Financial Technology Partners Advises Network Merchants Inc ("NMI") In Its Strategic Growth Investment At An Approximately $200,000,000 Valuation

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Financial Technology Partners LP and FTP Securities LLC (together, "FT Partners"), are pleased to announce the completion of another highly successful transaction in the payments and financial technology sector, serving as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Network Merchants Inc. ("NMI" or the "Company") on its significant growth investment by Bregal Sagemount at a nearly $200,000,000 valuation.

Privately-held and Chicago-based, Network Merchants is a leading innovative payment gateway and provider of related security products and services, enabling merchants to accept payments in any environment across all payments and types. Founded in 2001, the Company now services over 60k merchants through over 400 affiliate partners. The transaction was designed and structured by FT Partners to provide liquidity to the founders while retaining maximum upside in the future growth of the Company.

The transaction underscores FT Partners' continued leadership position as "advisor of choice" to the highest-quality companies in the payments space, having also represented Mercury Payment Systems, Yapstone, Fleet One, ProPay, Central Payment, Merchant Warehouse, EDC, Custom House, Solveras, Verus (aka Sage Payments) and Lynk Systems (aka WorldPay US) in their most important transactions.

"It was a pleasure working with the entire FT Partners team as our true trusted partners on this transaction," said Jim McKenzie, Chief Executive Officer of Network Merchants. "We could not be more pleased with the level of professionalism, tenacity, industry experience, advice and passion that the FT Partners team brought to the table for us here."

FT Partners' CEO, Founder and Managing Partner Steve McLaughlin was named "M&A Dealmaker of the Year" in 2012 and FT Partners was named "Boutique Investment Bank of the Year" in December 2011 for providing outstanding advisory services and achieving exceptional results for its clients. Its representation of Mercury Payment Systems in its investment by Silver Lake Partners was recognized as "Deal of the Year" in 2010 as well as "Deal of the Decade".

Selected FT Partners Transactions:

• $1.3 billion sale of AmWINS to New Mountain Capital
• $700 million sale of ATD to Citigroup
• Mercury Payment Systems' approximately 60% strategic investment by Silver Lake
• $377 million sale of Fleet One to WEX
• $370 million sale of Custom House to Western Union
• $525 million sale of Lynk to Royal Bank of Scotland
• ProPay's sale to TSYS
• $238 million capital raise for SquareTrade by Bain Capital
• $138mm IPO of Accretive Health
• $160 million sale of EISI / Naviplan to Zywave 
• $137 million acquisition of Multi Service Corporation by World Fuel Services
• $50 million minority investment in Yapstone led by Accel Partners
• Sale of Central Payment to TSYS
• Merchant Warehouse's significant growth investment by Parthenon Capital Partners
• $325 million sale of Verus Financial Management to Sage Group PLC
• $177 million Initial Public Offering for VeriFone
• $292 million debt recapitalization for VeriFone
• $300 million acquisition of iPay Technologies by Jack Henry
• $245 million sale of Corillian Corp to CheckFree

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 clients and CEOs in the dynamic global financial services and technology sector.  The firm offers strategic advisory services in mission-critical transactions including mergers, acquisitions, IPOs, LBOs, refinancings, recapitalizations, joint ventures and private capital raisings. FT Partners' Managing Partner, Steve McLaughlin, formerly was a senior investment banker in Goldman, Sachs & Co.'s 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 senior team of experienced investment bankers formerly with Goldman Sachs' financial technology, financial services, M&A, corporate finance and investment banking groups. 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 NMI

Network Merchants, Inc. builds e-commerce payment gateways for companies that process retail and online transactions in real-time anywhere in the world.

With an exceptional team of software engineers, NMI created, maintains and delivers a substantial suite of payment solutions through a unique channel of distribution. This channel is comprised of financial institutions, ISOs/MSPs, payment processors, VARs, e-commerce developers and hardware manufacturers interested in retaining their existing merchant-customers and acquiring new business. With an easy to integrate transparent and private-label program, Affiliate Partners maintain their own look and feel while providing merchants with efficient and secure payment processing solutions. For more information, please visit www.nmi.com.

SOURCE Financial Technology Partners