SS&C Technologies Holdings Inc - Annual Report: 2018 (Form 10-K)

Ul Hassan

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-K

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018

Commission file number:  001-34675

SS&C TECHNOLOGIES HOLDINGS, INC.

(Exact name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

80 Lamberton Road

Windsor, CT 06095

(Address of Principal Executive Offices, Including Zip Code)

860-298-4500

(Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.   ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

As of June 30, 2018, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates was $10,769,794,898 based on the closing sale price per share of the registrant’s common stock on The Nasdaq Global Select Market on such date.

There were 251,626,214 shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding as of February 22, 2019.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE:

Part III of this annual report on Form 10-K incorporates by reference certain information from the registrant’s definitive proxy statement for the 2019 annual meeting of stockholders, which the registrant intends to file pursuant to Regulation 14A with the Securities and Exchange Commission not later than 120 days after the registrant’s fiscal year end of December 31, 2018. With the exception of the sections of the definitive proxy statement specifically incorporated herein by reference, the definitive proxy statement is not deemed to be filed as part of this annual report on Form 10-K.

SS&C TECHNOLOGIES HOLDINGS, INC.

ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K

FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2018

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Explanatory Note

On June 24, 2016, SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. completed a two-for-one stock split, effected in the form of a stock dividend. All share and per share amounts (other than for our Class A non-voting common stock which, as described herein, had been converted to shares of our common stock prior to the two-for-one stock split) have been retroactively restated for all periods presented to reflect the stock split.

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FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Certain statements contained in this annual report constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, expectations, intentions, projections, developments, future events, performance, underlying assumptions, and other statements that are other than statements of historical facts. Without limiting the foregoing, the words “believes”, “anticipates”, “plans”, “expects”, “estimates”, “projects”, “forecasts”, “may”, “assume”, “intend”, “will”, “continue”, “opportunity”, “predict”, “potential”, “future”, “guarantee”, “likely”, “target”, “indicate”, “would”, “could” and “should” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements are accompanied by such words. Such statements reflect management’s best judgment based on factors currently known but are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the state of the economy and the financial services industry and other industries in which our clients operate, our ability to realize anticipated benefits from its acquisitions, including Intralinks, Inc., Eze Software and DST Systems, Inc., the effect of customer consolidation on demand for our products and services, the increasing focus of our business on the hedge fund industry, the variability of revenue as a result of activity in the securities markets, the ability to retain and attract clients, fluctuations in customer demand for our products and services, the intensity of competition with respect to our products and services, the exposure to litigation and other claims, terrorist activities and other catastrophic events, disruptions, attacks or failures affecting our software-enabled services, risks associated with our foreign operations, privacy concerns relating to the collection and storage of personal information, evolving regulations and increased scrutiny from regulators, our ability to protect intellectual property assets and litigation regarding intellectual property rights, delays in product development, investment decisions concerning cash balances, regulatory and tax risks, risks associated with our joint ventures, changes in accounting standards, risks related to our substantial indebtedness, and the market price of our stock prevailing from time to time. The factors discussed under “Item 1A. Risk Factors”, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by forward-looking statements made herein and presented elsewhere by management from time to time.  You should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements.  Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and, except to the extent required by applicable securities laws, we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

The following are some of our registered trademarks and/or service marks in the U.S. and/or in other countries: ADVENT, ADVENT CORPORATE ACTIONS, ADVENT CUSTODIAL DATA, ADVENT ONDEMAND, ADVENT PORTFOLIO EXCHANGE, BLUEDOOR, ADVENT REVENUE CENTER, ADVISORWARE, ALL-STAR FUNDS, ALPS, AWD, AXYS, BENEFIX, BLACK DIAMOND, CAREANALYZER, CARESTEPP, DBC, DEAL MACROS, DEAL WORKSHEETS, DST, DSTHS, DST HEALTH SOLUTIONS, DST PHARMACY SOLUTIONS, DST SYSTEMS, EXETER, EZE, EZE CASTLE, EZE ECLIPSE, FAN, FAN MAIL, FIXLINK, FUNDRUNNER, GENEVA, GLOBEOP, GLOBEOP HEDGE FUND INDEX,  GOREC, GORISK, HiTRUST, INFOSTEPP, INTRALINKS, LIBERTY ALL-STAR FUNDS, MARGINMAN, MAXIMIS, MOXY, PACER, PAGES, PAS, PORTIA, PORTPRO, PRO-JECT, POWERSTEPP, REALTICK, RECON, ROLLOVER CENTRAL, RXFOCUS, SKYLINE, SYNCOVA, SYLVAN, TA2000, TAMALE, TAMALE RMS, TRAC, TRADETHRU, TRADEWARE, VISION, WALLETSHARE, and ZOOLOGIC. SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or in other countries have trademark or service mark rights to certain other names and marks other than those referred to in this annual report.

SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc., or “SS&C Holdings,” is our top-level holding company. SS&C Technologies, Inc., or “SS&C,” is our primary operating company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. “We,” “us,” “our” and the “Company” mean SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries, including SS&C.

Unless context otherwise requires, references to our “common stock” includes both shares of our common stock and shares of our Class A non-voting common stock, all outstanding shares of which were converted into shares of our common stock in 2016.

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PART I

Overview

SS&C is a global provider of software and software-enabled services to thousands of clients, principally within the institutional asset and wealth management, alternative investment management, healthcare, brokerage, retirement, financial advisory and financial institutions vertical markets.  In addition, our clients include commercial lenders, private equity real estate investment trusts (“REITs”), corporate treasury groups, insurance companies, pension funds, municipal finance groups and real estate property managers.

We are a leading provider of mission-critical, sophisticated software-enabled services that allow financial services providers to automate complex business processes.  Our portfolio of software products and rapidly deployable software-enabled services allows our clients to automate and integrate front-office functions such as trading and modeling, middle-office functions such as portfolio management and reporting, and back-office functions such as accounting, transfer agency, compliance, regulatory services, performance measurement, reconciliation, reporting, processing and clearing. Our solutions enable our clients to focus on core operations, better monitor and manage investment performance and risk, improve operating efficiency and reduce operating costs.  We provide our solutions globally to thousands of clients, principally within the institutional asset and wealth management, alternative investment management, brokerage, retirement, financial advisory and financial institutions vertical markets.  Our clients include commercial lenders, real estate investment trusts (“REITs”), corporate treasury groups, insurance companies, pension funds, municipal finance groups and real estate property managers.

In addition, we provide solutions to the healthcare industry including pharmacy, healthcare administration and health outcomes optimization solutions to satisfy their information processing, quality of care, cost management and payment integrity needs. Our healthcare solutions include claims adjudication, benefit management, care management, and business intelligence services.

We provide the global financial services industry and healthcare industry with a broad range of software-enabled services, which consist of software-enabled outsourcing services and subscription-based on-demand cloud solutions that are managed and hosted at our facilities, and specialized software products, which are deployed at our clients’ facilities.  Our software-enabled services, which combine the strengths of our proprietary software with our domain expertise, enable our clients to contract with us to provide many of their mission-critical and complex business processes.  For example, we utilize our software to deliver comprehensive fund administration services to alternative and traditional asset managers, including fund manager services, transfer agency services, funds-of-funds services, tax processing and accounting.  We offer clients the flexibility to choose from multiple software delivery options, including on-premise applications and hosted, multi-tenant or dedicated applications.  Additionally, we provide clients with targeted, blended solutions based on a combination of software and software-enabled services.  We believe that our software-enabled services provide superior client support and an attractive alternative to clients that do not wish to install, manage and maintain complicated financial software.

Our business model is characterized by substantial contractually recurring revenues and significant cash flow.  We generate revenues primarily through our high-value software-enabled services.  Our software-enabled services are generally provided under contracts with initial terms of one to five years that require monthly or quarterly payments and are subject to automatic annual renewal at the end of the initial term unless terminated by either party.  We also generate revenues by licensing our software to clients through either perpetual or term licenses and by selling maintenance services.  Maintenance services are generally provided under annually renewable contracts.  Our pricing typically scales as a function of our clients’ assets under management, the complexity of asset classes managed, the volume of transactions, and the level of service the client requires.

Our contractually recurring revenue model helps us minimize fluctuations in revenues and cash flows and enhances our ability to manage costs. Our contractually recurring revenues, which include our software-enabled services and maintenance and term licenses revenues, represented 97% of total revenues in the year ended December 31, 2018. We have experienced average revenue retention rates in each of the last five years of greater than 90% on our software-enabled services and maintenance and term licenses contracts for our core enterprise products. We believe that the high value-added nature of our products and services has enabled us to maintain our high revenue retention rates.

We generated revenues of $3,421.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 as compared to revenues of $1,675.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2017. In 2018, we generated 75% of our revenues from clients in North America and 25% from clients outside North America. Our revenues are highly diversified, with our largest client in 2018 accounting for less than 5% of our

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revenues. Additional financial information, including geographic information, is available in our Consolidated Financial Statements and Note 11 to our Consolidated Financial Statements.

Our Industry

We serve a number of vertical markets within the financial services and healthcare industries. Clients include alternative investment funds, investment management firms, individual and government sponsored health plans, healthcare providers, institutional and retail asset managers, insurance companies, registered investment advisors (“RIAs”), wealth managers, banks and brokerage firms. We believe that financial services and healthcare providers will increasingly turn to IT solutions, provided by an independent vendor, as a result of economic challenges and heightened regulatory requirements. Financial services firms are in a search for more risk-averse business strategies, simplified regulatory compliance, and full service solutions provided by a single vendor. As a result, we believe the financial services industry will continue to invest in IT and outsourcing solutions.

Market Trends

The demand for our products and services comes from a number of distinct sources: new formation in asset and wealth management, and health industries, new business lines and combinations of business lines at existing clients, replacement of legacy in-house operations and competitor systems and expansion of our existing client relationships.  Underlying these demand drivers are several industry trends, including:

Competitive Strengths

The following are our core strengths that we believe enable us to differentiate ourselves in the markets we serve:

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Enhanced capability through software ownership.

We use our proprietary software products and infrastructure to provide our software-enabled services, strengthening our overall operating margins and providing a competitive advantage. Because we primarily use our own proprietary software in the execution of our software-enabled services and generally own and control our products’ source code, we can quickly identify and deploy product improvements and respond to client feedback, enhancing the competitiveness of our software and software-enabled service offerings. This continuous feedback process provides us with a significant advantage over many of our competitors, specifically those software competitors that do not provide a comparable model and therefore do not have the same level of hands-on experience with their products.

Global industry leader with strong market position focused on software and software-enabled services for the financial and healthcare industries.

We are a global business providing a broad portfolio of software products and software-enabled services and have over 190 offices worldwide. As of December 31, 2018, we had over 20,000 development, service and support professionals with significant expertise across the industries that we serve and a deep working knowledge of our clients’ businesses. We provide highly flexible, scalable and cost-effective solutions that enable our clients to track complex securities, better employ sophisticated investment strategies, scale efficiently and meet evolving regulatory requirements. We believe our product and service offerings position us as a leader within the specific verticals of the financial services software and services market in which we compete. Our products and services allow our clients to automate and integrate their front-office, middle-office and back-office functions, thus enabling straight-through processing that increases productivity and reduces costs.

Trusted provider to our highly diversified and growing client base.

By providing mission-critical, reliable software products and services for over 30 years, we have become a trusted provider to the financial services industry.  We have developed a large and growing installed base within multiple segments of the financial services industry.  Our clients include some of the largest and most well-recognized firms in the financial services industry.  We believe that our high-quality products and superior services have led to long-term client relationships, some of which date from our earliest days of operations.  Our strong client relationships, coupled with the fact that many of our current clients use our products for a relatively small portion of their total funds and investment vehicles under management, provide us with a significant opportunity to sell additional solutions to our existing clients and drive future revenue growth at lower cost.

Largest Alternative Fund administration services fund administrator and mutual fund transfer agent

The third-party service providers that participate in the alternative investment market include fund managers, auditors, fund administrators, attorneys, custodians and prime brokers.  Each provider performs a valuable function with the intention of providing transparency of the fund’s assets and the valuation of those assets.  Conflicts of interest may arise when the above parties attempt to provide more than one of these services.  The industry is increasingly recognizing these conflicts and, as a result, seeking independent fund administrators such as SS&C.  

SS&C is currently the largest fund administrator for alternative investment managers, including hedge funds, private equity, real assets, and fund of funds. As the largest third party mutual fund transfer agent we offer the advantage of significant leverage from a scale and investment perspective.  Our highly tenured staff of industry experts allow us to deliver consistent service excellence to the asset management customers we service.  The fact we are operating our own proprietary software to deliver these services allows us to ensure all aspects of our offering are optimized to deliver cost effective, accurate solutions.

As a publically traded company, our clients and prospects have access to our 10-Qs and 10-Ks filed with the SEC, giving them transparency into our overall financial strength.

Experienced management team with strong integrating and operating track record.

Our senior management team has a track record of operational excellence and an average of more than 20 years of experience in the software and financial services and healthcare industries, and a proven ability to acquire and integrate complementary businesses, as demonstrated by the 53 businesses we have acquired since 1995. By leveraging our domain expertise and knowledge, we have developed, and continue to improve, our mission-critical software products and services to enable our clients to overcome the complexities inherent in their businesses. All of our senior executives are compensated based upon our financial success.

Business Strategies

Our strategy is to continue to deliver compelling solutions and value propositions to our customers in the software and software-enabled services market. The following are key elements to our strategy for achieving this objective:

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Build upon and extend our leadership position in software and software-enabled services in the financial services and healthcare industries.

Since our founding in 1986, we have focused on building substantial financial services domain expertise through close working relationships with our clients. We have developed a deep knowledge base that enables us to respond to our clients’ most complex financial, accounting, actuarial, tax and regulatory needs. We intend to maintain and enhance our technological leadership by using our domain expertise to build valuable new software-enabled services and solutions, continuing to invest in internal development and opportunistically acquiring products and services that address the highly specialized needs of the financial services industry.

Our internal product development team works closely with marketing, sales, and client service personnel to ensure that product evolution reflects developments in the marketplace and trends in client requirements. In addition, we intend to continue to develop our products in a cost-effective manner by leveraging common components across product families. We believe that we enjoy a competitive advantage because we can address the investment and healthcare management needs of high-end clients by providing industry-tested products and services, including cloud-based services and related mobility platforms that meet global market demands and enable our clients to automate and integrate functions for improved productivity, compliance, reduced manual intervention, and bottom-line savings.

