BWise has been acquired by The NASDAQ OMX Group

May 2012 — BWise B.V., a Netherlands-based compliance and risk management software provider, has been acquired by The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc., the world’s largest exchange company. The price and terms of this transaction have not been disclosed.

Established in 1994, BWise offers an industry-leading software solution in the governance, risk management and compliance (GRC) space. BWise’s solutions have received strong analyst recognition and the company has been consistently profiled as a leader in Gartner's Magic Quadrant and The Forrester Wave™.

With a market value of over US$4 billion, The NASDAQ OMX Group delivers trading, exchange technology and public company services across the six continents. BWise’s GRC platform will be sold through NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions, a software technology business dedicated to helping public and private companies minimize risk, maximize efficiency and increase transparency with a suite of governance, investor relations and public relations products. The acquisition of BWise will enable NASDAQ OMX to further its long-term strategy of offering valuable products and services to publicly listed and private companies.

Our role in the transaction

One of Oaklins’ teams in the USA and the team in the Netherlands worked together to advise BWise in this transaction. Having been introduced to BWise by the Dutch team in 2005, our US team assisted the company in evaluating select strategic alternatives and ultimately structuring and negotiating a complex, cross-border transaction with NASDAQ OMX.