Financial Technology Partners Advises Mercury Payment Systems in Its Strategic Growth Investment From Silver Lake Partners

SAN FRANCISCO, April 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Financial Technology Partners LP and FTP Securities LLC (together, "FT Partners"), is pleased to announce another landmark transaction in the Payments and Financial Technology sector, serving as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Mercury Payment Systems ("Mercury") in its sale of a 60% strategic interest to Silver Lake Partners ("Silver Lake").  Mercury is one of the fastest growing payment processors in the industry and has become one of the dominant payment processing firms nationwide ranking among the top five largest non-bank merchant acquirers in the U.S.

Silver Lake Partners, the world's largest technology investment firm with $14 billion in assets under management, is acquiring approximately 60% of the business while the remaining shares of the company will largely be retained by Mercury's Co-Founders Marc Katz and Jeffrey Katz, and long-time investor, Larry Stone – all of whom will continue to serve on Mercury's Board of Directors. The transaction was designed and structured by FT Partners to provide liquidity to long-time investors while retaining maximum upside in the future growth of the company.

"This investment is the culmination of a wonderful relationship with the entire Mercury Payment Systems team and we are proud to have worked so closely with such a talented group of individuals in helping the company achieve this groundbreaking milestone," said Steve McLaughlin, Managing Partner of Financial Technology Partners.  "Marc Katz, Jeffrey Katz and Matt Taylor have done an absolutely fantastic job of building a world-class company, assembling a top-tier management team and a executing on a highly differentiated strategy.  The results here speak for themselves."

"This is truly a landmark event for Mercury and we were well served by Steve McLaughlin, Tim Wolfe and the entire FT Partners team as our advisors on this transaction," said Marc Katz, Co-Founder and Board Member of Mercury.  "Steve and his team demonstrated the utmost integrity, objectivity and genuine passion as our advisor and their detailed knowledge of our business was unquestionably a factor in achieving this outcome."

"Steve is one of the most dedicated and loyal professionals I've worked with over the years and his unwavering commitment to Mercury was truly unprecedented," said Matt Taylor, CEO of Mercury.  "FT Partners more than lived up to our expectations through the creation of both substantial value for our shareholders and a transaction that ensures an optimal future for our company."  

This transaction further demonstrates FT Partners' ability to establish strong relationships with top Payments and Financial Technology firms and to deliver outstanding results connecting clients with the industry's most attractive transaction partners.  The Mercury / Silver Lake transaction is the fourth straight successful transaction by FT Partners in the payment processing and merchant acquiring space.  FT Partners previously achieved what continues to be viewed as record-setting valuations with both Lynk Systems' sale to Royal Bank of Scotland for $525,000,000 in cash as well as with Verus Financial Management's sale to Sage Software for $325,000,000 in cash. FT Partners also recently achieved, despite the recent market downturn, the $370,000,000 cash sale of Custom House, the leader in international B2B payments, to Western Union.

FT Partners was named "Investment Bank of the Year" in 2004 and 2006, and was also recognized as "DealMaker of the Year" in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Selected FT Partners Transactions:

• Sale of Custom House to Western Union for $370 million cash
• Sale of Lynk Systems to the Royal Bank of Scotland for $525 million cash
• Sale of Verus to Sage for $325 million cash
• Sale of ATD to Citigroup for $700 million in cash
• Sale of Corillian to CheckFree for $245 million cash
• Sale of Alogent to Goldleaf for $42.5 million in cash and securities
• VeriFone's $177 million Initial Public Offering
• ViVOtech's $40 million Series C strategic capital raise
• Buy-side advisor to Jack Henry & Associates on acquisition of Goldleaf for $60 million cash

About Financial Technology Partners LP and FTP Securities LLC

FT Partners is the only investment banking firm focused exclusively on providing strategic and financial advisory services to CEOs in the dynamic financial services and technology sector.  The firm offers strategic advisory services in mission-critical transactions including mergers, acquisitions, IPOs, LBOs, refinancings, recapitalizations and private capital raisings.  FT Partners' Managing Partner, Steve McLaughlin formerly was a senior investment banker in Goldman, Sachs & Co.'s (NYSE: GS) Financial Technology Group and was the senior investment banker in the Financial Institutions Group in San Francisco before leaving the firm to form FT Partners in late 2001.  San Francisco-based FT Partners is comprised of a team of experienced investment bankers formerly with the financial technology, M&A and investment banking groups of Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and Banc of America Securities.  FT Partners and Steve McLaughlin were recognized in 2009 by The M&A Advisor as "Dealmaker of the Year". The firm has also been recognized as "Investment Banking Firm of the Year" in 2004 and again in 2006 for "Boutique Investment Banking Firm of the Year." Steve McLaughlin was also named in 2006, 2007 and again in 2008 to Institutional Investor's "Online Finance 40" ranking of most influential leaders in online finance. Any securities related transactions contemplated by or acted upon hereunder are conducted by FTP Securities LLC, a FINRA broker-dealer and a wholly owned subsidiary of Financial Technology Partners LP. For additional information, please visit www.ftpartners.com.

About Mercury Payment Systems

Mercury Payment Systems is an integrated transaction processing company created to enhance point-of-sale systems by offering credit, debit, check, gift card and loyalty processing. Mercury's integrated Internet protocol (IP) or dial-up processing solutions are fast, reliable and affordable. Resellers can leverage the reliability and enhanced efficiency of integrated payment processing to increase productivity and customer satisfaction. Mercury Payment Systems helps resellers increase their opportunities with reseller support and superior technology. For more information call 1-800-846-4472, ext. 1820 or visit www.mercurypay.com.

About Silver Lake

Silver Lake is the leading investment firm focused on large scale investments in technology, technology enabled, and related growth industries. Silver Lake's mission is to function as a value‐added partner to the management teams of the world's leading technology franchises. Its portfolio includes or has included technology industry leaders such as Ameritrade, Avago, Business Objects, Gartner, Instinet, Intelsat, NASDAQ, Sabre / Travelocity, Seagate Technology, SunGard Data Systems and UGS. For more information, please visit www.silverlake.com.

SOURCE FT Partners