IBS Journal February 2015
Objectway on 3i Infotech UK business acquisition
Italy-based Objectway is the new own- er of 3i Infotech’s UK-based invest- ment management software busi- ness, formerly known as Rhyme Sys- tems. This long-standing provider was acquired by India-based 3i Infotech back in 2006, but never lived up to 3i Infotech’s hopes of taking it to a wider audience. The last attempt was voiced by the Indian vendor’s new manage- ment in 2013, when the intention was to revamp the old software and sell it in mainland Europe, the Middle East and Africa, but this failed. A new investment management
platform, Illumas, was going to be unveiled at London’s Shard in early February 2015 by 3i Infotech. In an exclusive interview with IBS, Object- way’s president and CEO, Luigi Mar- ciano, has confirmed that the launch of Illumas will go ahead, and that the new product, based on an object-ori- ented platform and boasting embed- ded straight-through processing (STP), business process management (BPM) and business analytics, will be Object- way’s flagship offering for the UK mar- ket going forward. It will also be inte- grated with Objectway’s existing port- folio management front-end, Eximius, creating ‘a total front-to-back office proposition for wealth managers, big stock brokers and private banks with a best-of-breed architecture’, says Mar- ciano. The platform will be offered as an onsite deployment, as Objectway does not see demand from its target market for a cloud-based option at present, he adds. Illumas is UK-centric, so is not well suited for the European markets, but is a good fit for the Com- monwealth countries, muses Marciano. Objectway already has customers in South Africa, so this market is a good opportunity for Illumas to go interna- tional, he says. In the UK, the users of the old-
er Rhyme Systems solutions, such as Rhymesight and Quasar, will be offered a migration path to Illumas, but there will be no sunsetting of the legacy software, assures Marciano. ‘Old
Luigi Marciano, Objectway
versions will be supported indefinite- ly’. There are currently around 30 enti- ties on the Rhyme Systems customer list, including Rathbone Brothers and Nedbank Private Wealth. There have been no new sales for many years, and legacy clients have been identified as prime targets by rival wealth manage- ment software providers. Marciano admits that at first glance, Object- way was unsure about the business potential and the perceived image of the company as being outdated, but a closer look revealed that ‘the customer satisfaction levels were high’, ‘the solu- tions were sophisticated’, and the com- pany itself had ‘a reputation of being well-established and strong in the UK’. Objectway was keen to expand geo- graphically, with a ‘prime focus’ on the UK. ‘And in the wealth management business, you have to be domestic. We already had some presence in the UK with our Eximius solution [it stems from Objectway’s acquisition of a Bel- gium-based operation from Thomson Reuters in late 2012], but it was not the same.’ With the acquisition of Rhyme
Systems, Objectway has gained a team of 110 developers, and is well posi- tioned to breathe new life into the business. He comments that the feed- back from the customers has been positive, as they have been reassured of the roadmap and investment in the software. Marciano does not foresee chal- lenges with the integration, noting that Objectway has learnt from the earlier purchase of Eximius and sees itself as ‘a multinational, multicultur- al company’. The biggest challenge for Objectway is to persuade the market that the Ryhme Systems business is very much alive and well. It will aim to compete with the likes of Avaloq and ERI. There is also Total Wealth Solution (TWS), a hybrid offering that compris- es the Eximius front-end and Thom- son Reuters’ Beta Global back office system. The system is marketed jointly by Thomson Reuters and Objectway, and has one UK taker so far, JM Finn. TWS could be a competitor to Illumas, but Marciano comments that Thomson Reuters ‘is not pushing Beta Global and TWS much in Europe’ nowadays.
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© IBS Intelligence 2015
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news: mergers & acquisitions
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