FFastFill Consulting, Inc., while Evans takes on the role of
Enterprise Architect on the software side. Both officers will
remain in Chicago.
About FFastFill
plc
FFastFill (www.ffastfill.com) is the leading provider of Software
as a Service to the global derivatives community, using the latest
developments in technology to automate trade flow processes across
a firm's front, middle and back offices. FFastFill's solutions
encompass electronic order routing, clearing, risk management and
back office as part of an integrated, yet modular system
architecture. FFastFill is traded on London's AIM (AIM: FFA).
About WTD Consulting, Inc.
WTD Consulting, Inc. was formed in 1998 by a team of developers,
managers and system analysts to provide bookkeeping-system support
to a select group of banks and brokerage firms. Since then WTD has
grown to provide a full range of data-management programs, system
consulting and development services for the front, middle and back
office. Today, WTD counts among its clients many of the leaders in
the financial services industry. The expertise of WTD includes more
than five decades of combined experience with the technologies that
are unique to futures, options and securities-account
management.
SOURCE FFastFill plc
