MORN Morningstar Inc

Marlin & Associates Holding LLC, the boutique investment banking and strategic advisory firm, today announced that transactions on which Marlin & Associates recently advised have been nominated for seven "Deal-of-the-Year" 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 M&A Advisor nominates firms and individuals for awards based on their 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 the middle market financing industry.

This week The M&A Advisor announced that transactions on which Marlin & Associates advised were finalists for the following awards:

• Corporate/Strategic Acquisition of the Year ($100 mm and less)
• Middle Market Deal of the Year (From $50mm to $100mm)
• Middle Market Deal of the Year (From $30mm to $50mm)
• Cross-Border Deal of the Year ($100mm and less)
• Information Technology Deal of the Year ($500 mm or less)
• Energy Deal of the Year ($100mm and less)
• Financial Services Deal of the Year ($500mm and less)

The award winners will be revealed at the 9th Annual M&A Awards Gala and Summit at the New York Athletic Club in New York City on December 14th, 2010.

In September, The M&A Advisor announced that Marlin & Associates received awards for advising:

• International Financial Services Deal-of-the-Year
• International Information Technology Deal-of-the-Year

"We are humbled to have deals, on which we advised, win two awards and be finalists for seven other M&A awards," said Marlin & Associates Managing Partner, Ken Marlin. "These are trying times for many in our industry. But, each quarter it seems to get a bit better. Certainly, it helps when we have clients that are well managed, growing companies with unique products. We look forward to December, when we will find out if our deals win any of the other seven awards."

About The M&A Advisor

Since 1998, The M&A Advisor has been the preeminent organization facilitating connections and recognizing achievement in the top performers of the M&A, turnaround and financing industries through its leading Awards, Summits, M&A ALERTS™ newsletters, M&A LINKS ™ social network, M&A MARKET INTEL™ research and publishing service and M&A CONNECTS™ business development services. Further information regarding The M&A Advisor's 9th Annual M&A Awards can be read at: https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B_sX0hGFOl9wMjM1NTE3M2EtODY2Mi00MjBiLWEwZTYtOTZhYjBlZjRjNmRj&hl=en&pli=1

About Marlin & Associates

Marlin & Associates Holding LLC 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. Further information can be read at www.MarlinLLC.com.

Marlin & Associates Securities LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marlin & Associates Holding LLC, is a broker-dealer registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and is a FINRA/SIPC member firm (www.finra.org). Investment banking and/or securities are offered through Marlin & Associates Securities LLC. Marlin & Associates' professionals have advised on more than 200 successfully completed transactions.

Some recent clients that Marlin & Associates has advised include:

-iSuppli Corp. of El Segundo, California, which Marlin & Associates advised on its sale to IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS);

-SMARTS Group of Sydney, Australia, which Marlin & Associates advised on its sale to NASDAQ OMX (NASDAQ: NDAQ);

- SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) of Brussels, Belgium, which Marlin & Associates advised on its acquisition of Ambit Messaging Hub from SunGard;

- 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: Krystle Bates Contact@MarlinLLC.com +1 (212) 257-6300