Newsletter
Welcome to Issue 36 of the 4vco newsletter

4vco update
News Items
Upcoming Events
Vendor Profile Update - Vantage Reporting
Vendor Profile Update - TheNextRound
Vendor Profile Update - Netage Solutions

4vco Update
As announced in the previous newsletter, 4vco is promoting the Private Equity Middle East Symposium, an event focussed on the operational and administrative challenges facing the region.

Following the rapid growth and development of private equity investment in the MENA region, there is a need for a forum to address the challenges facing the CFO, COO, IR, HR and Risk managers. With its unique content, this conference will provide a platform for intellectual debate and an interactive environment along with an opportunity to network with like-minded peers in the private equity industry in the Middle East.

Speakers will be attending from some of the most established firms in the industry, which include:

• Abraaj Capital - Omar Lodhi, Director
  
• Dubai International Capital - Sameer Al Ansari, Executive Chairman and CEO
  
• DIFC (Dubai International Finance Centre) - Dr. Nasser Saidi, Chief Economist
  
• Gulf One Investment Bank - Dr Nahid Teher, CEO
  
• Ithmar Capital - Faisal bin Juma Belhoul, Founder and Managing Partner
  
• JP Morgan - Sekou Kaalund, Director Strategic Initiatives
  
• KPMG - Dale Gregory, Transaction Services
  
• Permira - Martin Clarke, Partner
  
• PWC - Nick Hewitt, Partner

For more details, including the agenda, list of participants and registration details, visit www.privateequitymiddleeastsymposium.com

You can also contact the event coordinator, Matthew Heynes, on +44 20 7349 7119.

Staying with the event theme, the 4vco Private Equity Software Showcase was held in London on 18/19th September. We were joined by nearly 50 delegates from 30 private equity houses based in the UK and Europe.

Attendees were entertained by representatives from 5 of the major PE software vendors and had the opportunity to view the software, discuss related topics with vendors and to network with each other. The 4vco team was also on hand to offer advice and to make sure proceedings went as planned.

We have had very positive feedback from delegates and vendors. Here are just a few of the comments that we received:

• "A much needed focus on a niche industry. It's good to talk about relevant processes and technology rather than conceptual ones. Please continue - very valuable".
  
  
• "I now have a much better feel of what is out there. Just as importantly, I have a better view of what effort might be required in putting one in and what in-house issues might need to be addressed first to get benefit from a system."
  
  
• "…let me congratulate you on organising an excellent showcase event. I found the presentations were extremely useful and I came away with a very good knowledge of the PE Software capabilities."
  
  
• "I was delighted with the event and thank you for hosting it in such an enjoyable way."
  
  
• "Just a quick note to say how useful and informative the showcase was."

We shall certainly be looking to repeat the event in the future and we already have a list of interested parties that could not make the dates this time around. If you would like to be added to the list then please contact us at feedback@4vco.com and we will keep you up to date with developments.

Finally, as part of our recent expansion we have completed our move to larger premises. Please note our new address and contact details:

4vco Ltd
Langdale House
11 Marshalsea Road
London, SE1 1EN

Tel: +44 20 7785 6999

Best wishes - 4vco Team

News Items
More details on these and other news items

• eFront - announces new clients
  
  
• Investran - welcomes over 40 new customers
  
  
• Davigold - product and staff announcements
  
  
• bpCentral new product features
  
  
• BVCA - appoints new Chief Executive
  
  
• EVCA - invites comments on Disclosure and Transparency in PE
  
  
• TheNextRound - Ranked 9 in Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 Program for New England

Upcoming Events
EVCA - Impact of IFRS on Fund Accounting Master Class
25 - 26 October in Brussels
More details at www.evca.com

EVCA - Foundation Course for Support Staff
7 - 9 November in Budapest, Hungary
More details at www.evca.com

4vco/EQUUS - The Private Equity Middle East Symposium
13 - 14 November in Dubai
More details at www.privateequitymiddleeastsymposium.com

EVCA - Finance and Administration Course
20 - 23 November in Munich
More details at www.evca.com



Vendor Profile Update - Vantage Reporting
It is 12 months since Vantage Reporting was last profiled by 4vco. Greg Woolf (CEO) and Monica VanHorn (Marketing Director) recently gave 4vco an update on what has changed at Vantage Reporting in the last year.

Clients and Staff
Vantage Reporting now has over 50 funds using its software, split equally between direct manager and fund of funds/advisory firms. These clients manage over $250b in aggregate. In the past year a number of solutions have been implemented for UK-based firms.

