IDC Interactive Data Corp.

Marlin & Associates, the boutique investment banking and strategic advisory firm, today announced that the firm has been recognized with "Deal of the Year" awards for advising on three recent transactions. The awards were presented Monday at the 5th Annual "Middle Market Financing Awards" Gala at the Drake Hotel in Chicago, IL.

Marlin & Associates received awards for advising on:

• "Financial Services Deal of the Year"
• "Professional Services Deal of the Year"
• "Information Technology Deal of the Year"

"We are both pleased and humbled to have three deals, on which we advised to be recognized as 'Deal of the Year,'" said Ken Marlin, Managing Partner of Marlin & Associates. "We work hard on behalf of all of our clients and it is gratifying to have that effort be noticed by our peers."

"In these tough economic times we should praise these firms for rising to the challenge to seize and close middle market deals," said Roger Aguinaldo, CEO of The M&A Advisor. "All financing award recipients are true industry leaders and it is our honor to recognize them."

About The Middle Market Financing Awards

Each year, The M&A Advisor, a conference producer and newsletter publisher serving the middle market finance industry, recognizes top deal-making professionals serving the $10 million - $1 billion (sales) market in fields such as investment banking, private equity, legal services, and accounting. The Middle Market Financing Awards are made on the basis of creativity and resourcefulness, persistence, business savvy, and value-added. The finalists are judged by an independent body of experts who represent a cross-section of middle market financing industry.

About Marlin & Associates

Marlin & Associates is a boutique investment banking and strategic advisory firm specializing in acquisitions and divestitures of U.S. and international middle market firms that provide technology, digital information and healthcare-related products, technology and services. The firm is headquartered in New York, NY and has additional offices in Washington, DC and Toronto, Canada. Marlin & Associates' professionals have advised on more than 200 successfully completed transactions.

Some recent transactions on which Marlin &Associates has advised include:

- Strategic Analytics of Santa Fe, New Mexico, which Marlin & Associates advised on its sale to Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ: VRSK);

- Logical Information Machines, Inc. (LIM) of Chicago, Illinois, which Marlin & Associates advised on its sale to Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN);

-NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) of New York, New York, which Marlin & Associates advised on the sale of its Hugin subsidiary to Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI);

- Vhayu Technologies of Los Gatos, California, which Marlin & Associates advised on its sale to Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI);

- Standard & Poor's of New York, New York a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), which Marlin & Associates advised on the sale of its Vista Research subsidiary to Guidepoint Global;

- Tenfore of London, England, which Marlin & Associates advised on its sale to Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN);

-LexisNexis of Dayton, Ohio, which Marlin & Associates advised on the sale of its subsidiary Mealey's Conference to Business Valuation Resources (BVR);

- InfoDyne Corp. of Park Ridge, Illinois, which Marlin & Associates advised on its sale to International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM);

-Orimos of Zurich, Switzerland, which Marlin & Associates advised on its acquisition of ION Trading;

- LowerFees, Inc. of Westlake Village, California, which Marlin & Associates advised on its sale to Bankrate, Inc. (NASDAQ: RATE);

- Netik LLC of London, England and New York, New York, which Marlin & Associates advised on its simultaneous acquisition of Capco Reference Data Services and the replacement of its primary investor, The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK), with Symphony Technology Group;

- Applied Financial Technology (AFT) of San Francisco, California, which Marlin & Associates advised on its sale to Lender Processing Services (NYSE: LPS);

- Xcitek LLC's Market Data Division of New York, NY, which Marlin & Associates advised on its sale to Interactive Data Corp. (NYSE: IDC).

CONTACT: Marlin & Associates (212) 257-6300 Contact@MarlinLLC.com www.MarlinLLC.com