SS&C’s products are sold to a diverse group of clients from niche players in the financial services and healthcare industries to the largest institutions in the world. Furthermore, we believe our client base represents a fraction of the total number of financial services providers globally. We believe there is opportunity to grow our client base over time as our products become more widely adopted. We believe we also have an opportunity to capitalize on the increasing adoption of outsourcing mission-critical operations by financial services providers as they continue to replace inadequate legacy solutions and custom in-house solutions that are inflexible and costly to maintain. Our software-enabled services revenues increased from $956.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2016 to $2,798.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Capitalize on longer-term secular growth trends in financial services and healthcare industries.

With our global footprint and best-in-class product offerings, we aim to capture a significant share of the IT spend of alternative asset, institutional and retail asset managers, wealth managers, and healthcare industries through leveraging the deeply embedded service offering we provide and outdistancing the competition. We expect regulatory changes to increase the complexity of compliance and the demand for our products and services, as well as motivate clients to develop infrastructure and research management processes to mitigate regulatory exposure. We plan to benefit from the growing software spend in the increasingly complex and more highly regulated financial services and healthcare landscape.

Continue to capitalize on acquisitions of complementary businesses and technologies.

We intend to continue to employ a highly disciplined and focused acquisition strategy to broaden and enhance our product and service offerings, expand our intellectual property portfolio, add new clients and supplement our internal development efforts. We believe our acquisitions have been an extension of our research and development effort that has enabled us to purchase proven products and remove the uncertainties associated with software development projects. We will seek to opportunistically acquire, at reasonable valuations, businesses, products and technologies in our existing or complementary vertical markets that will enable us to better satisfy our clients’ rigorous and evolving needs. We have a proven ability to integrate complementary businesses as demonstrated by the 53 businesses we have acquired since 1995. Our experienced senior management team leads a rigorous evaluation of our targets to ensure that they satisfy our product or service needs and will successfully integrate with our business while meeting our targeted financial goals. As a result, our acquisitions have contributed marketable products or services that have added to our revenues. Through the broad reach of our direct sales force and our large installed client base, we believe we can market these acquired products and services to a large number of prospective clients. Additionally, we have been able to improve the operational performance and profitability of our acquired businesses, creating significant value for our stockholders.

Strengthen our international presence.

We believe that there is a significant market opportunity to provide software and services to financial services providers outside North America. In the year ended December 31, 2018, we generated 25% of our revenues from clients outside North America. We are building our international operations in order to increase our sales outside North America. We plan to continue to expand our international market presence by leveraging our existing software products and software-enabled services. We also plan to leverage our growing presence in the Asia Pacific region as a result of recent acquisitions. Over the last three years, revenue from the Asia Pacific region has increased 61.8% to $145.8 million. We believe this region presents a compelling growth opportunity.

Increase profitability through margin expansion.

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We expect to drive increased margins through delivering innovative end-to-end solutions that provide significant value to customers and warrant premium pricing. We have significant scale with best-in-class solutions and software-enabled services across the delivery spectrum, which we believe, combined with a diversified service offering and client base, drives stable revenues and increased operating leverage. Our operating flexibility allows us to scale our costs based on client demands.

Our Acquisitions

As mentioned above, we intend to continue to employ a highly disciplined and focused acquisition strategy. Our past acquisitions have enabled us to expand our product and service offerings into new markets or client bases within the financial services industry. The addition of new products and services has also enabled us to market other products and services to acquired client bases. We believe our acquisitions have been an extension of our research and development effort and have enabled us to add to our product and service offerings without incurring the uncertainties sometimes associated with software development projects.

Since 1995, we have acquired 53 businesses within our industry. These acquisitions have contributed marketable products and services, which have added to our revenues and earnings. We have generally been able to improve the operating performance and profitability of our acquired businesses. We seek to reduce the costs of the acquired businesses by consolidating sales and marketing efforts and by eliminating redundant administrative tasks and research and development expenses. In many cases, we have also been able to increase revenues generated by acquired products and services by leveraging our existing products and services, larger sales capabilities and client base.

We generally seek to acquire companies that satisfy our financial metrics, including expected return on investment. Through our acquisitions, we seek companies that:

We believe, based on our experience, that there are numerous solution providers addressing highly particularized financial services needs or providing specialized services that would meet our disciplined acquisition criteria.

Acquisitions are discussed further in Liquidity and Capital Resources and in Note 7 to our Consolidated Financial Statements. The following table provides a list of the most substantial acquisitions we have made since 2010 (in millions):

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Products and Services

Our products and services allow professionals in the financial services and healthcare industries to automate complex business processes and are instrumental in helping our clients manage significant information processing requirements. Our solutions enable our clients to focus on core operations, better monitor and manage business performance and risk, improve operating efficiency and reduce operating costs. Our portfolio of products and software-enabled services allows our clients to automate and integrate front-office functions such as trading and modeling, middle-office functions such as portfolio management and reporting, and back-office functions such as accounting, performance measurement, reconciliation, reporting, processing and clearing, and compliance and tax reporting. Our healthcare solutions include claims adjudication, benefit management, care management, and business intelligence solutions.

Software-enabled Services

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Software license, maintenance and related

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Professional services

We offer a range of professional services to assist clients. Professional services consist of consulting and implementation services, including the initial installation of systems, conversion of historical data and ongoing training and support. Our in-house consulting teams work closely with the client to ensure the smooth transition and operation of our systems. Our consulting teams have a broad range of experience in the financial services industry and include certified public accountants, chartered financial analysts, mathematicians and IT professionals from the asset management, real estate, investment, insurance, hedge fund, municipal finance, banking, and healthcare industries. We believe our commitment to professional services facilitates the adoption of our software products across our target markets. For the year ended December 31, 2018, revenues from professional services represented 2% of total revenues.

Product support

We believe a close and active service and support relationship is important to enhancing client satisfaction and furnishes an important source of information regarding evolving client issues. We provide our larger clients with a dedicated client support team whose primary responsibility is to answer questions and provide solutions to address ongoing needs. Direct telephone support is provided during extended business hours, and additional hours are available during peak periods. We distribute content-rich, periodic

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blogs and thought leadership targeted at clients and prospects in each of our vertical and geographic markets. We supplement our service and support activities with comprehensive training. Training options include regularly hosted classroom and online instruction, SS&C Learning Institute, and online client seminars, or “webinars,” that address current, often technical, issues in the financial services industry.

We periodically make maintenance releases of licensed software available to our clients, as well as regulatory updates (generally during the fourth quarter, on a when and if available basis), to meet industry reporting obligations and other processing requirements.

Clients

Our global financial services and healthcare clients require a full range of information management and analysis on a timely and flexible basis. Our financial services clients include multinational banks, retail banks and credit unions, hedge funds, private equity funds, funds of funds and family offices, institutional and retail asset managers, insurance companies and pension funds, municipal finance groups, brokers/dealers, financial exchanges, commercial lenders, real estate lenders and property managers. Our healthcare clients include health insurance companies, health plans, and benefits administrators. Our clients include many of the largest and most well-recognized firms in the financial services and healthcare industries. During the year ended December 31, 2018, our top 10 clients represented approximately 16% of total revenues, with no single client accounting for more than 5% of total revenues.

Sales and Marketing

We believe a direct sales organization is essential to the successful implementation of our business strategy, given the complexity and importance of the operations and information managed by our products, the extensive regulatory and reporting requirements of each industry, and the unique dynamics of each vertical market. Our dedicated direct sales and support personnel are located in various sales offices worldwide and routinely undergo product and sales training. We also use telemarketing to support sales of our real estate property management products and work through alliance partners that sell our software-enabled services to their correspondent banking clients.

Our marketing personnel have extensive experience in marketing to the financial services and healthcare industries and are responsible for identifying market trends, evaluating and developing marketing opportunities, generating client leads and providing sales support.  Our marketing activities focus on cost-effective means of reaching current and potential clients, including:

This strategy achieves lower marketing costs, more direct contacts with actual and potential clients, increased marketing leads, distribution of more up-to-date marketing information and an improved ability to measure marketing initiatives.

The marketing department also supports the sales force with appropriate and relevant materials, including brochures and fact sheets, for use during the sales process.

Product Development and Engineering

We believe we must introduce new products and offer product innovation on a regular basis to maintain our competitive advantage. To meet these goals, we use multidisciplinary teams of highly trained personnel and leverage this expertise across all product lines. We have invested heavily in developing a comprehensive product analysis process to ensure a high degree of product functionality and quality. Maintaining and improving the integrity, quality and functionality of existing products is the responsibility of individual product managers. Product engineering management efforts focus on enterprise-wide strategies, implementing best-practice technology regimens, maximizing resources and mapping out an integration plan for our entire umbrella of products as well as third-party products. For the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, our research and development expenses were $318.2 million, $153.3 million and $152.7 million, respectively. In addition, we have made significant investments in intellectual property through our acquisitions.

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Our research and development engineers work closely with our marketing and support personnel to ensure that product evolution reflects developments in the marketplace and trends in client requirements. We have generally issued a major release of our core products during the second or third quarter of each fiscal year, which includes both functional and technical enhancements. We also provide an annual release typically in the fourth quarter to reflect evolving regulatory changes in time to meet clients’ year-end reporting requirements.

Competition

The market for the software and services we provide is competitive, rapidly evolving and highly sensitive to new product introductions and marketing efforts by industry participants, although high conversion costs can create barriers to adoption of new products or technologies. The market is fragmented and served by both large-scale firms with broad offerings as well as firms that target only local markets or specific types of clients. We also face competition from information systems developed and serviced internally by the IT departments of large financial services and healthcare firms. We believe that we generally compete effectively as to the factors identified for each market below, although some of our existing competitors and potential competitors have substantially greater financial, technical, distribution and marketing resources than we have and may offer products with different functions or features that are more attractive to potential customers than our offerings.

Alternative Investments:  In our alternative investments market, we compete with multiple vendors that may be categorized into two groups, the first consists of independent specialized administration providers, which are generally smaller than us, and the second includes prime brokerage and other financial services firms offering fund administration services.  Major competitors in this market include CITCO Group and State Street. The key competitive factors in marketing software and services to the alternative investment industry are the need for independent fund administration, features and adaptability of the software, level and quality of customer support, level of software development expertise and total cost of ownership.  Our strengths in this market are our expertise, our independence, our transparency, our ability to deliver functionality by multiple methods and our technology, including the ownership of our own software.

Asset Management:  In our asset management market, we compete with a variety of other vendors depending on client characteristics such as size, type, location, computing environment and functionality requirements.  Competitors in this market range from larger providers of integrated portfolio management systems and outsourcing services, such as BNY Mellon Financial to smaller providers of specialized applications and technologies such as StatPro, Empower, and others.  We also compete with internal processing and IT departments of our clients and prospective clients.  The key competitive factors in marketing asset management solutions are the reliability, accuracy, timeliness and reporting of processed information to internal and external customers, features and adaptability of the software, level and quality of customer support, level of software development expertise and return on investment.  Our strengths in this market are our technology, our ability to deliver functionality by multiple delivery methods and our ability to provide cost-effective solutions for clients.

Healthcare:  In our healthcare markets, our competition focuses on pharmacy and medical claims processing, benefit management, care management, business process outsourcing, business intelligence, and analytics. We compete with other third-party providers such as United Health/OptumRx and Magellan, and companies that perform their services in-house with licensed or internally developed systems and processes. We believe that we compete effectively in the market due to our ongoing investment in our products and the development of new products to meet the evolving business requirements of our clients. Our competitors’ healthcare administration and health outcomes optimization solutions are primarily based on complete replacement of a payer’s core system. We believe that a component application approach shifts the focus away from core application replacement to one in which clients have more alternatives for modernization of the business operation. With a component approach, health payer clients can still choose core application replacement if warranted, or adopt component applications that address only those areas of the business that offer the most opportunity for improvement for the client, resulting in protection of the client’s current IT investment and less disruption to its business operation.

Insurance and Pension Funds:  In our insurance and pension funds market, we compete with a variety of vendors depending on client characteristics such as size, type, location, computing environment and functionality requirements.  Competitors in this market range from large providers of portfolio management systems, such as State Street (Princeton Financial Systems) and FIS, to smaller providers of specialized applications and services.

We also compete with outsourcers, as well as the internal processing and information technology departments of our clients and prospective clients.  The key competitive factors in marketing insurance and pension plan systems are the accuracy, timeliness and reporting of processed information provided to internal and external clients, features and adaptability of the software, level and quality of customer support, economies of scale and return on investment.  Our strengths in this market are our years of experience, our top-

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tier clients, our ability to provide solutions by multiple delivery methods, our cost-effective and customizable solutions and our expertise.

Financial Advisor: We define the advisory market as independent and regional broker-dealers, wealth managers, trust companies, advisory firms, and registered investment advisers. We compete with a variety of vendors, which are generally smaller firms focused solely on the advisory market. Our competitors include Envestnet, Orion, Addepar, SEI’s wealth management platform, and custodians such as Charles Schwab, Fidelity, and Raymond James. Our strengths in this market are our premier platforms with flexible and on-demand delivery models, and complementary products and services.

Real Estate Property Management:  In our real estate property management market, we compete with numerous software vendors consisting of smaller specialized real estate property management solution providers and larger property management software vendors with more dedicated resources than our real estate property management business, such as Yardi Systems.  The key competitive factors in marketing property management and timeshare systems are the features and adaptability of the software, level of quality and customer support, degree of responsiveness and overall net cost.  Our strengths in this market are the quality of our software and our reputation with our clients.

Financial Institutions:  In our financial institutions market, there are multiple software and services vendors that are either smaller providers of specialized applications and technologies or larger providers of enterprise systems, such as FIS and Misys.  We also compete with outsourcers as well as the internal processing and IT departments of our clients and prospective clients.  The key competitive factors in marketing financial institution software and services include accuracy and timeliness of processed information provided to clients, features and adaptability of the software, level and quality of customer support, level of software development expertise, total cost of ownership and return on investment.  Our strengths in this market include our flexible technology platform and our ability to provide integrated solutions for our clients.

Commercial Lending:  In our commercial lending market, we compete with a variety of other vendors depending on client characteristics such as size, type, location and functional requirements.  Competitors in this market range from large competitors whose principal businesses are not in the loan management business, such as PNC Financial Services (Midland Loan Services) and McCracken Financial Solutions Corporation, to smaller providers of specialized applications and technologies.  The key competitive factors in marketing commercial lending solutions are the accuracy, timeliness and reporting of processed information provided to customers, level of software development expertise, level and quality of customer support and features and adaptability of the software.  Our strength in this market is our ability to provide both broadly diversified and customizable solutions to our clients.