Woolf singles out Hamilton Lane as a major firm that is implementing the Vantage Deal Manager, Vantage Performance, Vantage Contact and Vantage Funds-of-Funds modules: "the new product set will offer Hamilton Lane unprecedented capabilities to analyse elite fund managers, industry research and analysis." View the full press release at www.vantage-reporting.com/ASSETS/DOCUMENTS/04172007HRelease.pdf

Staff numbers in the US stand at 10, split between sales and marketing (3), project management and customer support (6) and others (1). The development team in India varies between 16 and 30 depending on business volume. Staff in the US are based in Boston and New York, and in the past year both these offices have moved to larger premises.

Earlier this year Vantage Reporting hosted its first annual Technology Trends Roundtable in New York, titled "Leveraging IT to Manage Growth and Change in the Private Investment Industry". Woolf reports that the event was well attended and will be repeated in Boston in the fall of 2007. For more information or to register, contact events@vantage-reporting.com

The Product
A new product, Vantage Deal Manager for Fund of Funds/Advisors, was released recently. Woolf describes how Vantage Deal Manager helps clients "manage their deal pipeline with powerful online collaboration, contact and document management tools". He lists some of the features of the product:

• "Managing deal team communication with hierarchical permissions.
  
  
• Providing personal views of pipeline deals for each investment professional.
  
  
• Fully searchable database with saved searches.
  
  
• Scheduled report generation and distribution of deal documents.
  
  
• Sharing documents online via electronic document management.
  
  
• Tracking deal team contacts, meetings, activities and tasks.
  
  
• Support for co-investment and secondary investments."

In addition, enhancements have been made to other Vantage modules.

Vantage Investor now supports complete partnership accounting, calculation and tracking of partner commitments, contributions, distribution and capital accounting activities.

Vantage Funds-of-Funds has been enhanced to become a "fully-fledged portfolio accounting and reporting system, and now allows look-through to underlying portfolio companies."

Vantage Performance supports importing portfolio company financials, and provides what Woolf describes as "sophisticated portfolio company dashboards and performance analysis across the portfolio". Woolf describes how clients are paying more attention to portfolio performance and monitoring, and how investors are pushing for better information across sectors, funds and the entire portfolio. He continues, "Our flexible technology allows clients to import monthly financial activity from their portfolio companies tailored for each company while enabling scalable, streamlined and standardised reporting." Woolf goes on to describe some of the ways these tools can be used:

• "Monitoring portfolio company results from initial investment through to realisation.
  
  
• Analysing across investment strategy, industry, region and deal professional by company, fund or complete portfolio.
  
  
• Tracking projections for follow-on investments and prospective new deals.
  
  
• Integrating with major back office accounting systems and fund administrators.
  
  
• Functionality to track, analyse and report on individual client investment activity.
  
  
• Recording and reporting manager and portfolio company news events and quarterly comments for investors."

Woolf reports that future plans include developing private equity real estate solutions.

Strategy
Woolf notes a growing demand for Vantage's solutions from clients who want to "integrate disparate systems", as well as those struggling to obtain specific functionality from existing packaged solutions. He explains, "These requirements can be addressed with Vantage's hybrid alternative to internally developed or purely package software solutions. The Vantage Precision Tailoring Platform has been designed for rapid tailoring to each client's specific workflow, analysis and reporting needs." Woolf describes Vantage solutions as being "platform-agnostic - offering clients the ability to maximise their return on software investments by keeping what they have and taking it to the next level".

This strategy has, according to Woolf, resulted in more collaboration than competition with other software products in the marketplace. Vantage, he continues, is "committed to expanding our relationships with other software vendors to increase Vantage's ability with them for total client satisfaction".

Another objective for Vantage is expanding its global market presence and customer base, particularly in Europe, building on last year's implementations in the UK. Woolf explains that the "web-based nature of our software lends itself to deploying and supporting clients around the globe."

Contacts
For more information, visit www.vantage-reporting.com or email Monica VanHorn at mvanhorn@vantage-reporting.com

Vendor Profile Update - TheNextRound
It is almost 18 months since TheNextRound was last profiled by 4vco. Recently, 4vco met with Andy Barrett (Vice President, Business Development) to hear about what TheNextRound has been up to since the last profile.

Clients and Staff
TheNextRound now has a client list numbering more than 150, including more than 40 clients that have been added in 2007. These clients are supported by over 60 staff based in Boston, New York and London, split between Client Services and Support (30), Development (25), Sales and Marketing (5) and Administration (5). At the beginning of 2007 a new London office was opened to support existing European clients and support European strategic initiatives.

