Foros Announces Record 2017
Unwavering Focus on Differentiated Advice Leads to Another Record Year
We are delighted to share with you a summary view of our 2017 results. Our unwavering focus on providing differentiated strategic financial and M&A advice to clients has been validated again as we achieved our most successful financial year to date. In 2017, we guided our clients to a record number of successful transactions while also performing important strategic assessment work for several existing and new clients that has not yet resulted in transactions. Consistent with our basic tenets of creating long-term value and advising against transactions that do not create value, we take as much pride in our long-term strategic advice as we do in announced transactions.
Of the nine transactions we closed in 2017, six were for long-term clients. Of these, three were for long-term clients we have advised on multiple transactions( CA Technologies, Dassault Systèmes and Feld Entertainment) and three were for other long-term but previously undisclosed public company advisory clients (Consolidated Communications, EarthLink and Methode Electronics). Three of the nine transactions were for new clients who hired us solely for our M&A advice and execution expertise (IFS, Intematix and Nielsen). Total closed transaction volume was in excess of $4.5 billion.
Cross-border transactions remain a key part of our business as we advised on five closed cross-border transactions in 2017. We were sole advisor to CA Technologies on its €600 million acquisition of Automic in Austria from Swedish private equity firm EQT; sole advisor to France-based Dassault Systèmes on its $400 million acquisition of Exa Corporation in Boston; sole advisor to Sweden-based IFS on its acquisition of WorkWave in New Jersey; sole advisor to Intematix on its sale to China-based Chongqing Brightbridge Lighting Co., Ltd.; and sole advisor to Methode Electronics on its $114 million acquisition of Canada-based Pacific Insight. This brings our total cross-border transactions to 16 with a total value of $8 billion. Countries involved in these transactions include Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
Our focus on M&A transaction tactics, and our senior bankers’ long track record advising clients on international transactions, have proven especially effective in these cross-border situations. We continue to have clients reward us for our differentiated offering with repeat cross-border mandates and counterparties retaining us for subsequent transactions.
We thank you again for your partnership that makes such results possible. We look forward to continuing to work with you in 2018 and wish you a successful year.