M&A: VC steps in to rescue insolvent software company

It's rare for an insolvency to work out so that everyone (except shareholders) gets paid and the business has working capital to secure its future. But that's exactly what was proposed when QL2 Software, Inc and Hale Global went to Court and asked to take QL2 back into business.

The deal was simple: a new company, QL2 Software, LLC was formed and the assets transferred to that company. The old company's debt were paid off in full, including interest, leaving its shareholders out of pocket but - amazingly - not with a total loss. Enough money was left in the company to give them something.

QL2 describes itself as "QL2 is the industry leader in providing services and technology for near real-time pricing and product data from unstructured sources such as the Web."

It is also extremely lucky. And so are its creditors.

As for Hale Global, they see value in the business which has more than 200 customers across three dozen countries. QL2's customers include seven of the top ten global airlines, five of the top global on-line travel agencies and several Global 100 energy, car rental, retail, pharmaceutical and life science companies.

Hale Global says of itself "we believe no firm is faster and more reliable than Hale Global in structuring and closing mutually beneficial transactions."

That's the kind of words normally associated with vulture funds and break-up specialists. Nice to see someone who isn't doing that.