Villani sets out on his own

Jan 08, 2010

Former executive from NASDAQ and Sage launches consulting firm

Enzo Villani became well known to many in the US IR community during his days as managing director of products and strategy at NASDAQ. In 2007 he helped found Sage Holdings, a private-equity backed holding company which bought up DF King, and M:Communications, among others, and which was recently rebranded as DF King Worldwide. This week Villani announced his own new venture, Villani Advisors.

Villani began his career in web design and marketing before going to NASDAQ in 2001. He led the acquisitions of Shareholder.com and Prime Zone Media Network (which became Globe Newswire), establishing the exchange as a provider of corporate services.

As Villani said this week in a press release, since 2003 he has executed over $350 mn in acquisitions of IR-related businesses on behalf of both NASDAQ and Sage.

Villani Advisors, which first opened its doors in November, is maintaining that focus as an M&A adviser for financial communications firms and expanding into areas like financial services, ESG and digital publishing.

Villani says he’s working solo while looking to hire senior employees from sectors like clean technology and digital media. He currently has four clients including a private equity fund and a sell-side firm. ‘I’m already out there on the buy side looking for deal flow,’ he says, citing regular access to eight venture capital firms and two or three private equity funds. He is also helping to incubate three start-ups including MUNCmedia.

Villani anticipates a lot of deals in the IR space. ‘You’re going to see PR firms moving into IR and vice versa. Stakeholder management is converging across all these separate channels,’ he says.

Adding to the momentum is the fact that marketing dollars are being steered away from advertising toward PR and IR, Villani concludes.

By Neil Stewart