Financial Markets:  In our financial markets, our competition falls into two categories — the internal development organizations within financial enterprises and specialized financial vendors.  The key competitive factors in marketing financial markets technology solutions are a proven track record of delivering high quality solutions, level of responsiveness and overall net cost.  Our strengths in this market are a successful track record of delivering solutions and our reputation with our clients.

Proprietary Rights

We rely on a combination of trade secret, copyright, trademark and patent law, nondisclosure agreements and technical measures to protect our proprietary technology. We have registered trademarks for many of our products and will continue to evaluate the registration of additional trademarks as appropriate. We generally enter into confidentiality and/or license agreements with our employees, distributors, clients and potential clients. We seek to protect our software, documentation and other written materials under trade secret and copyright laws, which afford limited protection. These efforts may be insufficient to prevent third-parties from asserting intellectual property rights in our technology. Furthermore, it may be possible for unauthorized third-parties to copy portions of our products or to reverse engineer or otherwise obtain and use proprietary information, and third-parties may assert ownership rights in our proprietary technology. For additional risks relating to our proprietary technology, please see “Risk Factors — Risks “Relating to Our Business”. If we are unable to protect our proprietary technology and other confidential information, our success and our ability to compete will be subject to various risks, such as third-party infringement claims, unauthorized use of our technology, disclosure of our proprietary information or inability to license technology from third-parties.

Rapid technological change characterizes the software development industry. We believe factors such as the technological and creative skills of our personnel, new product developments, frequent product enhancements, name recognition and reliable service and support are more important to establishing and maintaining a leadership position than legal protections of our technology.

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Employees

As of December 31, 2018, we had over 22,600 full-time employees, consisting of approximately:

As of December 31, 2018, approximately 11,500 of our employees were in our international operations. No employee is covered by any collective bargaining agreement. We believe that we have good relations with our employees.

Additional Information

We were incorporated in Delaware in July 2005, as the successor to a corporation originally formed in Connecticut in March 1986. Our principal executive offices are located at 80 Lamberton Road, Windsor, Connecticut 06095, and the telephone number of our principal executive offices is (860) 298-4500.

Our website address is www.ssctech.com. We make available, free of charge, on our website our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, Proxy Statements for the annual stockholder meetings and amendments thereto that we have filed or furnished with the SEC, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file them with the SEC. The same information is available in print to any stockholder who submits a written request to our Investor Relations department.  We are not, however, including the information contained on our website, or information that may be accessed through links on our website, as part of, or incorporating such information by reference into, this annual report on Form 10-K.  The SEC maintains an internet site at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.

You should carefully consider the following risk factors, in addition to other information included in this annual report on Form 10-K and the other reports we submit to the SEC. If any of the following risks occur, it could materially affect our business, operating results, cash flows and financial condition and possibly lead to a decline in our stock price. The risks and uncertainties described below are those that we have identified as material, but are not the only risks and uncertainties facing us. Our business is also subject to general risks and uncertainties that affect many other companies. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently believe are not material may also impair our business, operating results, cash flows and financial condition.

Risks Relating to Our Business

Our business is greatly affected by changes in the state of the general economy and the financial markets, and uncertainty in the general economy, the financial services industry or other industries in which our clients operate could disproportionately affect the demand for our products and services.

We derive our revenues from the delivery of products and services to clients primarily in the financial services and healthcare industries. Demand for our products and services among companies in those industries could decline for many reasons. If demand for our products or services decreases or if any of the industries we serve decline, our business and our operating results could be adversely affected.

In 2008-09, the global economy experienced a significant recession, severe disruptions in the credit markets, increased uncertainty about economic, political, global trade and market conditions, and periods of heightened volatility in a variety of financial and other markets, including commodity prices and currency rates, all of which had experienced a material and adverse effect at that time on those markets and on client activity levels. While the U.S. economy recovered from the recession, the recovery may not be sustainable for any specific period of time, and the economy could slip back into recession. Our clients include a range of organizations in the financial services industry whose success is linked to the health of the economy generally and of the financial markets specifically. Unfavorable or uncertain economic conditions, economic instability or economic downturns could: (i) cause our clients or prospective clients to cancel, reduce or delay planned expenditures for our products and services; (ii) impair our clients’ ability to pay for products they have purchased; or (iii) cause our clients to process fewer transactions through our software-enabled services, renegotiate their contracts with us, move their IT solutions in-house, switch to lower-priced solutions offered by our

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competitors or exit the industry. Fluctuations in the value of assets under our clients’ management could also adversely affect our revenues because pricing in many of our agreements is adjusted based on assets under management. We cannot predict the occurrence, timing or duration of any economic downturn, generally, or in the markets in which our businesses operate. Turbulence in the U.S. and international markets, renewed concern about the strength and sustainability of a recovery and prolonged declines in business consumer spending could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition, and the liquidity and financial condition of our clients.

In addition, any other events that adversely affect our clients’ businesses, rates of growth or numbers of clients they serve could decrease demand for our products and services and the number of transactions we process. Events that could adversely affect our clients’ businesses include decreased demand for our clients’ products and services, adverse conditions in our clients’ markets or adverse economic conditions generally. We may be unsuccessful in predicting the needs of changing industries and whether potential clients will accept our products or services. We also may invest in technology or infrastructure for specific clients and not realize additional revenue from such investments. If trends or events do not occur as we expect, our business could be negatively impacted.

We may not achieve the anticipated benefits from our acquisitions and may face difficulties in integrating our acquisitions.

We have acquired and intend in the future to acquire companies, products or technologies that we believe could complement or expand our business, augment our market coverage, enhance our technical capabilities or otherwise offer growth opportunities. For example, in 2018 we consummated our acquisitions of DST, CACEIS, Eze and Intralinks. However, acquisitions could subject us to contingent or unknown liabilities, and we may have to incur debt or severance liabilities or write off investments, infrastructure costs or other assets. Our success is also dependent on our ability to complete the integration of the operations of acquired businesses in an efficient and effective manner, which may be difficult to accomplish in the rapidly changing financial services software and services industry. We may not realize the benefits we anticipate from acquisitions, such as lower costs, increased revenues, synergies and growth opportunities, or we may realize such benefits more slowly than anticipated, due to our inability to:

The process of integrating the operations of acquired companies could disrupt our ongoing operations, divert management from day-to-day responsibilities, increase our expenses and harm our business, results of operations and financial condition. Acquisitions may also place a significant strain on our administrative, operational, financial and other resources. In addition, certain of our acquisitions have generated disputes with stockholders or management of acquired companies or other claimants that have required the expenditure of our resources to address or have led to litigation; any such disputes may reduce the value we hope to realize from our acquisitions, either by increasing our costs of the acquisition, reducing our opportunities to realize revenues from the acquisition or imposing litigation costs or adverse judgments on us. Acquisitions may also expose us to litigation from our stockholders arising out of the acquisition, which, even if unsuccessful, could be costly to defend and serve as a distraction to management.

Consolidations or failures among our clients or within their respective industries could adversely affect us by causing a decline in demand for our products and services.

If banks and financial services firms fail or consolidate, there could be a decline in demand for our products and services. Failures, mergers and consolidations of banks and financial institutions reduce the number of our clients and potential clients, which could adversely affect our revenues even if these events do not reduce the aggregate activities of the consolidated entities. Further, if our clients fail and/or merge with or are acquired by other entities that are not our clients, or that use fewer of our products and services, they may discontinue or reduce their use of our products and services. It is also possible that the larger financial institutions resulting from mergers or consolidations would have greater leverage in negotiating terms with us. In addition, these larger financial institutions could decide to perform in-house some or all of the services that we currently provide or could provide or to consolidate their processing on a non-SS&C system. The resulting decline in demand for our products and services over time could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our revenues may decrease due to declines in the levels of participation and activity in the securities markets.

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We generate significant revenues from the transaction processing fees we earn for our products and services. These revenue sources are substantially dependent on the levels of participation and activity in the securities markets. The number of unique securities positions held by investors through our clients and our clients’ customer trading volumes reflect the levels of participation and activity in the markets, which are impacted by market prices and the liquidity of the securities markets, among other factors. We could be negatively impacted by the volatile markets as certain of our fees are tied to the asset bases of our clients. The occurrence of significant market volatility or decreased levels of participation would likely result in reduced revenues and decreased profitability from our business operations. Additionally, we may be exposed to operational or other risks in connection with any systematic failures in the markets, or the default due to market-related failures of one or more counterparties with whom we transact.

Our business has become increasingly focused on the hedge fund industry, and we are subject to the variations and fluctuations of that industry.

Certain of our acquisitions have resulted in a higher percentage of our clients being hedge funds or funds of hedge funds. We derive significant revenues from asset management, administration and distribution contracts with such clients. Under these contracts, the fees paid to us are based on a variety of factors, including the market value of assets under management, assets under administration and number of transactions processed. Assets under management, assets under administration or the number of transactions processed may decline for various reasons, causing results to vary. Factors that could decrease assets under management and assets under administration (and therefore revenues) include declines in the market value of the assets in the funds (and accounts as applicable) managed, administered and distributed, redemptions and other withdrawals from, or shifts among, the funds (and accounts as applicable) managed, administered and distributed, as well as market conditions generally.

These clients and our business relating to them are affected by trends, developments and risks associated with the global hedge fund industry. In addition, the market environment for hedge funds involves risk and has suffered significant turmoil, including as a result of substantial changes in global economies, political uncertainty, stock market declines, a trend toward passive and algorithmic investment strategies and various regulatory initiatives.  Even in the absence of such factors, the global hedge fund industry is subject to fluctuations in assets under management that are impossible to predict or anticipate. These risks and trends could significantly and adversely affect some or all of our hedge fund clients, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, market forces have negatively impacted liquidity for many of the financial instruments in which hedge fund client’s trade, which, in turn, could negatively impact our ability to access independent pricing sources for valuing those instruments.

If we are unable to retain and attract clients, our revenues and net income would remain stagnant or decline.

If we are unable to keep existing clients satisfied, sell additional products and services to existing clients or attract new clients, then our revenues and net income would remain stagnant or decline. A variety of factors could affect our ability to successfully retain and attract clients, including:

An increase in subaccounting services performed by brokerage firms has and will continue to adversely impact our revenues.

We service open-end and closed-end funds registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, including mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, interval funds and exchange-listed closed-end funds, as well as private funds, collective investment trusts and other accounts under shareowner recordkeeping arrangements which we refer to as registered accounts.  These arrangements are distinguished from broker subaccounts, which are serviced under contract with a broker/dealer.  Our clients may adopt the broker subaccount structure.  We offer subaccounting services to brokerage firms that perform shareowner subaccounting.  As the recordkeeping functions in connection with subaccounting are more limited than traditional shareowner accounting, the fees charged are generally lower on a per unit basis.  Brokerage firms that obtain agreements from our clients to use a broker subaccount structure cause accounts currently on our traditional recordkeeping system to convert to our subaccounting system, or to the subaccounting systems of other service providers, which generally results in lower revenues.  While subaccounting conversions have generally been

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limited to our non tax-advantaged mutual fund accounts, such conversions have begun to extend to the tax-advantaged accounts (such as retirement and Section 529 accounts) we service, which could adversely affect our business and operating results.

We face significant competition with respect to our products and services, which may result in price reductions, reduced gross margins or loss of market share.

In the financial and healthcare markets we serve, we compete based on a variety of factors, including investment performance, the range of products or services offered, brand recognition, business reputation, financial strength, stability and continuity of client and other intermediary relationships, quality of service, and level of fees charged for products and services.  The market for financial and healthcare services software and services is competitive, rapidly evolving and highly sensitive to new product and service introductions, technology innovations and marketing efforts by industry participants.  The markets we serve are also highly fragmented and served by numerous firms that target only local markets or specific client types.  We also face competition from information systems developed and serviced internally by the IT departments of financial services firms.  Some of our current and potential competitors may have significantly greater financial, technical, distribution and marketing resources, generate higher revenues and have greater name recognition.  Our current or potential competitors may develop products comparable or superior to those developed by us, or adapt more quickly to new technologies, evolving industry trends or changing client or regulatory requirements.  It is also possible that our competitors may enter into alliances with each other or other third-parties, and through such alliances, acquire increased market share.  Increased competition may result in price reductions, reduced gross margins and loss of market share.  Accordingly, our failure to successfully compete in any of our material businesses could have a material adverse effect on results of operations.  Competition could also affect the revenue mix of products or services we provide, resulting in decreased revenues in lines of business with higher profit margins, and our business may not grow as expected and may decline.

Our role as a fund administrator has in the past, and may in the future, expose us to claims and litigation from clients, their investors, regulators or other third-parties.

As a service provider, we have been, and may in the future be, subject to claims and lawsuits from investors, regulators, liquidators, other third-parties and our clients, some of which pursue high-risk investment strategies and all of which are subject to substantial market risk, in the event that the underlying fund suffers investment losses, incurs instances of fraud, becomes insolvent, files for bankruptcy or otherwise becomes defunct.  Even if we are not ultimately found to be liable, defending such claims or lawsuits could be time-consuming, divert management resources, harm our reputation and cause us to incur significant expenses.  These claims or lawsuits could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our software-enabled services may be subject to disruptions, attacks or failures that could adversely affect our reputation and our business.

