Situation
Formed in January 1999, Investia is a business-to-business technology solutions and fund distribution company. The company's goal is to transform the European investment funds industry by revolutionising the retail investor experience through the deployment of world-class technology solutions to the European investment services industry.
In December 1999, Investia raised private equity financing of $3m from Villanova Capital, Inc. for a minority stake in the London-based company.
ARC Associates was retained by Investia to assist in its negotiations with Chase Manhattan for the formation of a joint-venture to sell online fund supermarkets across Europe.
Approach
ARC Associates was contacted by Investia in mid November and assisted in the structuring and valuation of the Investia business within the JV with Chase Manhattan.
ARC Associates performed a review of the Investia business model and helped position it in terms of valuation and overall marketing potential vis à vis other competitors. ARC Associates reviewed the Investia business proposition as an infrastructure B2B solutions and content provider.
Investia is the proprietor of Javelin, a powerful Internet-enabled software that delivers a robust enterprise-wide system for continuous, real time fund distribution.
The Transaction
After a series of negotiations with Chase Manhattan, the general terms of the joint venture were agreed and announced on 4 April 2000, resulting in a combined investment of $20 million to create FundsHub.