March 17, 2011

Croft & Bender Serves as Financial Advisor to The Rubicon Group in its Sale to TravelClick

Tim Hart, Rubicon CEO, to Lead Business Intelligence Division at Travelclick

Croft & Bender, an Atlanta-based investment banking and private equity firm, is pleased to announce the sale of The Rubicon Group, Inc. to TravelClick, Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, with a regional office in London, Rubicon offers the broadest and deepest collection of competitive intelligence, market analysis and decision support solutions to the global travel industry. Through its signature product, MarketVision®, Rubicon offers a comprehensive suite of services that addresses market positioning in terms of price, demand and channel. Rubicon's publishing arm, IndustryIntel™, provides insights from the world's largest repository of future demand and cross-channel pricing data.

TravelClick offers hotels world-class reservation solutions, business intelligence products and comprehensive media and marketing solutions to help hotels grow their business. With local experts around the globe, TravelClick helps more than 15,000 hotel clients in over 140 countries drive profitable room reservations through better revenue management decisions, proven reservation technology and innovative marketing.

Croft & Bender was retained as the exclusive financial advisor to Rubicon to assist the company in evaluating its strategic alternatives. “Croft & Bender’s advice and counsel were instrumental in completing this transaction. They helped us evaluate our options and weigh the pros and cons of each alternative. Their efficient and organized process resulted in not only an excellent outcome for Rubicon’s shareholders, but also for our customers and employees," said Tim Hart, Rubicon’s Chief Executive Officer.

“We were delighted to help Rubicon through this process. The strong outcome is a testament to the exceptional team and technology that the company has built since its founding in 1999," commented Steve Tye, Managing Director of Croft & Bender.

Rubicon was advised from a legal perspective by a team led by Carl Erhardt of Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP, Atlanta.