Our software-enabled services maintain and process confidential data and process trades and perform other back-office functions, including wiring funds, on behalf of our clients, some of which is critical to their business operations. For example, our trading systems maintain account and trading information for our clients and their customers.  In addition, following our acquisition of Intralinks, our platforms now house sensitive, confidential client information. Our internal technology infrastructure on which our software-enabled services depend may be subject to disruptions or may otherwise fail to operate properly or become disabled or damaged as a result of a number of factors, including events that are wholly or partially beyond our control and that could adversely affect our ability to process transactions, provide services or otherwise appropriately conduct our business activities. Such events include IT attacks or failures, threats to physical security, sudden increases in transaction volumes, electrical or telecommunications outages, damaging weather or other acts of nature, or employee or contractor error or malfeasance. In particular, cybersecurity threats have become prevalent in our industry as well as for many firms that process information. Cybersecurity threats are evolving and our security measures, and those of our service providers, may not detect or prevent all attempts to hack our systems, denial-of-service attacks, viruses, malicious software, attempts to gain unauthorized access to data, phishing attacks, social engineering, security breaches or employee or contractor malfeasance and other electronic security breaches that may jeopardize the security of information stored in or transmitted by our sites, networks and systems or that we or our third-party service providers otherwise maintain. Such cyber security incidents could lead to disruptions in our systems, the unauthorized release or destruction of our or our clients’ or other parties’ confidential or otherwise protected information and corruption of data. We and our service providers may not have the resources or technical sophistication to anticipate or prevent all types of attacks, and techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to or sabotage systems change frequently and may not be known until launched against us or our third-party service providers. In the last few years there have been many successful advanced cyber-attacks that have damaged several prominent companies in spite of strong information security measures, and we expect that the risks associated with cyber-attacks and the costs of preventing such attacks will continue to increase in the future. We and our clients are regularly the target of attempted cyber-attacks and we must continuously monitor and develop our systems to protect our technology infrastructure and data from misappropriation or corruption. Although we expend significant resources and oversight efforts in an attempt to ensure that we maintain appropriate safeguards with respect to

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cyber-attacks, there is no guarantee that our systems and procedures are adequate to protect against all security breaches. If our software-enabled services are disrupted or fail for any reason, or if our systems or facilities are infiltrated or damaged by unauthorized persons, we and our clients could experience data loss, including confidential and personal information, financial loss, harm to their reputation and significant business interruption. If that happens, we may be exposed to significant liability, our reputation may be harmed, our clients may be dissatisfied and we may lose business. Although we maintain privacy, data breach and network security liability insurance, we cannot be certain that our coverage will be adequate or cover liabilities actually incurred, or that insurance will continue to be available to us on economically reasonable terms, or at all. Given the unpredictability of the timing, nature and scope of such failures or disruptions, we could potentially experience significant costs and exposures, including production downtimes, operational delays, other detrimental impacts on our operations or ability to provide services to our customers, the compromising of confidential or otherwise protected information, misappropriation, destruction or corruption of data, security breaches, other manipulation or improper use of our systems or networks, financial losses from remedial actions, loss of business, potential liability, regulatory inquiries, enforcements, actions and fines and/or damage to our reputation, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Because our platform could be used to collect and store personal information of our customers’ employees or customers, privacy concerns could result in additional cost and liability to us or inhibit use of our platform.

Personal privacy has become a significant issue in the U.S. and in many other countries where we offer our solutions or may offer them in the future. The regulatory framework for privacy issues worldwide is currently evolving, is not uniform and is likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. Many federal, state and foreign government bodies and agencies have adopted or are considering adopting laws and regulations regarding the collection, use, disclosure, control, security and deletion of personal information. In the U.S., these include, without limitation, laws and regulations promulgated by states, as well as rules and regulations promulgated under the authority of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and federal financial regulatory bodies. Additionally, California recently enacted legislation, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, that will afford consumers expanded privacy protections when it goes into effect on January 1, 2020.  Legislators have stated that they intend to propose amendments to this legislation, and it remains unclear what, if any, modification will be made to this legislation or how it will be interpreted.  The effects of this legislation potentially are far-reaching, however, and may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur costs to comply.  Internationally, most of the jurisdictions in which we operate have established their own data security and privacy legal frameworks, many of which are broader in scope, more restrictive and impose greater obligations on us and our customers.  For instance, the European Union’s (“E.U.”) General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) became effective in May 2018 and imposes strict requirements related to processing the personal data of E.U. individuals and provides for robust regulatory enforcement and sanctions for non-compliance. EU data protection authorities will have the power to impose administrative fines for violations of the GDPR of up to a maximum of €20 million or 4% of the noncompliant company’s annual global turnover for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher, and violations of the GDPR may also lead to damages claims by data controllers and data subjects. Such penalties are in addition to any civil litigation claims by data controllers, data processors, customers and data subjects.  The GDPR is likely to increase our obligations, including by mandating documentation requirements and granting certain rights to individuals to inquire into how we collect, use, disclose, retain and process information about them.  Although we are continuing to take steps to comply with applicable portions of the GDPR, the scope of many of the GDPR’s requirements remains unclear and regulatory guidance on several topics is still forthcoming. Therefore, we cannot assure you that such steps will be sufficient. On June 23, 2016, the U.K. held a referendum in which voters approved an exit from the E.U, commonly referred to as “Brexit,” and it is unclear how Brexit will affect the applicability of the GDPR with respect to U.K. individuals.

In addition to government regulation, privacy advocacy and industry groups may propose new and different self-regulatory standards that either legally or contractually apply to us. As a result of uncertainty regarding the interpretation and application of privacy and data protection-related laws, regulations, and self-regulatory requirements, it is possible that these laws, regulations, and requirements may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our existing data handling practices or the technological features of our solutions. If so, in addition to the possibility of fines, lawsuits and other claims, each of which may be material, we could be required to fundamentally change our business activities and practices or modify our solutions, which could have an adverse effect on our business. Any inability to adequately address privacy or data protection-related concerns, even if unfounded, or comply with applicable privacy or data protection-related laws, regulations and policies, could result in additional cost and liability to us, damage our reputation, inhibit sales and harm our business. Furthermore, the costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, the laws, regulations, standards and policies that are applicable to the businesses of our customers may limit the use and adoption of, and reduce the overall demand for, our solutions. Also, privacy concerns, whether valid or not valid, may inhibit market adoption of our solutions, particularly in foreign countries.

We expect that our operating results, including our profit margins and profitability, may fluctuate over time.

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Historically, our revenues, profit margins and other operating results have fluctuated from period to period and over time primarily due to the timing, size and nature of our license and service transactions. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for further discussion on fluctuations in revenues, profit margins and other operating results. Additional factors that may lead to such fluctuation include:

Additional tax expense or additional tax exposures could affect our future profitability.

We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. and various international jurisdictions.  Changes in tax laws and regulations, as well as changes in related interpretations and other tax guidance could materially impact our tax receivables and liabilities and our deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities.  On December 22, 2017, U.S. federal tax legislation, commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“Tax Act”), was signed into law, significantly reforming the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.  The Tax Act, among other things, reduces the U.S. federal statutory corporate tax rate, imposed a one-time transition tax on previously undistributed foreign earnings, limits the deductibility on executive compensation, imposes a tax on Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (“GILTI”) and modifies or repeals many business deductions and credits.  During 2018, the U.S. Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service issued several complex proposed and final regulations, and related guidance, regarding provisions of the Tax Act.  However, several aspects of the legislation remain unclear and subject to interpretation.  Further guidance, technical corrections and regulations are expected to be issued, which could lessen or increase certain impacts of the legislation.  Furthermore, states continue to issue guidance and enact legislation in response to the Tax Act, all of which could have a material impact on our income tax expense, assets and liabilities. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for additional information.

Additionally, in the ordinary course of business we are subject to examinations by various authorities, including tax authorities.  In addition to ongoing investigations, there could be additional investigations launched in the future by governmental authorities in various jurisdictions, and existing investigations could be expanded.  The global and diverse nature of our operations means that these risks will continue to exist and additional investigations, proceedings and contingencies will arise from time to time.  Our business, results of operations and financial condition may be affected by the outcome of investigations, proceedings and other contingencies that cannot be predicted with certainty.

If third-party service providers on which we rely, or other third-parties with which we do business or which facilitate our business activities, suffer disruptions to their IT systems, our business could be harmed.

In providing our software-enabled services to our customers, we depend upon IT infrastructure that is primarily managed by our firm, but we also depend on third-party service providers to provide some of the IT infrastructure on which we rely. Although we seek to ensure that appropriate security and other standards are maintained by these third-parties, these third-parties are also subject to the risks discussed in the preceding risk factor, and there is no guarantee that they will maintain systems and procedures sufficient to protect against system failures and security breaches, including as a result of cyber-attacks.

In addition, the third-parties with which we do business or which facilitate our business activities, including financial intermediaries, are susceptible to the risks described in the preceding risk factor (including regarding the third-parties with which they are similarly interconnected), and our or their business operations and activities may therefore be adversely affected, perhaps materially, by failures, terminations, errors or malfeasance by, or attacks or constraints on, one or more financial, technology or infrastructure institutions or intermediaries with whom they are interconnected or conduct business.

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Catastrophic events may adversely affect our business.

A war, terrorist attack, natural disaster, pandemic or other catastrophe may adversely affect our business. A catastrophic event could have a direct negative impact on us or an indirect impact on us by, for example, affecting our clients, the financial markets or the overall economy and reducing our ability to provide, our clients’ ability to use, and the demand for, our products and services. The potential for a direct effect on our business operations is due primarily to our significant investment in infrastructure. Although we maintain redundant facilities and have contingency plans in place to protect against both man-made and natural threats, it is impossible to fully anticipate and protect against all potential catastrophes. A computer virus, physical or cyber security breach, criminal act, military action, power or communication failure, flood, severe storm or the like could lead to service interruptions and data losses for clients, disruptions to our operations, or damage to important facilities. In addition, such an event may cause clients to cancel their agreements with us for our products or services. Any of these events could adversely affect our business, results of operation and financial condition.

We have substantial operations and a significant number of employees in India and we are therefore subject to regulatory, economic and political uncertainties in India.

As of December 31, 2018, we had approximately 4,400 employees located in India. The economy of India may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy and our business may be adversely affected by the general economic conditions and economic and fiscal policy in India, including changes in exchange rates and controls, interest rates and taxation policies. In particular, in recent years, India’s government has adopted policies that are designed to promote foreign investment, including significant tax incentives, relaxation of regulatory restrictions, liberalized import and export duties and preferential rules on foreign investment and repatriations. These policies may not continue. In addition, we are subject to risks relating to social stability, political, economic or diplomatic developments affecting India in the future.

India faces major challenges in the years ahead sustaining the economic growth that it has experienced over the past several years. These challenges include the need for substantial infrastructure development and improving access to healthcare and education. Our ability to recruit, train and retain qualified employees and develop and operate our facilities in India could be adversely affected if India does not successfully meet these challenges, in which case we may need to relocate those facilities and that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are dependent on our senior management and their continued performance and productivity.

We are dependent on the continued efforts of the members of our senior management. The loss of any of the members of our senior management may cause a significant disruption in our business, jeopardize existing customer relationships, impair our compliance efforts as a public company, and have a material adverse effect on our business objectives.  We do not maintain key man life insurance policies for any senior officer or manager.

If we cannot attract, train and retain qualified employees, we may not be able to provide adequate technical expertise and customer service to our clients.

We believe that our success is due in part to our ability to attract, train and retain highly skilled employees. Competition for qualified personnel in the software and hedge fund industries is intense, and we have, at times, found it difficult to attract and retain skilled personnel for our operations. Our failure to attract and retain a sufficient number of highly skilled employees could prevent us from developing and servicing our products at the same levels as our competitors; therefore, we may lose potential clients and suffer a decline in revenues.

If we are unable to protect our proprietary technology and other confidential information, our success and our ability to compete will be subject to various risks, such as third-party infringement claims, unauthorized use of our technology, disclosure of our proprietary information or inability to license technology from third-parties.

Our success and ability to compete depends in part upon our ability to protect our proprietary technology and other confidential information.  We rely on a combination of patent, trade secret, copyright and trademark law, and nondisclosure agreements, license agreements and technical measures to protect our proprietary technology and other confidential information.  We have registered trademarks for some of our products and will continue to evaluate the registration of additional trademarks as appropriate.  We generally enter into confidentiality agreements with our employees, distributors, clients and potential clients.  However, these efforts may be insufficient to prevent those parties or others from infringing, misappropriating, violating or asserting rights in our intellectual property, confidential information or other technology and our proprietary technology and confidential information may be subject to embezzlement, theft, or other similar illegal behavior by our employees or third-parties. In addition, our employees, distributors, clients and potential clients may breach our confidentiality agreements and we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach.  Furthermore, unauthorized third-parties may seek to copy portions of our products or to reverse engineer or otherwise obtain and use

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our proprietary information. If a third-party were to gain unauthorized access to or independently develop the confidential or proprietary information we possess, we could suffer a loss of revenues, we could experience an adverse impact on our competitive position, and our relationships with our clients and our reputation could be materially adversely effected. Existing patent and copyright laws afford only limited protection. Third-parties may develop substantially equivalent or superseding proprietary technology or may offer equivalent products in competition with our products in a manner that does not infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate our intellectual property or other proprietary rights, thereby substantially reducing the value of our proprietary rights. A number of third-parties hold patents and other intellectual property rights with application in the financial services field. Consequently, we are subject to the risk that such third-parties will claim that our products infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate their intellectual property rights, including their patent rights. Such claims, regardless of merit, could result in expensive and time-consuming litigation, divert the attention of our personnel, and impair our intellectual property rights. Moreover, as a result of such claims, we may be required to redesign our products or services in a manner that is not infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating such third-party’s intellectual property rights, which may not be technically or commercially feasible. We may also be required to obtain a license to such intellectual property rights, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operation, and financial condition.

We incorporate open source software into a limited number of our software products. We monitor our use of open source software in an effort to avoid subjecting our products to unfavorable conditions or conditions we do not intend. Some open source licenses require that source code subject to the license be disclosed to third-parties, grant such third-parties the right to modify and redistribute that source code and a requirement that the source code for any software derived from it be disclosed. If we combine our proprietary software with open source software in a certain manner, we could, under certain open source licenses, be required to release the source code of our proprietary software to the public. Although we believe that we have complied with our obligations under the applicable licenses for open source software that we use, there is little or no legal precedent governing the interpretation of many of the terms of certain of these licenses. As a result, the potential impact of these terms is uncertain and may result in unanticipated obligations or restrictions regarding those of our products, technologies or solutions affected.

We have acquired and may acquire important technology rights through our acquisitions and have often incorporated and may incorporate features of these technologies across many of our products and services. As a result, we are subject to the above risks and the additional risk that the seller of the technology rights may not have appropriately protected the intellectual property rights we acquired. Indemnification and other rights under applicable acquisition documents are limited in term and scope and therefore provide us with only limited protection.

In addition, we rely on third-party software in providing some of our products and services. If we lose our licenses to use such software or if such licenses are found to infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate upon the rights of others, we will need to seek alternative means of obtaining the licensed software to continue to provide our products or services, which may not be feasible on a technical or commercial basis. Our inability to replace such software, or to replace such software in a timely manner, could significantly disrupt our business and our ability to deliver products and services to our clients, and adversely affect our business, results of operation and financial condition.

We could become subject to litigation regarding our or a third-party’s intellectual property rights or other confidential or proprietary information, which could seriously harm our business and require us to incur significant costs.

