Houlihan Lokey Advises Morningside

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Morningside, a leading IP and language services company, has been acquired by Questel. The transaction closed 31 March 2021.

Founded in 2000 and headquartered in New York, Morningside specialises in patent translation and foreign filing solutions as well as legal, life sciences, and corporate compliance language services. With a global presence of 250 employees, Morningside leverages its industry-leading IP platform to help clients seamlessly reach new markets while doing more with their budget. Morningside has over 4,000 clients in 55 countries, including many Global 500 companies, law firms, and regulatory bodies.

Questel is a true end-to-end IP solutions provider to more than 15,000 clients and 1 million users across 30 countries. It offers a comprehensive software suite for searching, analysing, and managing inventions and IP assets. Questel also provides services throughout the IP lifecycle, including prior art searches, patent drafting, international filing, translation, and renewals.

The acquisition is part of Questel’s strategy to act as a one-stop-shop for all of its clients’ IP needs. Since Morningside is one of the largest patent translation companies in the world, the acquisition consolidates Questel’s position as a leading IP translation provider. Morningside also has a major global law firm presence, which will allow Questel to significantly expand and diversify its customer base.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Morningside on its sale to Questel. This transaction builds on the firm’s market-leading position in the IP sector. Other recent Houlihan Lokey transactions in the sector include acting for TrademarkNow on its sale to Corsearch; MultiLing on its sale to Questel; Incopro on its equity raise from Highland Europe; Warburg Pincus on the sale of ipan to Castik Capital; PatentSight on its sale to Reed Tech; and Chipworks on its sale to TechInsights.