Finance Monthly Deal Maker Awards 2017 Edition

www.finance-monthly.com 34 FINANCE MONTHLY DEAL MAKER AWARDS 2017 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS ED BRYANT President & CEO of Sampford Advisors ABOUT ED BRYANT Ed Bryant is the President & CEO of Sampford Advisors. Prior to founding Sampford, Ed spent 17 years as an investment banker for Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank in New York, Hong Kong, and Singapore. During this time, he completed over $20 billion in debt and equity capital raises, along with over $10 billion in Mergers & Acquisitions. He moved to Ottawa in 2013 to take the VP of Corporate Development role with Conversant, an IP Licensing firm, and was quickly promoted to CFO. During his tenure with Conversant, he led 5 acquisitions, doubling the size of company assets, and diversifying its technologies. He also played a key role in the re-financing of three tranches of debt, re-pricing credit facilities, and cutting operational costs by 75% over an 18-month timespan. Ed left the company having raised margins and delivered the highest EBITDA in the company’s history. During his time with Conversant, he began to realize there was a lack of investment banking coverage for Mid-Market tech companies in the Canadian Market, particularly M&A. Utilizing the better part of two decades of Investment Banking Experience he launched Sampford in 2015 with the mandate to provide the same bulge bracket investment banking services he was well versed in, but to Canada’s Mid-Market Tech Companies. FIRM PROFILE Sampford Advisors is Canada’s #1 Mid-Market Tech M&A Adviser in 2017 by transaction volume, with offices in Ottawa and Toronto. The team combines over 40 years of investment banking experience with a dedication to Canadian Tech M&A. Sampford provides a wide array of M&A services to its Canadian clientele, with the mandate to provide bulge bracket investment banking services to Canada’s middle market. These services include: Buyside Mergers & Acquisitions, Sellside M&A, and Fairness Opinions. Since its inception in 2015, the firm has closed nearly $500 million in transactions, and is currently working on 7 live mandates. In a relatively short period of time, the company has built a global network, and an in-depth expertise, in many technology subsectors such as Industrial IoT, SaaS, Communications equipment, IT Services and Digital Media. 2017 has been an active year for the firm, having closed two transactions to date, with the expectation of closing two more in Q4. The company expanded in June 2017 by opening its Toronto office, and has quickly built an active presence in what is North America’s fastest growing tech hub. By utilizing Sampford’s investment banking and corporate experience, the firm is able to offer turnkey financial advisory services that would usually only be available to Canada’s larger companies. As Canadian cities such as Toronto, Ottawa, and Vancouver, amongst others, continue to build their technology ecosystems, the firm continues to see greater interest from a geographically diverse set of buyers and partners. As a technology focused M&A boutique, the firm has engaged with some of North America’s most prominent tech companies and investors. To date in 2017, the company ranks #1 in transaction value for Canadian technology M&A transactions under $75 million. Our success has led to numerous publications in Canada’s national and technology focused press. Awarded for his involvement in the following transactions: WiLAN to Acquire IRD TRANSACTION REPORT Sampford Advisors acted as the sole M&A advisor to WiLAN (Now named Quarterhill) in its C$71million acquisition of International Road Dynamics (IRD). IRD is a provider of intelligent transportation systems (ITS), building hardware and software used for vehicle detection and Traffic Data analysis. Current applications include commercial vehicle weight enforcement, toll systems, traffic data collection, fleet management and security and access control, amongst others. The Sampford Advisors’ team that advised on the transaction was led by Ed Bryant, President and CEO with assistance from Mike Lambrix, Managing Director, and Boris Petkovic, Senior Analyst. Sampford advised WiLANthroughmappingouttheIndustrialIoT sector, target identification, negotiations, valuation and full oversight of the M&A process. Sampford also advised WiLAN in laying the foundation for its pivot from IP licensing toward the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The IRD transaction was the first of three transactions completed by the company in 2017, and the cornerstone of the company’s acquisition strategy. www.sampfordadvisors.com