In recent years, there has been a high incidence of litigation in the U.S. involving patents and other intellectual property rights. We are from time to time a party to litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights or to protect our confidential or proprietary information, or as a result of an allegation that we infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate a third-party’s intellectual property rights, including patents, trademarks, trade secrets and copyrights. From time to time, we have received notices claiming our technology may infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate third-party intellectual property rights or otherwise threatening to assert intellectual property rights. These claims and any resulting lawsuit, if successful, could subject us to significant liability for damages and our intellectual property rights being reduced, narrowed or held unenforceable or invalid. These lawsuits, regardless of their success, could be time-consuming and expensive to resolve, adversely affect our revenues, profitability and prospects, and divert management time and attention. If we are found to infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate a third-party’s intellectual property rights, we may be required to pay the third-party substantial monetary damages and to cease the activities covered by such intellectual property rights, unless we obtain a license to such intellectual property rights, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. In addition, these claims and threats could also cause us to undertake to re-engineer our products or services which may not be technically or commercially feasible. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operation and financial condition.

We may be unable to adapt to rapidly changing technology and evolving industry standards and regulatory requirements.

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Rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards and regulatory requirements and new product and service introductions characterize the market for our products and services. Our future success will depend in part upon our ability to enhance our existing products and services and to develop and introduce new products and services to keep pace with such changes and developments and to meet changing client needs. The process of developing our software products is complex and is expected to become increasingly complex and expensive in the future due to the introduction of new platforms, operating systems and technologies. Current areas of significant technological change include mobility, cloud-based computing and the processing and analyzing of large amounts of data. Our ability to keep up with technology and business and regulatory changes is subject to a number of risks, including that:

Our failure to enhance our existing products and services and to develop and introduce new products and services to promptly address the needs of our clients and a changing marketplace could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Undetected software design defects, errors or failures, or employee errors, may result in defects, delays, loss of our clients’ data, litigation against us and harm to our reputation and business.

Our software products are highly complex and sophisticated and could contain design defects or software errors that are difficult to detect and correct. Errors or bugs in our software may affect the ability of our products to work with other hardware or software products, delay the development or release of new products or new versions of products, result in the loss of client data, damage our reputation, affect market acceptance of our products or result in the rejection of our products by the market, cause loss of revenues, divert development resources, increase product liability and warranty claims, and increase service and support costs. We cannot be certain that, despite testing by us and our clients, errors will not be found in new products or new versions of products. Moreover, our clients engage in complex trading activities and this complexity increases the likelihood that our employees may make errors. Employee errors, poor employee performance or misconduct may be difficult to detect and deter. These product defects or errors in the product operations, or employee errors, poor performance or misconduct, could cause damages to our clients for which they may assert claims or lawsuits against us. The cost of defending such a lawsuit, regardless of its merit, could be substantial and could divert management’s attention and result in reputational harm. In addition, if our business liability insurance coverage proves inadequate with respect to a claim or future coverage is unavailable on acceptable terms or at all, we may be liable for payment of substantial damages. Any or all of these potential consequences could have an adverse impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our businesses expose us to risks of claims and losses that could be significant and damage our reputation and business prospects.

Our proprietary applications and related consulting and other services include the processing or clearing of financial and healthcare transactions for our clients and their customers and the design of benefit plans and compliance programs. The dollar amount of transactions processed or cleared is vastly in excess than the revenues we derive from providing these services.  In the event we make transaction processing or operational errors, or mismanage any process, we could be exposed to claims for any resulting processing delays, disclosure of protected information, miscalculations, mishandling of pass-through disbursements or other processes, and failure to follow a client’s instructions or meet specifications. Additionally, we may be subject to claims or liability resulting from a failure of third parties (including regulatory authorities) to recognize the limitations of our role as our clients’ agent or consultant, and we may be subject to claims or liability resulting from fraud committed by third parties. We may be exposed to the risk of counterparty breaches or failure to perform. We may be subject to claims, including class actions, for reimbursements, losses or damages arising from any transaction processing or operational error, or from process mismanagement. Because of the sensitive nature of the financial and healthcare transactions we process, our liability and any alleged damages may significantly exceed the fees we receive for performing the service at issue. Litigation could include class action claims based upon, among other theories, various regulatory requirements and consumer protection and privacy laws that class action plaintiffs may attempt to use to assert private rights of action. Any of these claims and related settlements or judgments could affect our operating results, damage our reputation, decrease demand for our products and services, or cause us to make costly operating changes.

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Investment decisions with respect to cash balances, market returns or losses on investments, and limits on insurance applicable to cash balances held in bank and brokerage accounts, including those held by us and as agent on behalf of our clients, could expose us to losses of such cash balances and adversely affect revenues attributable to cash balance deposit investments.

As part of our transaction processing and other services, we maintain and manage large bank and investment accounts containing client funds, which we hold as agent, as well as operational funds. Our revenues include investment earnings related to client fund cash balances. Our choices in selecting investments, or market conditions that affect the rate of return on or the availability of investments, could have an adverse effect on the level of such revenues. The amounts held in our operational and client deposit accounts could exceed the limits of government insurance programs of organizations such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Securities Investors Protection Corporation, exposing us to the risk of loss. Any substantial loss would have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations and our financial condition.

Our business is subject to evolving regulations and increased scrutiny from regulators.

Our business is subject to evolving and increasing U.S. and foreign regulation, including privacy, licensing, processing, recordkeeping, investment adviser, broker/dealer, retirement, data protection, reporting and related regulations. New products and services we plan to offer may also be subject to regulation, either directly or as a downstream provider to customers or clients. Such regulations cover all aspects of our business including, but not limited to, sales and trading methods, trade practices among broker/dealers, use and safekeeping of clients’ funds and securities, use of client and employee data, capital structure of securities firms, net capital, anti-money laundering efforts, healthcare, recordkeeping and the conduct of directors, officers and employees. Any violation of applicable regulations could expose us or those businesses to civil or criminal liability, significant fines or sanctions, damage our reputation, the revocation of licenses, censures, or a temporary suspension or permanent bar from conducting business, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and our financial condition.

Our clients are subject to extensive regulation, including investment adviser, broker/dealer and privacy regulations applicable to products and services we provide to the financial services industry and insurance, privacy and other regulations applicable to services we provide to the healthcare industry.  As a result, our relationships with our clients may subject us to increased scrutiny from a number of regulators, including the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (and its constituent members, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau), the Bermuda Monetary Authority, British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission, Centrale Bank van Curacao en Sint Maarten, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, FTC, Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Financial Conduct Authority, Central Bank of Ireland, National Futures Association, Ontario Securities Commission, SEC, Securities Commission of the Bahamas, U.S. Treasury Department and other government entities that regulate the financial services, hedge fund and hedge fund services industry in the U.S., the United Kingdom (“U.K.”) and the other jurisdictions in which we operate.  As a result of the changes in the global economy and the turmoil in global financial markets in recent years, the risk of additional government regulation has increased.  In addition, the final outcome of negotiations between the U.K. and the E.U. relating to Brexit remains uncertain.  As a result, the impact of the U.K.’s exit on the U.K. regulatory regime is unknown, but it is possible that we will become subject to more onerous regulations in the U.K. as a result.  Moreover, our healthcare business is subject to evolving and increasing federal and state regulation.  Such federal regulation is developed, interpreted or enforced by regulators including, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, the Office for Civil Rights and the Office of the Inspector General.  Typically a state’s department of insurance regulates much of our healthcare business; however, each state’s statutes dictate such authority.  Any of these regulations may limit or curtail our activities, including activities that might be profitable, and changes to existing regulations, or the interpretations thereof, may affect our ability to continue to offer our existing products and services, or to offer products and services we may wish to offer in the future.

The European Union’s AIFMD and the U.S. Dodd-Frank Act, among other initiatives, pose significant changes to the regulatory environment in which we and our clients operate. The impact of these regulatory changes remains uncertain. If we fail to comply with any applicable laws, rules or regulations, we may be subject to censure, fines or other sanctions, including revocation of our licenses and/or registrations with various regulatory agencies, criminal penalties and civil lawsuits.

The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and anti-bribery laws in other jurisdictions, including the U.K. Bribery Act (“Bribery Act”), generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business or other commercial advantage. The FCPA also imposes accounting standards and requirements on publicly traded U.S. corporations and their foreign affiliates which are intended to prevent the diversion of corporate funds to the payment of bribes and other improper payments, and to prevent the establishment of “off books” slush funds from which such improper payments can be made. We and our clients operate in a number of jurisdictions that may pose a risk of potential FCPA or Bribery Act violations.

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Changes in, and any violation by our clients of, applicable laws and regulations (whether related to the products and services we provide or otherwise) could diminish their business or financial condition and thus their demand for our products and services or could increase our cost of continuing to provide our products and services to such industries. Demand could also decrease if we do not continue to offer products and services that help our clients comply with regulations. For example, our accounts in the healthcare industry are impacted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (the “Affordable Care Act”), including the Health Insurance Marketplace. Changes to the Affordable Care Act have been enacted by Congress in response to the current administration’s stated agenda.

In addition, we cannot predict the nature, scope or effect of future regulatory requirements to which our internal operations might be subject or the manner in which existing laws might be administered or interpreted. While our policies mandate compliance with these laws, there can be no assurance that we will be completely effective in ensuring our compliance with all applicable anti-corruption laws. A failure to comply with these laws, rules or regulations, or allegations of such noncompliance, could adversely affect our business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition.

A substantial portion of our revenues are derived, and a substantial portion of our operations are conducted, outside the U.S.

For the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 international revenues accounted for 28%, 27% and 27%, respectively, of our total revenues. We sell certain of our products primarily outside the U.S.  In addition, Brexit and international trade tensions have created political and economic uncertainty and instability in global financial and foreign currency markets. The current uncertainty over the final outcome of the negotiations between the U.K. and the E.U., with respect to the terms of Brexit, may adversely affect our operations and financial results, as we generated approximately $503.9 million and $115.8 million in revenues from the U.K. in the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Our international business is also subject to a variety of other risks, including:

Such factors could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates that could negatively impact our operating results and financial condition.

Because a significant portion of our business is conducted outside the U.S. and significant revenues are generated outside the U.S., we face exposure to adverse movements in foreign currency exchange rates. Fluctuations in currencies relative to currencies in which our earnings are generated also make it more difficult to perform period-to-period comparisons of our reported results of operations. Because our Consolidated Financial Statements are reported in U.S. dollars, translation of sales or earnings generated in other currencies into U.S. dollars can result in a significant increase or decrease in the reported amount of those sales or earnings. In addition, we incur currency transaction risk whenever we enter into either a purchase or a sales transaction using a currency other than the local currency of the transacting entity. Given the volatility of exchange rates, we cannot be assured we will be able to effectively manage our currency translation or transaction risk, and significant changes in the value of foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar could adversely affect our financial statements. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for further discussion on the foreign currency translation impact on operating results and financial condition.

We do not currently engage in material hedging activities.  Changes in economic or political conditions globally and in any of the countries in which we operate could result in exchange rate movements, new currency or exchange controls or other restrictions being imposed on our operations.

Our investments in funds and our joint ventures could decline in value.

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From time to time we add new investment strategies to our investment product offerings by providing the initial cash investments as “seed capital.”  The seed capital investments may decline in value.  A significant decline in their value could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or operating results.  We are a limited partner in various private equity funds and have future capital commitments related to certain private equity fund investments.  These investments are illiquid.  Generally, private equity fund securities are non-transferable or are subject to long holding periods, and withdrawals from the private equity firm partnerships are typically not permitted.  Even when transfer restrictions do not apply, there is generally no public market for the securities.  Therefore, we may not be able to sell the securities at a time when we desire to do so.  We may not always be able to sell those investments at the same or higher prices than we paid for them.  We also participate in joint ventures with other companies.  These joint venture investments could require further capital contributions.

Changes or modifications in financial accounting standards may have a material adverse impact on our reported results of operations or financial condition.

A change or modification in accounting policies can have a significant effect on our reported results and may even affect our reporting of transactions completed before the change is effective, including the impact of the adoption and implementation of the accounting standard update on revenue recognition issued in May 2014 by the Financial Accounting Standards Board.  Under the new standard, we recognize term license revenues upfront at time of delivery rather than ratably over the related contract period.  Additionally, under the new standard, we capitalize and amortize certain direct costs, such as commissions, over the expected customer life rather than expensing them as incurred.  While the adoption of the new standard does not change the cash flows received from our contracts with customers, its adoption could have a material adverse effect on our financial position or results of operations.  See Note 2 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.  New pronouncements and varying interpretations of existing pronouncements have occurred with frequency and may occur in the future.  Changes to existing rules, or changes to the interpretations of existing rules, could lead to changes in our accounting practices, and such changes could materially adversely affect our reported financial results or the way we conduct our business.

We do not control certain businesses in which we have significant ownership.

We invest in joint ventures and other unconsolidated affiliates as part of our business strategy, and part of our net income is derived from our pro rata share of the earnings of those businesses.  Despite owning significant equity interests in those companies and having directors on their boards, we do not control their operations, strategies or financial decisions.  The other owners may have economic, business or legal interests or goals that are inconsistent with our goals or the goals of the businesses we co-own.  Our pro rata share of any losses due to unfavorable performance of those companies could negatively impact our financial results.

Some of our joint venture investments are subject to buy-sell agreements, which could, among other things, restrict us from selling our interests even if we were to determine it would be prudent to do so.

We own interests in unconsolidated entities and various real estate joint ventures.  Our interests in such unconsolidated entities are subject to buy/sell arrangements, which could restrict our ability to sell our interests even if we were to determine it would be prudent to do so.  These arrangements could also allow us to purchase the other owners’ interests to prevent someone else from acquiring them and we cannot control the timing of occasions to do so.  The businesses or other owners may encourage us to increase our investment in or make contributions to the businesses at an inopportune time.

In addition, some of the agreements governing our joint venture arrangements include buy/sell provisions that provide a party to the arrangement with the option to purchase the other party’s interests upon such other party’s change of control at a purchase price that may be less than fair market value.  For instance, under the partnership agreement of IFDS L.P., in the event of a change of control of the Company, the other partner would have the option to purchase our interests in IFDS L.P. at a price equal to book value, unless another purchase provision in the partnership agreement was triggered prior to the change of control.  Book value may be substantially less than fair market value at the time of any sale of our interests upon a change of control.

A material weakness in our internal controls could have a material adverse effect on us.

Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reasonable assurance with respect to our financial reports and to effectively prevent fraud. If we cannot do so, our reputation and operating results could be harmed. A material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting could adversely impact our ability to provide timely and accurate financial information. Even effective internal controls can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements. In addition, controls can be circumvented by individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people, or by management override of the controls. Over time, controls may become inadequate because changes in conditions or deterioration in the degree of compliance with policies or procedures may occur. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected. If we are unable to report financial information timely and

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accurately or to maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures, our stock price could be negatively impacted and we could be subject to, among other things, regulatory or enforcement actions by the SEC, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Risks Relating to Our Indebtedness

Our substantial indebtedness could adversely affect our financial health and operations.

We currently have a substantial amount of indebtedness. As of December 31, 2018, we had total indebtedness of $8,347.3 million and an additional $242.4 million available for revolving borrowings under our Credit Agreement. This indebtedness could have adverse consequences. For example, it may:

In addition, the agreement governing our senior credit facility contains financial and other restrictive covenants that limit our ability to engage in activities that may be in our long-term best interests, and any additional indebtedness may incur may also contain restrictive covenants.  Our failure to comply with those covenants could result in an event of default which, if not cured or waived, could result in the acceleration of all of our debts.

To service our indebtedness, we require a significant amount of cash. Our ability to generate cash depends on many factors beyond our control.

We estimate that our current levels of indebtedness as of December 31, 2018 will result in annual interest payments of approximately $401.0 million. Our ability to make payments on and to refinance our indebtedness and to fund planned capital expenditures will depend on our ability to generate cash in the future. This, to a certain extent, is subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors that are beyond our control.

If our business fails to generate sufficient cash flow from operations and future borrowings are not available to us, we may not be able to pay our indebtedness or fund our other liquidity needs. We may need to refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness on or before maturity. We may not be able to refinance any of our indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms or at all. If we cannot service our indebtedness, we may have to take actions such as selling assets, seeking additional equity or reducing or delaying capital expenditures, strategic acquisitions, investments and joint ventures. We may not be able to effect such actions, if necessary, on commercially reasonable terms or at all.

Restrictive covenants in the agreements governing our indebtedness may restrict our ability to pursue our business strategies.

The Credit Agreement limits our ability, among other things, to:

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In addition, the Credit Agreement also requires us, in certain instances, to maintain compliance with specified leverage ratios.  Our ability to comply with these provisions may be affected by events beyond our control, and these provisions could limit our ability to plan for or react to market conditions, meet capital needs or otherwise conduct our business activities and plans.

Our inability to comply with any of these provisions could result in a default under one or more of the agreements governing our indebtedness.  If such a default occurs under one such agreement, the creditors under another debt agreement may elect to declare all borrowings outstanding, together with accrued interest and other fees, to be immediately due and payable.  In addition, the lenders under our Credit Agreement would have the right to terminate any commitments they have to provide further borrowings.

If we are unable to repay outstanding borrowings when due, the lenders under our Credit Agreement also have the right to proceed against the collateral, including substantially all of our domestic assets and the assets of our domestic subsidiaries, granted to them to secure the indebtedness under that facility.  If the indebtedness under our Credit Agreement were to be accelerated, we cannot assure you that our assets would be sufficient to repay in full that indebtedness and our other indebtedness.

Changes in the method of determining London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”), or the replacement of LIBOR with an alternative reference rate, may adversely affect interest expense related to our outstanding debt.

Changes in the method of determining London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”), or the replacement of LIBOR with an alternative reference rate, may adversely affect interest expense related to outstanding debt.  At December 31, 2018, we had total debt of $8,347.3 million, including $8,319.1 million of variable interest rate debt and which may bear interest rates in relation to LIBOR, depending on our selection of repayment options.  On July 27, 2017, the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom announced that it would phase out LIBOR as a benchmark by the end of 2021.  It is unclear whether new methods of calculating LIBOR will be established such that it continues to exist after 2021.  If LIBOR ceases to exist, we may need to renegotiate our Credit Agreement and may not be able to do so with terms that are favorable to us.  See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Contractual Obligations – Senior Secured Credit Facilities” for additional information.  The overall financial market may be disrupted as a result of the phase-out or replacement of LIBOR.  Disruption in the financial market or the inability to renegotiate our Credit Agreement with favorable terms could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Risks Relating to Ownership of Our Common Stock

If equity research analysts do not publish or cease publishing research or reports about our business or if they issue unfavorable commentary or downgrade our common stock, the price and trading volume of our common stock could decline.

The trading market for our common stock is influenced by the research and reports that equity research analysts publish about us and our business. We do not control these analysts. The price of our stock or trading volume in our stock could decline if one or more equity analysts downgrade our stock or if those analysts issue other unfavorable commentary or cease publishing regular reports about us or our business.

The market price of our common stock may be volatile, which could result in substantial losses for investors in our common stock.

Shares of our common stock were sold in our initial public offering at a price of $7.50 per share on March 31, 2010, and through December 31, 2018, our common stock has traded as high as $60.97 and as low as $6.64.  An active, liquid and orderly market for our common stock may not be sustained, which could depress the trading price of our common stock.  In addition, the market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly.  Some of the factors that may cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate include:

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In addition, if the market for technology stocks, financial services stocks or the stock market in general experiences a loss of investor confidence, the trading price of our common stock could decline for reasons unrelated to our business, financial condition or results of operations.  If any of the foregoing occurs, it could cause our stock price to fall and may expose us to class action lawsuits that, even if unsuccessful, could be costly to defend and a distraction to management.

William C. Stone, our Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, exerts significant control over our Company.

As of February 22, 2019, William C. Stone, our Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, beneficially owned approximately 13.4% of the outstanding shares of our common stock. We are party to a stockholders’ agreement with Mr. Stone, pursuant to which Mr. Stone has the right to nominate two members of our board of directors, one of which will be Mr. Stone for so long as he is our Chief Executive Officer. As a result, Mr. Stone has significant influence over our policy and affairs and matters requiring stockholder approval.

SS&C Holdings is a holding company with no operations or assets of its own and its ability to pay dividends is limited or otherwise restricted.

As of December 31, 2018, SS&C Holdings has no direct operations and no significant assets other than the stock of SS&C and Advent Software, Inc. The ability of SS&C Holdings to pay dividends is limited by its status as a holding company and by the terms of the agreement governing our indebtedness. See “Risk factors - Risks relating to our indebtedness - Restrictive covenants in the agreements governing our indebtedness may restrict our ability to pursue our business strategies.” Moreover, none of the subsidiaries of SS&C Holdings is obligated to make funds available to SS&C Holdings for the payment of dividends or otherwise. In addition, Delaware law imposes requirements that may restrict the ability of our subsidiaries, including SS&C, to pay dividends to SS&C Holdings. These limitations could reduce our attractiveness to investors.

Our management has broad discretion in the use of our existing cash resources and may not use such funds effectively.

Our management has broad discretion in the application of our cash resources. Accordingly, our stockholders will have to rely upon the judgment of our management with respect to our existing cash resources, with only limited information concerning management’s specific intentions. Our management may spend our cash resources in ways that our stockholders may not desire or that may not yield a favorable return. The failure by our management to apply these funds effectively could harm our business.

Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws might discourage, delay or prevent a change of control of our Company or changes in our management and, therefore, depress the trading price of our common stock.

Provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and Delaware law may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares of our common stock.  These provisions may also prevent or frustrate attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our management.  These provisions include:

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The existence of the foregoing provisions and anti-takeover measures could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock.  They could also deter potential acquirers of our Company, thereby reducing the likelihood that our stockholders could receive a premium for their shares of common stock in an acquisition.

None.

We lease our corporate offices, which consist of approximately 93,500 square feet of office space located at 80 Lamberton Road, Windsor, CT 06095. In 2013, we extended the lease term through October 2022. We utilize facilities and offices in approximately 100 other locations in the United States and have offices in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. We lease approximately 60% of our office space as compared to owning 40% of our office space.  We believe that our facilities are in good condition and generally suitable to meet our needs for the foreseeable future; however, we will continue to seek additional space as needed to satisfy our growth.

From time to time, we are subject to legal proceedings and claims. Certain legal proceedings in which we are involved are discussed in Note 16 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, which is included elsewhere in this annual report on Form 10-K and incorporated by reference herein.  In the opinion of our management, we are not involved in any litigation or proceedings that would have a material adverse effect on us or our business.

Not applicable.

PART II

Our common stock trades on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “SSNC”. On February 22, 2019, the closing price reported on The Nasdaq Global Select Market of our common stock was $59.88 per share. As of February 22, 2019, we had approximately 76,000 holders of record of our common stock.

There is no established public trading market for shares of our Class A non-voting common stock, and as of and since December 31, 2016 there were no shares of our Class A non-voting common stock outstanding. On March 30, 2016, William C. Stone converted 2.7 million shares of Class A non-voting stock into 2.7 million shares of our common stock, or 5.4 million shares of common stock on a post-split basis. Each share of Class A non-voting common stock converted automatically into one share of our common stock upon the expiration of the applicable waiting period under the HSR Act.

Our equity plan information required by this item is incorporated by reference to the information in Part III, Item 12 of this annual report on Form 10-K.

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Performance graph

This performance graph shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the SEC for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, or otherwise subject to the liabilities under that Section, and shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing of SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. under the Exchange Act.

The following graph shows a comparison from December 31, 2013 through December 31, 2018 of cumulative total return for our common stock, the Nasdaq Composite Index and the Nasdaq Computer and Data Processing Index. Such returns are based on historical results and are not intended to suggest future performance. Data for the Nasdaq Composite Index and the Nasdaq Computer and Data Processing Index assume reinvestment of dividends.

COMPARISON OF CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN*

Among SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc., the Nasdaq Composite Index

And the Nasdaq Computer and Data Processing Index

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The five-year selected financial data set forth below should be read in conjunction with our Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” appearing elsewhere in this annual report on Form 10-K.

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Overview

Business. We are a leading provider of mission-critical, sophisticated software-enabled services that allow financial services providers to automate complex business processes.  Our portfolio of software products and rapidly deployable software-enabled services allows our clients to automate and integrate front-office functions such as trading and modeling, middle-office functions such as portfolio management and reporting, and back-office functions such as accounting, transfer agency, compliance, regulatory services, performance measurement, reconciliation, reporting, processing and clearing.  We provide our solutions globally to thousands of clients, principally within the institutional asset and wealth management, alternative investment management, brokerage, retirement, financial advisory and financial institutions vertical markets.  In addition, we provide solutions to the healthcare industry including pharmacy, healthcare administration and health outcomes optimization solutions to satisfy their information processing, quality of care, cost management and payment integrity needs. Our healthcare solutions include claims adjudication, benefit management, care management, and business intelligence services.

Acquisitions. To supplement our growth, we evaluate and execute acquisitions that provide complementary products or services, add proven technology and an established client base and expand our intellectual property portfolio or address a highly specialized problem or a market niche. Since the beginning of 2016, we have spent approximately $8.7 billion to acquire eight businesses in the financial services and healthcare industries, using a combination of cash on hand, equity and debt financing (as discussed in Notes 7, 9 and 10 to our Consolidated Financial Statements).

The following table lists the significant businesses we have acquired since January 1, 2016:

The discussion in this Part II, Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K includes the operations of the business listed in the table above for the respective time periods each was owned by SS&C.

Revenues. As we have expanded our business, we have focused on increasing our software-enabled services.  Since 2016, we have seen increased demand in the financial services industry for these services from existing and new customers.  We have taken a number of steps to support that demand, such as automating our software-enabled services delivery methods, expanded our service offerings and providing our employees with sales incentives.  We have also acquired businesses that offer software-enabled services or have a large base of term license or maintenance clients.  Our software-enabled services revenues increased from $956.8 million and 65% of total revenues in 2016 to $2,798.9 million and 82% of revenues in 2018.  We believe that our high level of these contractually recurring revenues provides us with the ability to better manage our costs and capital investments. To support the growth in our software-enabled services revenues and maintain our level of customer service, we have added personnel, expanded our facilities and invested in information technology.  These investments and automation improvements in our software-enabled services have served to improve gross margins.

Liquidity. In connection with the acquisition of DST in the second quarter of 2018, we entered into a new credit agreement (“Credit Agreement”), which is described in Contractual Obligations, to fund a large portion of the purchase price, refinance amounts

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outstanding including our previously issued Senior Notes and our prior credit facility (“Prior Facility”) and refinance all of DST’s existing indebtedness.  We also raised cash through the sale and issuance of approximately 30.3 million shares of our common stock for total net proceeds of $1.4 billion.  In the third quarter of 2018, we funded our acquisition of Eze with a combination of cash on-hand and $875.0 million in incremental term loan debt.  In the fourth quarter of 2018, we funded our acquisition of Intralinks with a combination of $1.0 billion in incremental term loan debt and the issuance of 9.9 million shares of our common stock.  

We generated $640.1 million in cash from operating activities in 2018, compared to $471.8 million and $418.4 million in 2017 and 2016, respectively. In 2018, we used our operating cash flow, $8.7 billion in proceeds received from debt financing, $1.4 billion in proceeds from the sale of our common stock, $84.9 million in proceeds from the exercise of stock options and existing cash to acquire DST, CACEIS, Eze and Intralinks, repay $3.1 billion of debt, pay $70.9 million in dividends and invest in capital expenditures in our business.

Results of Operations

Revenues

We derive our revenues from two sources: software-enabled services revenues and license, maintenance and related revenues. As a general matter, fluctuations in our software-enabled services revenues are attributable to the number of new software-enabled services clients as well as total assets under management in our clients’ portfolios and the number of outsourced transactions provided to our existing clients. Software-enabled services revenues also fluctuate as a result of reimbursements received for “out-of-pocket” expenses, such as postage and telecommunications charges, which are recorded as revenues on an accrual basis.  Because these additional revenues are offset by the reimbursable expenses incurred, there is no impact on gross profit, operating income and net income, however the reimbursements billed and expenses incurred can lead to fluctuations in revenues, cost of revenues and gross margin percentage each period. License, maintenance and related revenues consist primarily of term and perpetual license fees, maintenance fees and professional services. Maintenance revenues vary based on customer retention and on the annual increases in fees, which are generally tied to the consumer price index. License and professional services revenues tend to fluctuate based on the number of new licensing clients, the timing and terms of contract renewals and demand for consulting services.

