NewMedia SPARK PLC
23 December 1999
NewMedia SPARK invests £1.5m in Synaptic Systems Ltd
alongside GlobalNet Financial
NewMedia SPARK plc ('SPARK') is pleased to announce that it
has invested £1.5m for an equity stake of approximately 9% in
Synaptic Systems Ltd ('Synaptic'). At the same time SPARK's
partner company GlobalNet Financial.com Inc. has invested a
further £4.3m in Synaptic on the same terms as SPARK for an
equity stake of approximately 25%.
Synaptic is a leading supplier of software systems to the UK
IFA marketplace covering product research information. Its
systems are used by a majority of UK IFAs and encompass a very
substantial amount of product information, coupled with the
ability to create compliance reports justifying investment
recommendations. Synaptic is presently in the process of
introducing automated pricing systems for a range of products
in conjunction with leading Life and Pensions offices, and
SPARK believes that Synaptic leads the UK marketplace in this
crucial area. Following this investment by GlobalNet and
SPARK, Synaptic now intends to accelerate its plans to migrate
its products offering to the Internet. A flotation of the
business is likely over the medium term.
Commenting on this investment Michael Whitaker, CEO of SPARK,
said:
'We are delighted to be investing alongside GlobalNet in
Synaptic, which we believe has the leading technology and
systems in its marketplace. Hopefully both GlobalNet and we
can assist Synaptic in migrating its systems to the Web, and
we also intend to assist with Synaptic's flotation plans in
due course. Synaptic is already a profitable business with a
strong position in the IFA market, and we believe that it is
strategically positioned to achieve very substantial growth in
an area which is likely to see rapid technology development
over the next few years. There may also over the medium term
prove to be some synergies between Synaptic and SPARK's
previous investment in Bridge4U (now renamed 'exxactly.com'),
The latter of which is targeting the IFA market outside
Europe.'
______________________________________________________________
For further information please contact:
NewMedia SPARK 0171 887 4510
Michael Whitaker 0468-555944
Buchannan Communications
Lisa Baderoon 0171 466 5000
Peel Hunt & Company
David Davies 0171 418 8900
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