Swedish trading systems vendor Orc Software has signed an agreement to acquire Cameron Systems, an Australian provider of FIX technology, in a cash and share deal worth US$32 million.
The purchase price consists of an initial $11m in cash and $10m in Orc shares. A further $11m will be paid depending on Cameron Systems' financial results for the period through to June 30 2006.
Cameron says it expects to report sales for the financial year ending June 30, 2006 in excess of $8.5, compared to $5.5m for the year ending June 30 2005, with an expected operating income exceeding £3.5m, compared to $1.5m in the previous year.
Orc says the acquisition of Sydney-based Cameron gives it access to leading edge FIX technology and an additional client base of over 170 customers in 25 countries, including CSFB, UBS, Barclays Capital, Nomura Securities and Bank of America.
Furthermore, Orc says its own software will provide Cameron's customers with connectivity to over 100 international markets. Orc says direct market access to exchanges will be available from the CameronFIX platform.
Jonas Lindström, CEO of Orc Software, says: "Together Orc and Cameron will provide a unique product range enabling our customers to connect their customers and partners, in order to automate order flows to a much larger extent."
The Swedish vendor says the merger is expected to generate total yearly revenue synergies of over Skr30 million by 2008.
Commenting on the deal, John Cameron, founder and CEO of Cameron Systems, says: "Orc's comprehensive high quality, high performance market connectivity is a natural complement to our range of FIX direct market access products. This is a great deal for Orc, Cameron, our respective customers and partners, and the FIX protocol itself."
Nordic stock exchange operator OMX owns 31.3% of Orc Software and has agreed to use the Cameron FIX engine. Markus Gerdien, president, OMX Technology, says: "OMX and Orc Software have decided to collaborate on implementing the FIX interface to OMX different systems.
"The objective is to use the leading technical solutions from Cameron as the FIX interface to OMX systems, and more broadly to leverage Cameron's knowledge of the FIX protocol."