The following table sets forth the percentage of our total revenues represented by each of the following sources of revenues for the periods indicated:

The following table sets forth revenues (dollars in millions) and percent change in revenues for the periods indicated:

Fiscal 2018 versus Fiscal 2017. Our revenues increased $1,745.8 million, primarily due to revenues related to our acquisitions of Intralinks and Eze in the fourth quarter of 2018, CACEIS and DST in the second quarter of 2018 and CommonWealth Fund Services in the fourth quarter of 2017, which contributed $1,709.9 million in revenues.  Additionally, revenues increased due to increased demand for our software-enabled services and the favorable impact from foreign currency translation, which added $1.2 million.  Software-enabled services revenues increased $1,684.9 million or 151.2%, primarily due to the acquisitions, which added revenues of $1,629.6 million, as well as from a continued increase in demand for our fund administration services and services for advisory and wealth managers.  The favorable impact from foreign currency translation was $1.6 million.  License, maintenance and related revenues increased $60.9 million, or 10.8%, primarily due to the acquisitions, which added revenues of $80.3 million.  The unfavorable impact from foreign currency translation was $0.4 million and the remaining decrease in license, maintenance and related

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revenues was primarily due to a decline in professional services revenues and the impact on term licenses as a result of the adoption of a new revenue recognition standard, ASC 606, on January 1, 2018.

Fiscal 2017 versus Fiscal 2016. Our revenues increased $193.9 million, primarily due to revenues related to our acquisitions of CommonWealth Fund Services in the fourth quarter of 2017, GFS and Conifer in the fourth quarter of 2016 and Citigroup AIS in the first quarter of 2016, which contributed $117.7 million in revenues, net of a reduction of $2.7 million in revenues related to the loss of sales to these businesses.  The increase in revenues also reflects a reduction of $19.0 million related to fund administration service clients that were acquired through the Citigroup AIS acquisition who had indicated they were terminating their contracts prior to the acquisition closing.  The final purchase price of the Citigroup AIS business acquisition included an adjustment for these terminated clients.  The remaining increases in revenues were primarily due to an increase in term license revenues and a continued increase in demand for our fund administration services.  These increases were also impacted favorably from foreign currency translation by $1.1 million.  Software-enabled services revenues increased $157.2 million, primarily due to the acquisitions, which added revenues of $114.4 million, as well as from an increase in software-enabled services revenues within our fund administration business.  These increases were also impacted favorably from foreign currency translation by $0.5 million.  License, maintenance and related revenues increased $36.7 million, primarily due to an increase in revenues for advisory and wealth managers, as well as an increase resulting from the large prior period impact of the fair value adjustment of acquired deferred revenue and by our acquisitions, which contributed $3.3 million.  These increases were also impacted favorably from foreign currency translation by $0.6 million.  License, maintenance and related revenues were partially offset by declines in revenues for institutional and investment management customers.

Cost of Revenues

Cost of software-enabled services revenues consists primarily of costs related to personnel utilized in servicing our software-enabled services and amortization of intangible assets. Cost of license, maintenance and other related revenues consists primarily of the costs related to personnel utilized in servicing our maintenance contracts and to provide implementation, conversion and training services to our software licensees, as well as system integration and custom programming consulting services and amortization of intangible assets.

The following tables set forth each of the following cost of revenues as a percentage of their respective revenue source for the periods indicated:

The following table sets forth cost of revenues (dollars in millions) and percent change in cost of revenues for the periods indicated:

Fiscal 2018 versus Fiscal 2017. Our total cost of revenues increased $1,164.7 million, or 131.4%, primarily due to our acquisitions, which contributed $1,136.7 million to the increase.  Included in these costs are severance charges of $38.8 million in 2018 related to the elimination of redundant positions within the acquired businesses.  The unfavorable impact from foreign currency translation added $0.7 million in costs.  Cost of software-enabled services revenues increased $1,124.9 million, or 179.1%, primarily due to our acquisitions, which added $1,088.6 million in costs, as well as increased costs to support the growth in software-enabled services revenues.  The unfavorable impact from foreign currency translation added $0.2 million in costs.  Costs of license, maintenance and related revenues increased $39.8 million or 15.4%, primarily due to our acquisitions, which added $48.0 million in costs, partially offset by decreases in personnel-related costs and independent contractors.  The unfavorable impact from foreign currency translation added $0.5 million in costs.

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Fiscal 2017 versus Fiscal 2016. Our total cost of revenues increased $85.9 million, primarily due to our acquisitions, which included CommonWealth, GFS, Conifer and Citigroup AIS, which added costs of $87.4 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017.  This increase was partially offset by a decrease of $1.2 million in costs of revenues, primarily related to cost synergies from acquisitions as well as by the favorable impact from foreign currency translation of $0.3 million.  Cost of software-enabled services revenues increased $83.7 million, primarily due to the acquisitions, which added costs of $85.3 million.  Cost of license, maintenance and related revenues increased $2.2 million, primarily due the acquisitions.

Operating Expenses

Selling and marketing expenses consist primarily of the personnel costs associated with the selling and marketing of our products, including salaries, commissions and travel and entertainment. Such expenses also include amortization of intangible assets, the cost of branch sales offices, trade shows and marketing and promotional materials. Research and development expenses consist primarily of personnel costs attributable to the enhancement of existing products and the development of new software products. General and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel costs related to management, accounting and finance, information management, human resources and administration and associated overhead costs, as well as fees for professional services. Transaction expenses consist of certain costs associated with our acquisition of DST, including costs to enter into our Credit Agreement, investment banker advisory fees, legal and other professional fees.

The following table sets forth operating expenses as a percentage of our total revenues for the periods indicated:

The following table sets forth operating expenses (dollars in millions) and percent change in operating expenses for the periods indicated:

Fiscal 2018 versus 2017. The increase in total operating expenses in 2018 was primarily due to our acquisitions, which added expenses of $522.6 million.  Included in these costs are severance charges of $23.8 million in 2018, related to the elimination of redundant positions within the acquired businesses.  The impact from foreign currency translation increased costs by $0.5 million in 2018.  Total operating expenses in 2018 also increased due to higher personnel-related costs, higher non-income based taxes, higher professional fees and increased stock-based compensation expense partially offset by lower software maintenance costs, legal settlements paid and lower rent and occupancy costs.

Fiscal 2017 versus 2016. The decrease in total operating expenses in 2017 of $0.3 million was primarily due to a decrease in organic total operating expenses of $15.7 million as well as the favorable impact from foreign currency translation of $0.8 million, which resulted from the strength of the U.S. dollar relative to the British pound.  These decreases were partially offset by increased operating expenses related to our acquisitions of CommonWealth, GFS, Conifer and Citigroup AIS, which added expenses of $16.2 million. The decrease in organic operating expenses was primarily due to lower stock-based compensation, independent contractor costs and market data costs, partially offset by higher professional fees and legal settlement fees.

Transaction Expenses

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Fiscal 2018 versus 2017.  Transaction expenses of $97.8 million consist of certain costs associated with the acquisition of DST, including those related to our Credit Agreement, investment banker advisory fees, legal and other professional fees. The DST acquisition is further discussed in the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements and in “Liquidity and Capital Resources”.

Comparison of Fiscal 2018, 2017 and 2016 for Interest, Taxes and Other

Interest income. We had interest income of $9.1 million in 2018 compared to $1.2 million in 2017 and $1.5 million in 2016. The increase in interest income in 2018 primarily resulted from higher average cash balances relative to the prior year.  The decreases in interest income in 2017 primarily resulted from lower average cash balances relative to the prior year.

Interest expense. We had interest expense of $280.1 million in 2018 compared to $108.6 million in 2017 and $129.9 million in 2016. The increase in interest expense in 2018 was primarily due to increased borrowings in connection with our acquisitions of DST, Eze and Intralinks and, to a lesser extent, higher average interest rates.  These increases were partially offset by the impact of repayments of the Prior Credit Agreement.  The decrease in interest expense in 2017 was primarily due to a lower average debt balance and a lower average interest rate, as a result of the amendment of our senior secured credit facility in March 2017.  These facilities are discussed further in “Liquidity and Capital Resources”.

Other income (expense), net. Other income (expense), net for 2018 consisted primarily of dividend income and foreign currency transaction gains partially offset by unrealized losses on our investments. Other income (expense), net for 2017 and 2016 consisted primarily of foreign currency transaction losses and gains, respectively.

Equity in earnings of unconsolidated affiliates, net.  We had equity in earnings of unconsolidated affiliates, net of $2.1 million for 2018.  This is primarily related to our proportionate share of IFDS L.P.’s net income, offset by amortization of basis differences.

Loss on extinguishment of debt, net. We recorded a $43.3 million loss on extinguishment of debt in 2018 related to the amendment and restatement of our credit agreement.  The loss on extinguishment of debt includes the write-off of a portion of the unamortized capitalized financing fees and unamortized original issue discount related to the Prior Credit Agreement and Senior Notes for amounts accounted for as a debt extinguishment and a make-whole premium paid in connection with the redemption of the Senior Notes.  We recorded a $2.3 million loss on extinguishment of debt in 2017 in connection with the amendment of our senior secured credit facility. The loss on extinguishment of debt includes the write-off of a portion of the unamortized capitalized financing fees related to the senior secured credit facility for amounts accounted for as a debt extinguishment, as well as the new financing fees related to the senior secured credit facility for amounts accounted for as a debt modification.  

Provision (benefit) for income taxes. The following table sets forth the provision (benefit) for income taxes (dollars in millions) and effective tax rates for the periods indicated:

Our 2018, 2017 and 2016 effective tax rates differ from the statutory rate primarily due to the effect of our foreign operations and permanent book to tax differences, and in 2017 and 2018, the effect of the Tax Act. The increase in the effective tax rate from 2017 to 2018 is due primarily to the unfavorable impact of certain provisions in the Tax Act as well as the absence of the net favorable impact of the Tax Act in 2017.  These increases were partially offset by the relative favorable impact of excess tax benefits from stock-based awards compared to the prior year and the favorable impact of a revaluation on existing state deferred tax liabilities due to acquisitions.  The decrease in the effective tax rate from 2016 to 2017 was primarily due to the overall favorable net impact of the Tax Act and the favorable impact of excess tax benefits from stock-based awards.  In 2017, we recorded a provisional tax benefit for the impact of the Tax Act of $88.0 million.  We made reasonable estimates to determine the impact of the Tax Act in 2017 and completed our accounting of the Tax Act in the fourth quarter of 2018.  We did not make any material adjustments as a result of completing our accounting related to the Tax Act. See Notes 2 and 15 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.  The favorable impact of excess tax benefits from stock-based awards in 2017 and 2018 is due to the prospective adoption of ASU 2016-09, Compensation – Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting.  We had $1,347.8 million and $347.8 million of deferred tax liabilities and $150.9 million and $66.6 million of deferred tax assets at December 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

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Our effective tax rate includes the effect of operations outside the U.S., which historically have been taxed at rates lower than the U.S. statutory rate. While we have income from multiple foreign sources, the majority of our non-U.S. operations are in India and the U.K., where the statutory rates were 30.5% and 19.0%, respectively, in 2018, 34.6% and 19.3%, respectively, in 2017, and 34.6% and 20.0%, respectively, in 2016.  A future proportionate change in the composition of income before income taxes from foreign and domestic tax jurisdictions could impact our periodic effective tax rate.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our principal cash requirements are to finance the costs of our operations pending the billing and collection of client receivables, to fund payments with respect to our indebtedness, to invest in research and development, to acquire complementary businesses or assets and to pay dividends on our common stock. We expect our cash on hand, cash flows from operations, and cash available under our Credit Agreement to provide sufficient liquidity to fund our current obligations, projected working capital requirements and capital spending for at least the next twelve months.

In April 2018, we purchased all of the outstanding stock of DST for approximately $5.1 billion, plus the costs of effecting the transaction.  We funded the acquisition and refinanced our existing debt with $7.4 billion of debt financing (of which approximately $524.5 million was rolled over from our Prior Credit Agreement) and a portion of the net proceeds from the issuance and sale of approximately $1.4 billion of our common stock.  We funded our acquisition of Eze in October 2018 with a combination of cash on-hand and $875.0 million in incremental term loan debt.  We funded our acquisition of Intralinks in November 2018 with a combination of $1.0 billion in incremental term loan debt and 9.9 million shares of our common stock.

In 2018, we paid quarterly cash dividends totaling $70.9 million.

Our cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash and cash equivalents, including amounts held on behalf of clients, at December 31, 2018 were $1,113.3 million, an increase of $1,048.6 million from $64.7 million at December 31, 2017. The increase in cash was primarily due to the inclusion of cash and cash equivalents associated with funds held on behalf of clients of $940.2 million.  See Notes 7, 9 and 10 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion of acquisitions, debt and equity, respectively.

Client funds obligations represent our contractual obligations within the DST business to remit funds to satisfy client pharmacy claim obligations and are recorded on the Consolidated Balance Sheet when incurred, generally after a claim has been processed by us.  In addition, client funds obligations include transfer agency client balances invested overnight.  Our contractual obligations to remit funds to satisfy client obligations are primarily sourced by funds held on behalf of clients.  We had $1,014.7 million of client funds obligations at December 31, 2018.

Cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities, as reflected in our Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows, are summarized in the following table (in millions):

Operating activities: Cash provided by operating activities primarily resulted from net income of $103.2 million adjusted for non-cash items of $572.0 million, slightly offset by changes in our working capital accounts (excluding the effect of acquisitions) totaling $35.1 million. The changes in our working capital accounts were driven by decreases in accounts payable and accrued expenses, increases in contract assets and changes in income taxes prepaid and payable, partially offset by decreases in accounts receivable and prepaid expenses and other assets and increase in deferred revenue. Cash provided by operating activities was negatively affected by approximately $244.0 million of costs related to the DST acquisition, including transaction, severance and other such items. The decrease in accounts payable was primarily due to the timing of payments. The decrease in accounts receivable was primarily due to an overall decrease in days’ sales outstanding, excluding the effect of acquisitions, as well as an improvement in the

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average days’ sales outstanding associated with businesses acquired in 2018 since the date of those acquisitions. The decrease in prepaid expenses and other assets was primarily due to the timing of payments, particularly as a result of the mid-month acquisition of DST.  The increase in contract asset and deferred revenue was primarily due to the adoption of ASC 606.

Investing activities: We used net cash of $7,102.6 million primarily related to cash paid for business acquisitions (net of cash acquired) of $7,066.7 million, $55.5 million in capitalized software development costs, $33.6 million in capital expenditures and $16.4 million in investments in securities, partially offset by proceeds from sales and maturities of investments of $52.9 million, proceeds from the sale of property and equipment of $9.7 million and receipts from the collection of loans made of $7.0 million.

