Finance Monthly Deal Maker Awards 2017 Edition

www.finance-monthly.com 22 FINANCE MONTHLY DEAL MAKER AWARDS 2017 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS FIRM PROFILE Drake Star Partners is a global investment banking firm serving the technology, media and communications sectors with offices in New York, London, Paris, Munich, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Berlin, Amsterdam, Geneva and Tokyo. The firm focuses on M&A and corporate finance for its clients worldwide. Drake Star Partners completed over 300 transactions since 2004, 70% of which are cross-border. CONTACT Email: kasper.petersen@drakestar.com Phone: +44 20 7112 7777 KASPER KRUSE PETERSEN Principal at Drake Star Partners IMS Internet Media Services (IMS) acquired a majority stake in Httpool, an international cross channel ad network, with a presence in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia. IMS is a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Television Networks and is one of the biggest digital ad sales and media buying companies in Latin America. The deal is set to establish one of the largest digital marketing and ad sales companies in the industry, with a combined operation supporting more than 6000 agencies and brands worldwide, and exclusively representing Twitter, LinkedIn, Spotify and more than 5000 global and local publishers across 30 countries in Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Asia Pacific regions. Drake Star Partners acted as exclusive financial adviser to Httpool. Commenting on the transaction and Drake Star Partners’ involvement, Partner Kasper Kruse Petersen said: “We are pleased to have been a part in bringing these two strong companies together. There is no doubt that the combination will provide a strong offering in high growth emerging markets.” ADVISOR INTERVIEW Please introduce yourself, your role and your firm. Kasper Kruse Petersen is a Principal at Drake Star Partners. He joined the firm in 2013, and runs the day-to-day operations of the London office. Kasper focuses on executing sell-side and private placement transactions. Amongst others, Kasper completed the successful $75m private placement for Tradeshift and ZappiStore’s £14m private placement. Drake Star Partners acted as financial adviser to Httpool on its sale to IMS Internet Media Services – can you tell us a bit more about your firm’s involvement in the acquisition? Drake Star Partners was hired by Httpool to seek a potential exit for its shareholders. This meant evaluating all startegic options in collaboration with our clients key stakeholders. The transaction was done out of Drake Star’s London office, bur really involved collaboration from multiple of our international offices, especially New York, as the likely acquirer universe early on seemed to be skewed towards the US. What was your specific role? Our role as exclusive financial adviser was broadly to guide the company through this process, and to help the shareholders achieve the best deal possible. We at Drake Star are not introducers, but work closely with them company at all stages of the transaction to ensure the best possible outcome. What prompted the transaction? The strategic value for a “smaller” company like Httpool to be part of a larger organisation like IMS/ Sony is plentiful, and both the founder, Aljosa Jenko and the shareholders realised this. Aljosa has built an impressive company but saw the synergistic value of belonging to the IMS/Sony family. What were the key challenges of bringing the transaction to completion? All transactions bring different complexities. From complex legal and deal structures to timing delays etc. Httpool was no different, however, the desire from both sides to make this work made it much easier to overcome these. Awarded for his involvement in the following transactions: Drake Star Par tners Advised Httpool on its Sale to IMS Internet Media Services Q Q Q Q Q