In Barrett's opinion, opening the London office was one of the most significant decisions TheNextRound made in the past year. He continues, "Now we are able to service our European clients within local time zones, and easily travel to their offices for training. The office is staffed by people that have worked for TheNextRound for several years in the Boston headquarters. Our main goal in opening the London office was to provide clients with local support from experienced TNR employees". TheNextRound is currently in the process of expanding the London office for further growth.

A new office in Dubai is planned.

TheNextRound is also in the process of moving its Boston headquarters, and has signed a lease on 20,000 square feet of new office space in Framingham, Massachusetts. Barrett is excited about the possibilities afforded by the new training facilities and technology in the new office.

Products
Version 9 of the software was released in May 2007, and includes the following enhancements:

• "Technology - Version 9 supports SQL Server 2005, Windows Vista and Office 2007. Seamless integration with Yahoo Maps and Google Desktop Search engine. It also includes a Process Scheduler which enables automated, scheduled synchronisation with Outlook contact folders, foreign exchange rate downloads and stock price downloads.



• Workflow Management - The new Task Management tool allows users to create, monitor and assign tasks and follow-ups. Notification Services integrates with Outlook to notify users of the status of individual workflow items through email and task lists.



• Accounting - Bank reconciliation, on-screen partners capital, enhanced support for various fund and tax structures such as AIV's and Blocker vehicles. Multiple new General Ledger features including automated wire distributions. European capital structures (including Luxcos), advanced interest schedules and significant multi-currency enhancements.



• Deal Management/CRM - Central search screens, enhanced custom menu choices, VCard integration, task management, notification services and fully customizable distribution lists."

Version 10 is in development and is planned to be released to clients early in 2008. Several of its key features will include integration with Active Directory, fully customisable screens with drag-and-drop field placement, advanced end-user reporting utility and a new projections module.

Barrett reports that clients are "becoming more sophisticated and need more integrated systems. We see a lot of clients come to TheNextRound because they want one database that contains all information from contacts to accounting to deal tracking to fund raising. They want to log in once and with a few clicks be able to access whatever information they need. Clients also want one system so that end-user training is simpler, implementation is shorter and data duplication is minimised."

Xtranet LP, TheNextRound's web-based reporting module, continues to experience success with "almost a 100 per cent take-up by new clients". Barrett reports that over 10,000 Limited Partners now use the Xtranet product.

Strategy
Barrett describes how the marketplace for private equity software is divided into three tiers. "There are the top 2-3 vendors that we are typically competing with in the final stages of client evaluation, there are smaller vendors that do more specialised projects, and then there are consultants that will build custom in-house systems."

"Over the past 1-2 years we have seen more clients that want to implement an integrated solution. As a result, we have seen approximately 25 per cent of our new clients switching to TheNextRound from other vendors."

"I think ultimately what drives the competitiveness of this market and helps establish who the top tier vendors are, is the ability of each vendor to listen to the needs of their clients. The world of private equity is continually changing. Fund structures are changing, tax laws and legal structures are changing, even the way that firms are fund raising is changing. In order to be successful, the vendors need to continue to adapt the software to support these changing requirements. That, in turn, is going to determine which vendors will be the most successful in supporting their clients for the long-term."

Barrett concludes by confirming that TheNextRound is looking for further expansion in Europe and internationally.

Contacts
For more information contact visit www.thenextround.com or email Andy Barrett at andy@thenextround.com.

Vendor Profile Update - Netage Solutions
It is 12 months since 4vco last updated the vendor profile for Netage Solutions. Stuart Sheppard, Managing Director, recently gave 4vco an update.

Clients and Staff
Client numbers have risen to over 150. Netage's headcount now stands at 65 staff, based in New York, London and Bulgaria where the development team is located. Sheppard pointed out that Bulgaria was ranked in the top 10 offshore locations for remote functions including IT services and support (2007 AT Kearney's Global Services Location Index), and that the critical mass of local IT talent in Bulgaria "continues to fuel innovation and product development at Netage".

Sheppard reports that 2006 marked the most successful year for Netage since its inception in 1998: "Netage reported triple digit revenue growth over 2005, and its clients now manage funds totalling over $200 billion, report their results to over 10,000 investors, and employ over 1,000 professionals."

Recent hires include Ed Hadley, who joined as marketing manager with responsibility for marketing and public relations activities.

