NEW YORK | January 31st, 2022 – Drake Star has won “Americas Deal of the Year” for the sale of Echtra Games, a cross-platform game studio, to Zynga Inc. (Nasdaq: ZNGA), a global leader in interactive entertainment, and “Business Services and IT Deal of the Year” for the sale of HIREtech, technology-focused human capital management (HCM) and employer tax incentive firm, to Equifax (NYSE: EFX), a global data, analytics, and technology company at the 13th Annual Americas M&A Atlas Awards.
Drake Star has built a reputation of innovative deal-making underscored by many industry recognitions. These two awards add to the firm’s trophy case a total of 40 major recognitions since 2013 – including 27 “Deal of The Year” awards.
The Americas M&A Atlas Awards are world’s most prestigious awards that solely honor the best value-creating deals, outstanding firms, illustrious dealmakers, and leaders from the North and South Americas corporate, investor, and deal communities. Winning the independently governed awards equates to achieving the “Gold Standard of Performance” standing in the industry, validating the firm and team’s leadership since the winners are selected based on “deals criteria” and expertise.
Michael Metzger, Partner for the sale of Echtra Games commented: “We are truly honored to have this transaction recognized as the Americas Deal of the Year by the 13th Annual Americas M&A Atlas Awards. It was a pleasure working with Echtra Games, and the team of game industry legends who created genre-defining franchises such as Diablo and Torchlight. We are proud to have facilitated a landmark transaction that accelerated Zynga’s goal of developing cross-platform games across mobile, PC, and console.”
Jim Holzer, Managing Partner at Drake Star commented: “We are proud to receive this prestigious 2021 M&A Atlas Business Service & IT Deal of the Year award. It was truly gratifying to work with the talented entrepreneurs who built HIREtech into a leading HRTech data and employment technology company. We are thrilled that this transaction is benefiting Equifax Workforce Solutions in continuing to evolve and grow their business.”
The winners’ virtual ceremony was held on January 27th, in conjunction with the 13th Annual Americas Growth & Deals Forum.
Drake Star’s team members involved in Echtra Games transaction: Michael Metzger, Mohit Pareek
Inquiries
For further inquiries please contact:
Michael Metzger
Partner | Drake Star
michael.metzger@drakestar.com | +1 310 696 4011
Drake Star’s team members involved in the HIRETech transaction: Jim Holzer, Lyle Finkler
Inquiries
For further inquiries please contact:
Jim Holzer
Managing Partner | Drake Star
jim.holzer@drakestar.com | +1 212 508 7103
Media Inquiries:
Kateryna Mamyko
Director of Marketing | Drake Star
kate.mamyko@drakestar.com | +1 415 916 1353
About Global M&A Network
Global M&A Network produces world-class conferences and the Gold Standard of Performance, the M&A ATLAS AWARDS™® for mergers, acquisitions, turnaround, and alternative investor communities. Conferences are organized to facilitate discussion, debate, and direct inquiry of ideas by enlisting eminent leaders and experts to share their business-building ideas, deal intelligence, and strategies. Success stems from senior management’s 40 plus years of collective experience executing preeminent financial industry programs in America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Latin America, Africa, and Middle East regions. Significantly, the senior team has worked for leading Wall Street investment banking firms; media; conferences, and strategic consulting organizations.
For more information, visit www.globalmanetwork.com.
About Drake Star
Drake Star is an award-winning global tech investment bank that has completed over 400 transactions since 2013. Drake Star team of over 100 senior professionals across offices in New York, London, Paris, Munich, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Berlin, Geneva, Dubai*, and Singapore* focuses on mergers & acquisitions and corporate finance services worldwide in Consumer & Retail Technology, Digital Media, FinTech, Mobility & Sustainability, Software/SaaS, Digital Services, and Industrial Tech sectors.
Drake Star is the marketing name for the global investment bank Drake Star Partners Limited and its subsidiaries and affiliates. In the USA, all securities are transacted through Drake Star Securities LLC. In the USA, Drake Star Securities LLC is regulated by FINRA and is a member of SIPC. Drake Star UK Limited (FRN 942020) is an appointed representative of Kession Capital Ltd (FRN582160) which is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. © 2022 Drake Star Partners Limited.
For more information, visit www.drakestar.com.
*Partner Offices