SNL Financial Ranks Marlin & Associates Among the Most Active Advisors of Financial Technology Companies

NEW YORK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 05/04/10 -- Marlin & Associates ("M&A"), the boutique investment bank, announced today that SNL Financial has ranked M&A tied for advising the most financial technology transactions in 2009. Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Credit Suisse (USA) Inc. also tied for first.

"We are delighted that SNL Financial recognized our continued success as a trusted advisor to financial technology companies," said M&A Founder and Managing Partner Ken Marlin. "We do believe that we offer unique competencies for middle market financial technology companies. We are humbled to be in such strong company and grateful to our clients who trust us. We look forward to another strong year in 2010."

  2009 Rank    2008 Rank     Firm                              Number of Deals ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1            1             Citigroup Global Markets Inc.     4 1            11            Credit Suisse (USA) Inc.          4 1            9             Marlin & Associates               4 4            4             Bank of America Merrill Lynch     3 4            4             Financial Technology Partners     3 4            25            Greenhill & Co. Inc               3 4            4             Morgan Stanley                    2 8            NR*           Allen & Co. LLC                   2 8            25            Deloitte & Touche LLP             2 8            25            Evercore Partners Inc.            2  *NR=not ranked  

About SNL Financial
SNL Financial is a leading provider of industry news, financial data, and expert analysis on the business sectors that are important to the global economy. SNL collects, standardizes and disseminates all relevant corporate, financial, market and M&A data -- plus news and analysis -- on more than 3,300 public companies and 50,000 private companies in the industries: Banking, Financial Services, Insurance, Real Estate, Energy and Media & Communications. For more information, visit www.SNL.com. The SNL Financial Institutions Deal Book 2010 is copyrighted and cited with permission and should not be deemed to be an endorsement of any company or product.

About Marlin and Associates
Marlin & Associates is a boutique investment banking and strategic advisory firm specializing in acquisitions and divestitures of U.S. and international middle-market firms that provide technology, digital information and healthcare-related products, technology and services. The firm is based in New York City with offices in Washington, DC and Toronto, Canada.

M&A was recognized for its role advising Logical Information Machines, NYSE (for the sale of Hugin Group), Vhayu Technologies, and Standard & Poor's (on the sale of Vista Research). M&A's professionals have advised on more than 200 successfully completed transactions. The firm is the recipient of numerous awards, including "Middle Market Investment Banking Firm of the Year," "Middle Market Financing Agent of the Year -- Equity" and numerous "Deal-of-the-Year" awards.

Some recent Financial Technology transactions on which M&A has advised include:

• Strategic Analytics of Santa Fe, NM which M&A advised on its sale to Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ: VRSK);
• Vhayu Technologies of Los Gatos, California, which M&A advised on its sale to Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI);
• Standard & Poor's of New York, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), which M&A advised in the sale of its Vista Research subsidiary to Guidepoint Global;
• Tenfore of London, England, which M&A advised on its sale to Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN);
• InfoDyne Corporation of Park Ridge, Illinois, which M&A advised on its sale to International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM);
• LowerFees, Inc. of Westlake Village, California, which M&A advised on its sale to Bankrate, Inc. (NASDAQ: RATE);
• Netik LLC of London, England and New York, which M&A advised on its simultaneous acquisition of Capco Reference Data Services and replacement of its primary investor, The Bank of New York Mellon Corp., with Symphony Technology Group;
• Applied Financial Technology (AFT) of San Francisco, which M&A advised on its sale to Lender Processing Services, (NYSE: LPS);
• Xcitek LLC's Market Data Division, which M&A advised on its sale to Interactive Data Corporation (NYSE: IDC);
• StarMine Corporation of San Francisco, which Marlin & Associates advised on its sale to Reuters (now Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI));
• Brainpower N.V. of Lugano, Switzerland, which M&A advised on its sale to Bloomberg L.P.

CONTACT: Marlin & Associates (212) 257-6300 [email protected] www.MarlinLLC.com