In early 2007, Netage achieved Microsoft Gold Partner status. Sheppard continues, "Gold Certified Partners represent the highest level of competence and expertise with Microsoft technologies and are afforded a rich set of benefits, including access, training and support, giving them a competitive advantage over other software providers".

Products
Netage's DynamoEnterprise Suite is built from the ground up on the Microsoft .NET architecture and in native SQL for scalability and performance.

In August 2007, Netage released version 5.2 of the DynamoEnterprise Suite, which includes the InvestorDynamo, DealDynamo and FundDynamo products.

Sheppard comments, "DynamoEnterprise 5.2 includes new productivity and reporting tools that empower firms to stay connected with clients and manage their business more efficiently and effectively. Outlook integration features allow users to store emails as activities or documents in Dynamo and relate them to other contacts, deals, or entities, enhancing the interrelation of information within the system. In addition, a new investor dashboard provides IR professionals with a 360 degree view of investor accounts at a glance, enabling them to make more informed business decisions."

Additional new features and enhancements to DynamoEnterprise 5.2 include:

• "Outlook Integration Features - The process of storing emails as activities or documents in the system and then relating the resulting items to other Dynamo items has been simplified. Importing email attachments as attachments or as new documents within Dynamo has also been streamlined. These enhancements reduce the number of clicks required to associate emails and related information with investors, activities, and other discussions in Dynamo.
  
  
• Reports - In addition to Crystal Reports, Dynamo now supports Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, a server-based reporting solution for creating, managing, and delivering web-based reports. Reports can be scheduled to run at specific times and printed and emailed as PDFs. For example, managers can have their weekly deal pipeline run on Sunday night so that it's available Monday morning for the partners' meeting.
  
  
• Investor Account Enhancements - Dynamo provides better accommodation of financial data and performance, showing end-of-period account balances for funds and investors and how contributed capital has appreciated or depreciated over time. The system also allows visual comparison between account performance and one or more stock indices. This data - along with all client information and relationships - is provided on one screen, enabling users to quickly and accurately respond to information requests.
  
  
• Mail Merge - When sending merged letters by email, Dynamo can automatically add personalised attachments to each letter (e.g., PDF copies of investor K-1s), substantially reducing administrative time. In addition, a new Capital Account Balance feature allows users to send personalised capital balances to each client.
  
  
• Data Import and Export - Dynamo now comes with a built-in tool for importing data into the system, enabling firms to more easily leverage existing contacts and information. Also, Dynamo data can now be exported to Excel not only from a folder view, but from within any view in an open item."

Sheppard describes Dynamo Enterprise Version 5.2 as a significant release for Netage, "we're more confident than ever in Dynamo's ability to help firms leverage their connections, improve client service and increase productivity firm-wide".

One of the primary goals for Netage over the next 12 months is to get as many clients as possible upgraded to version 5.2

Sheppard says that user adoption is always a potential concern. "However", he continues "because the software is designed in Outlook, DynamoEnterprise is an environment that users are already familiar with, so it's intuitive and easy to use from the start". Sheppard also points out that Dynamo's configurability helps ensure adoption, enabling the product to be tailored to each firm's workflow and processes.

Strategy
Sheppard reports that there is increasing competition in the marketplace, particularly from generic CRM systems. However, Sheppard feels that "because these 'vanilla' applications typically require lengthy and costly customisations and are not built by industry experts, Netage has an edge". He continues, "DynamoEnterprise was designed specifically for the needs of the alternative investments market and provides rich, industry-specific functionality. In addition, it can be easily configured for the unique way a firm manages its investors, contacts, deals, funds and other critical information."

Sheppard points out that Netage's customers are "increasingly focussed on ease-of-use, adaptability and the ability to dynamically view relationships and link information in the CRM system. Larger customers are also focussing on scalability." According to Sheppard, many clients are concerned with the loss of intellectual property stemming from employee turnover. He feels that the impact of this can be reduced by implementing a system which eliminates silos (e.g., individual 'Rolodexes' or Outlook contacts) and provides a single repository to centrally store and track all investor and deal information.

A major objective over the next year is to migrate the client base on to the 5.2 platform. Sheppard also singles out Netage's ongoing commitment to staying close to its customers with regular events (see Netage website for details) both to solicit feedback on the product and on the clients' changing business needs as well providing them with insight and best practice on getting the most out of their Netage deployments. All, as Sheppard puts it "with the personal touch that Netage's customer service and support affords".

Contacts
You can find out more at www.NetageSolutions.com or by emailing Stuart Sheppard at stuart@netagesolutions.com