Insight and Lightyear Merge Circle Software into Realm Business Solutions
Combination Creates Leading Real Estate Software Solutions Provider with Global Reach
11.29.2006
NEW YORK, NY (November 29, 2006) – Insight Venture Partners, LLC (“Insight”), a private equity firm focused on software and Internet services, and Lightyear Capital LLC (“Lightyear”), a private equity firm focused on financial services including financial technology, announced today that Circle Software Ltd. (“Circle”) will merge into Realm Business Solutions, Inc. (“Realm”). Insight and Lightyear provided additional equity for the transaction. Additional terms were not disclosed.
Circle, a leading international software solutions provider to the commercial real estate industry, is a market leader in the U.K. and is growing in other parts of continental Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East. Circle's products, which are complementary to Realm's, are used by over 1,150 clients, ranging from small and medium enterprises to multi-national corporations and REITs.
Peter Sobiloff, Managing Director at Insight, stated, “After this combination with Circle, Realm will become a significantly larger company in the fragmented commercial real estate software market which will allow for continued growth in key regions and expansion into other real estate markets. The combined company will have the ability to sell the full product suite of both companies to clients globally and will further standardize valuation software for the combined company's existing clients, as well as future clients.”
Stewart Gross, Managing Director at Lightyear, added, “We plan to work with the combined company to enhance growth in international markets, develop new product offerings, and assist in evaluating other real estate software and information companies. We believe that this investment supports Realm's vision as a global leader in the real estate software industry.”
Mark Kingston, President and CEO of Realm, commented, “Realm's brand name and market share is now even stronger with Circle. This powerful combination of people, markets and technology will immediately provide the commercial real estate community with an unprecedented offering of market-proven products that, from dirt to disposition, fully automate the real estate lifecycle.”
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP served as legal counsel to Insight and Lightyear.
ABOUT INSIGHT VENTURE PARTNERS
With over $1.5 billion under management, Insight Venture Partners is the leading venture capital firm specializing in software and Internet services. Insight Venture Partners invests in entrepreneurial companies developing technology-based solutions for businesses and consumers. Headquartered in New York, Insight has taken a global approach to investing in a market where experience, value-add consulting and the ability to execute are the foundations of success.
For more information, please visit
www.insightpartners.com.
ABOUT LIGHTYEAR CAPITAL
Lightyear is a private equity investment firm providing buyout and growth capital to companies in the financial services industry. Based in New York, Lightyear, through its affiliated funds, has managed approximately $3 billion of committed capital with investments across the financial services spectrum, including asset management, banking, brokerage, financial technology, insurance, leasing and related business services, and other sectors within financial services. Lightyear brings unique strengths and discipline to its investment process, as well as operating, transaction, and strategic management experience, along with significant contacts and resources beyond capital. The senior team of professionals has an average of 20 years of financial services-related experience and includes David Glenn, Stewart Gross, Donald Marron, Richard Sterne, and Mark Vassallo.
For more information, please visit
www.lycap.com.
ABOUT REALM BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
Realm Business Solutions provides software and services that enable its customers to better manage the financial and operational performance of their real estate portfolios. More than 8,000 of the industry's leading owners, managers, financial institutions and REITs trust Realm's solutions to improve the visibility and flow of information throughout their critical business processes. Realm is the developer of such industry standard products as ARGUS, DYNA, and CTI.
Visit Realm's website to learn more about these solutions, as well as reXML, the open source language for exchanging data between Realm and other applications:
www.realm.com.
ABOUT CIRCLE SOFTWARE
Circle Software Ltd specializes in the creation of dedicated software programs for investors, developers, agents, brokers, managers, owners and operators of virtually all types of portfolio and property transactions, valuations and analysis. The company places great emphasis on its renowned support and training services that ensures clients gain the maximum benefit from its product range including VisualInvestor, VisualDeveloper, CircleDeveloper, CircleMultiview, CircleBudget, CircleDataCenter and CircleConnect.
Further information can be found on the website
www.circlesoftware.com.
CONTACTS:
Insight Venture Partners, LLC
Ryan Hinkle
212-230-9200
Lightyear Capital, LLC
Sloane & Company
Anton Nicholas -- 212.446.1889; or Keil Decker -- 212.446.1875
Realm Business Solutions, Inc.
Jennifer Andrade
713-341-3630