06/06/2012

By Scott Thompson

Vista Equity Partners has completed its acquisition of Misys. It is merging the banking software outfit with Turaz, the former Thomson Reuters business which it bought earlier this year.

Although it has over 1,000 customers, Misys has seen increasing competition from the likes of Temenos. It has also struggled to move beyond its core market of mid-tier and small banks to tier-1 institutions. Turaz is best known for its Kondor+ product line and the hope is that the merger will produce a broader product portfolio and increased size, making Misys more attractive to the big financial outfits.

At the same time, though, addressing the point that big isn't necessarily best, Mika-John Southworth of Misys Marketing comments on the company blog: "No it's not. But strength and breadth of product footprint goes a long way towards it. And with the new Misys, we can provide solutions to meet the needs of financial institutions in just about every market, segment, tier and geography. And you can't just dismiss size. We can leverage our scale to provide a unique value proposition to our customers: well-integrated, best-of-breed solutions capable of integrating seamlessly into the financial institution, no matter where in the world it is located; or in which part of the industry it operates. And with more than 5,000 employees, customers will have access to an unrivalled pool of expertise and knowledge of their industry."

“The financial services industry has gone through considerable change in the last few years, with growing pressure on financial institutions to be more transparent, manage risk more effectively and serve their customers better,” says newly appointed Misys CEO, Bret Bolin, who has run a number of other Vista portfolio companies. “Our clients are focused on making sure their businesses are operating as efficiently as possible while still maintaining their competitive edge. Misys is unique in its ability to help banks of all sizes look at their organisation’s most complex problems at both an enterprise as well as a granular level. By combining Misys with Turaz the new organisation will stand out from the crowd in terms of both the breadth and completeness of coverage across banking, and sell-side and buy-side institutions.”