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16 Hartford Business Journal • July 27, 2020 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By Matt Pilon mpilon@hartfordbusiness.com T wo competitors are going after SS&C Technologies in court, accusing the Windsor-based financial software and services powerhouse of using unfair tactics to gain monopoly power in key markets. SEI Global Services Inc., headquar- tered in suburban Philadelphia, and New York City-based Arcesium LLC filed separate but similar federal lawsuits over the past five months, after SS&C allegedly terminated software licensing agreements with each company. Though some court filings are sealed or redacted to protect cus- tomer names and trade secrets, the two lawsuits offer a glimpse into the complex and ever-evolving food chain of companies that provide software and services to alternative investment managers like hedge funds, private eq- uity firms and other asset managers. The technology allows investment managers to automate complex tasks, ranging from post-trade reconciliation to accounting and regulatory and tax reporting. SS&C has become a significant force in that market — through numerous acquisitions it is now the largest administrator of alternative funds in the world. "When they entered [the alternatives space], they were basically the small fish," said Surinder Thind, an equity analyst at New York City investment bank Jefferies who covers SS&C. "Now they've become the big fish, and they did it against all odds, because that used to be the domain of the big banks." "They've basically built the busi- ness that is 55% of their core rev- enues out of nothing," Thind added. Becoming a big fish SS&C has a long history in the financial technology markets. CEO Bill Stone founded the compa- ny in 1986, and took it public a decade later, long before the software-as-a- service model that now dominates the industry was even a possibility. In 2005, a few years after the dot- com bubble burst, The Carlyle Group acquired the company, taking it pri- vate once more. A 2010 initial public offering put SS&C back on the stock market, where it has thrived ever since, growing from $32 million in profit on $329 million in revenue that year to nearly $439 million in profit on $4.6 billion in revenues in 2019. That ten-fold growth is the re- sult of SS&C investing since 2010 more than $13 billion to acquire 20 companies. Since the mid-1990s, it has acquired about 55 companies in total, and today has a market cap of more than $14 billion. In a recent telephone interview, Stone, who dismissed the recent lawsuits as "unfounded," reflected on the company's climb. "Obviously we're bigger and we have way more resources today than we had before," Stone said. "I'm proud of the success we've had." Expect more acquisitions in the years to come, Stone said, as the strategy has worked so far. Thind, the analyst, said SS&C has a finely tuned playbook through its deals. "They tend to make smart acquisi- tions, they tend to be opportunistic and go after low-price targets, and Big Fish Serial fintech acquirer SS&C Technologies draws legal blowback from $2.6B purchase SS&C Technologies CEO Bill Stone (left) being interviewed by CNBC's Jim Cramer in 2018. Stone's acquisition spree of late has caught the ire of some competitors. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED THE BUSINESS NEWS YOU NEED DELIVERED EACH BUSINESS DAY FROM YOUR TRUSTED, LOCAL SOURCE VISIT HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM/ENEWSLETTERS TO SIGN UP. MORNING BLEND POWERED BY HARTFORD BUSINESS JOURNAL & NEW HAVEN BIZ HARTFORD BUSINESS.COM TODAY HARTFORD BUSINESS.COM TODAY Every day by 7:45 A.M., our editors pull the top news sources in the state and nation to provide you with the must-know information you need to start your business day. Every business day, our award- winning reporting and news staff canvases the market for breaking news and sends it to your inbox by noontime.