Financing activities: Cash provided by financing activities of $7,517.0 million primarily resulted from $8,744.0 million received from debt borrowings, net of original issue discount, net proceeds of $1,399.1 million from common stock issuance, net increase in client funds obligations of $604.8 million and $84.9 million in cash received from stock option exercises.  These proceeds were partially offset by repayments of debt totaling $3,141.0 million, the payment of $86.4 million in fees related to debt extinguishment and refinancing activities, $70.9 million in quarterly dividends paid and $17.5 million in withholding taxes paid related to equity award net share settlements.

Fiscal 2017 versus 2016

Our cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash and cash equivalents at December 31, 2017 were $64.7 million, a decrease of $55.0 million from $119.7 million at December 31, 2016. The decrease in cash was primarily due to repayments of debt, payment of dividends, capital expenditures and cash paid for acquisitions. These decreases were partially offset by cash provided by operations, proceeds from stock option exercises and proceeds received from our borrowings.

Operating activities: Cash provided by operating activities primarily resulted from net income of $328.9 million adjusted for non-cash items of $142.8 million and changes in our working capital accounts (excluding the effect of acquisitions).  The changes in our working capital accounts were driven by increases in accounts receivable and prepaid expenses and other assets as well as decreases in accrued expenses and deferred revenue.  These changes were partially offset by an increase in accounts payable and a change in income taxes prepaid and payable.  The decrease in deferred revenue was primarily due to an increase in the number of new license contracts and contract renewals that qualified for up-front revenue recognition as well as the decline in deferred revenue associated with the completion of professional services installations of our software. The decrease in accrued expenses was primarily due to lower accrued interest on our outstanding debt as well as lower compensation accruals.  The increase in accounts payable was primarily due to the timing of payments.

Investing activities: We used net cash primarily related to $35.5 million in capital expenditures, $17.4 million cash paid for acquisitions and $10.4 million in capitalized software.

Financing activities: We used net cash primarily related to $512.5 million of repayments of debt, $54.4 million in quarterly dividends and $4.8 million in withholding taxes paid related to equity award net share settlements.  These payments were partially offset by $60.2 million cash received from stock option exercises and $45.0 million received from debt borrowings.

We have made a permanent reinvestment determination in certain non-U.S. operations that have historically generated positive operating cash flows. At December 31, 2018, we held approximately $93.0 million in cash and cash equivalents at non-U.S. subsidiaries where we had made such a determination and in turn no provision for income taxes had been made. At December 31, 2018, we held approximately $78.7 million in cash that was available to our foreign borrowers under our senior secured credit facility and will be used to facilitate debt servicing of those entities.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have no off-balance sheet arrangements that have or are reasonably likely to have a current or future effect on our financial condition, changes in financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources that is material to investors.

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Contractual Obligations

The following table summarizes our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2018 that require us to make future cash payments (in millions): 

As of December 31, 2018, our liability for uncertain tax positions and related interest and penalties payable was $118.5 million and $25.2 million, respectively. We are unable to reasonably estimate the timing of such liability and interest payments in individual years beyond 12 months due to uncertainties in the timing of the effective settlement of tax positions.  As a result, these amounts are not included in the above contractual obligations table.

Senior Secured Credit Facilities

On April 16, 2018, in connection with our acquisition of DST, we entered into an amended and restated credit agreement with SS&C Technologies, Inc. (“SS&C”), SS&C European Holdings SARL, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of SS&C (“SS&C SARL”) and SS&C Technologies Holdings Europe SARL, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of SS&C (“SS&C Tech SARL”) as the borrowers (“Credit Agreement”).

The Credit Agreement includes four tranches of term loans (together the “Initial Term Loans”): (i) a $518.6 million term B-1 facility which matures on July 8, 2022 for SS&C (“Term B-1 Loan”); (ii) a $5.9 million term B-2 facility which matures on July 8, 2022 for SS&C SARL (“Term B-2 Loan”); (iii) a new $5.046 billion term B-3 facility, which matures on April 16, 2025 for SS&C (the “Term B-3 Loan”); and (iv) a new $1.8 billion term B-4 facility, which matures on April 16, 2025 for SS&C SARL (the “Term B-4 Loan”).  In addition, the Credit Agreement has a revolving credit facility with a five-year term available for borrowings by SS&C with $250 million in available commitments (“Revolving Credit Facility”), of which $242.4 million was available as of December 31, 2018.  The Revolving Credit Facility also contains a $25 million letter of credit sub-facility, of which $7.6 million was utilized as of December 31, 2018.

The majority of the initial proceeds from the Initial Term Loans was used to fund the acquisition of DST, repay certain amounts outstanding under our then-existing credit agreement (“Prior Credit Agreement”), repay all of the outstanding principal amount of our 5.875% Senior Notes due 2023 (“Senior Notes”) and repay acquired debt associated with DST.

The refinancing of the Prior Credit Agreement was evaluated in accordance with FASB Accounting Standards Codification 470-50, Debt-Modifications and Extinguishments, for modification and extinguishment accounting. We accounted for the refinancing as a debt modification with respect to amounts that remained obligations of the same lender in the syndicate with minor changes in cash flows and as a debt extinguishment with respect to amounts that were obligations of lenders that exited the syndicate or remained in the syndicate but experienced a change in cash flows of greater than 10%.  See Note 9 to our Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion of debt.

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On October 1, 2018, in connection with our acquisition of Eze, we entered into an amendment (the “Commitment Increase Amendment”) to the Credit Agreement.  Pursuant to the Commitment Increase Amendment, a new $875.0 million senior secured term B-5 facility (“Term B-5 Loan”, and together with the Initial Term Loans, the “Term Loans”) was made available to us, the proceeds of which were used to finance, in part, the Eze acquisition.

On November 16, 2018, in connection with our acquisition of Intralinks, we entered into an amendment (the “Incremental Term Loan Amendment”) to the Credit Agreement.  Pursuant to the Incremental Term Loan Amendment, an additional $1.0 billion senior secured term B-5 facility (“Term B-5 Loan”, and together with the Initial Term Loans, the “Term Loans”) was made available to us, the proceeds of which were used to finance, in part, the Intralinks acquisition.

The Term Loans and Revolving Credit Facility bear interest, at the election of the borrowers, at the base rate (as defined in the Credit Agreement) or LIBOR, plus the applicable interest rate margin for the credit facility. Amounts drawn on the Revolving Credit Facility initially bear interest at either LIBOR plus 2.25% or at the base rate plus 1.25%, and is subject to a step-down at any time our consolidated net secured leverage ratio is less than 4.75 times, to 2.0% in the case of the LIBOR margin and 1.0% in the case of the base rate margin.  The Term B-1 Loan and Term B-2 Loan bear interest at either LIBOR plus 2.25% or at the base rate plus 1.25%.  The Term B-3 Loan, Term B-4 Loan and Term B-5 Loan initially bear interest at either LIBOR plus 2.50% or at the base rate plus 1.50%, and are subject to a step-down at any time our consolidated net secured leverage ratio is less than 4.75 times, to 2.25% in the case of the LIBOR margin and 1.25% in the case of the base rate margin.

As of December 31, 2018, there was $514.5 million in principal amount outstanding under the Term B-1 Loan, $4,309.6 million in principal amount outstanding under the Term B-3 Loan, $1,634.7 million in principal amount outstanding under the Term B-4 Loan and $1,860.3 million in principal amount outstanding under the Term B-5 Loan.  There was no principal amount outstanding under the Term B-2 Loan.  

SS&C and SS&C SARL are required to make scheduled quarterly payments of approximately 0.25% of the remaining principal amount of the Term B-1 Loan with the balance due and payable on July 8, 2022. SS&C and SS&C SARL are required to make scheduled quarterly payments of 0.25% of the original principal amount of the Term B-3 Loan, Term B-4 Loan and Term B-5 Loan, with the balance due and payable on April 16, 2025.  No amortization is required under the Revolving Credit Facility.

SS&C’s and SS&C SARL’s obligations under the Term Loans are guaranteed by (i) our existing and future U.S. wholly-owned restricted subsidiaries, in the case of the Term B-1 Loan, Term B-3 Loan, Term B-5 Loan and the Revolving Credit Facility and (ii) our existing and future wholly-owned restricted subsidiaries, in the case of the Term B-4 Loan.

The obligations of the U.S. loan parties under the Credit Agreement are secured by substantially all of the assets of such persons (subject to customary exceptions and limitations), including a pledge of all of the capital stock of substantially all of the U.S. wholly-owned restricted subsidiaries of such persons (with customary exceptions and limitations) and 65% of the capital stock of certain foreign restricted subsidiaries of such persons (with customary exceptions and limitations).  All obligations of the non-U.S. loan parties under the Credit Agreement are secured by substantially all of our and the other guarantors’ assets (subject to customary exceptions and limitations), including a pledge of all of the capital stock of substantially all of our wholly-owned restricted subsidiaries (with customary exceptions and limitations).

The Credit Agreement includes negative covenants that, among other things and subject to certain thresholds and exceptions, limit our ability and the ability of our restricted subsidiaries to incur debt or liens, make investments (including in the form of loans and acquisitions), merge, liquidate or dissolve, sell property and assets, including capital stock of our subsidiaries, pay dividends on our capital stock or redeem, repurchase or retire our capital stock, alter the business we conduct, amend, prepay, redeem or purchase subordinated debt, or engage in transactions with our affiliates.  The Credit Agreement also contains customary representations and warranties, affirmative covenants and events of default, subject to customary thresholds and exceptions. In addition, the Credit Agreement contains a financial covenant for the benefit of the Revolving Credit Facility requiring us to maintain a minimum consolidated net secured leverage ratio.  In addition, under the Credit Agreement, certain defaults under agreements governing other material indebtedness could result in an event of default under the Credit Agreement, in which case the lenders could elect to accelerate payments under the Credit Agreement and terminate any commitments they have to provide future borrowings.

Senior Notes

On April 16, 2018, we redeemed all of the outstanding principal amount of our Senior Notes utilizing a portion of the proceeds from the Initial Term Loans described above.  The redemption of the Senior Notes required the payment of a “make whole” premium calculated pursuant to the indenture governing the Senior Notes.  See Loss on extinguishment of debt within Note 9 to our

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Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion.  In addition, on May 1, 2018, we redeemed senior notes of DST that were acquired as a part of the acquisition of DST utilizing a portion of the proceeds of the Initial Term Loans described above.  The redemption of DST’s senior notes totaled $600.4 million, which included a “make whole” premium.

Other Indebtedness

In connection with the acquisition of DST, we assumed a mortgage with a principal amount of £21.0 million, which matures in October 2020 (“U.K. Mortgage”) and a $4.1 million mortgage on property in the U.S.  The outstanding amount under the U.K. Mortgage was $24.2 million at December 31, 2018 with a fixed interest rate of 3.1%.  Principal payments of £1.0 million are payable semi-annually in April and October of each year and accrued interest payable quarterly, with the outstanding balance due at maturity.

Covenant Compliance

Under the Revolving Credit Facility portion of the Credit Agreement, we are required to satisfy and maintain a specified financial ratio at the end of each fiscal quarter if the sum of (i) outstanding amount of all loans under the Revolving Credit Facility and (ii) all non-cash collateralized letters of credit issued under the Revolving Credit Facility in excess of $20 million is equal to or greater than 30% of the total commitments under the Revolving Credit Facility.  Our financial ratio became effective with the period ended September 30, 2018.  Our ability to meet this financial ratio can be affected by events beyond our control, and we cannot assure you that we will meet this ratio.  Any breach of this covenant could result in an event of default under the Credit Agreement.  Upon the occurrence of any event of default under the Credit Agreement, the lenders could elect to declare all amounts outstanding under the Credit Agreement to be immediately due and payable and terminate all commitments to extend further credit.  Any default and subsequent acceleration of payments under the Credit Agreement would have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial position and cash flows. Additionally, under the Credit Agreement, our ability to engage in activities such as incurring additional indebtedness, making investments and paying dividends is also tied to baskets and ratios based on Consolidated EBITDA.

Consolidated EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure used in key financial covenants contained in the Credit Agreement, which is the material facility supporting our capital structure and providing liquidity to our business.  Consolidated EBITDA is defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”), further adjusted to exclude unusual items and other adjustments permitted in calculating covenant compliance under the Credit Agreement.  We believe that the inclusion of supplementary adjustments to EBITDA applied in presenting Consolidated EBITDA is appropriate to provide additional information to investors to demonstrate compliance with the specified financial ratio and other financial condition tests contained in the Credit Agreement.

Management uses Consolidated EBITDA to gauge the costs of our capital structure on a day-to-day basis when full financial statements are unavailable.  Management further believes that providing this information allows our investors greater transparency and a better understanding of our ability to meet our debt service obligations and make capital expenditures.

Consolidated EBITDA does not represent net income or cash flow from operations as those terms are defined by generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, and does not necessarily indicate whether cash flows will be sufficient to fund cash needs.  Further, the Credit Agreement requires that Consolidated EBITDA be calculated for the most recent four fiscal quarters.  As a result, the measure can be disproportionately affected by a particularly strong or weak quarter.  Further, it may not be comparable to the measure for any subsequent four-quarter period or any complete fiscal year.

Consolidated EBITDA is not a recognized measurement under GAAP and investors should not consider Consolidated EBITDA as a substitute for measures of our financial performance and liquidity as determined in accordance with GAAP, such as net (loss) income, operating (loss) income or net cash provided by operating activities.  Because other companies may calculate Consolidated EBITDA differently than we do, Consolidated EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.  Consolidated EBITDA has other limitations as an analytical tool, when compared to the use of net income, which is the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure, including:

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The following is a reconciliation of net income to Consolidated EBITDA as defined in our Credit Agreement.

Our covenant requirement for net senior secured leverage ratio and the actual ratio for the year ended December 31, 2018 are as follows:

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Critical Accounting Policies

A number of our accounting policies require the application of significant judgment by our management, and such judgments are reflected in the amounts reported in our Consolidated Financial Statements. In applying these policies, our management uses its judgment to determine the appropriate assumptions to be used in the determination of estimates. Those estimates are based on our historical experience, terms of existing contracts, management’s observation of trends in the industry, information provided by our clients and information available from other outside sources, as appropriate. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and judgments, including those related to revenue recognition, goodwill and other intangible assets and other contingent liabilities. Actual results may differ significantly from the estimates contained in our Consolidated Financial Statements. Information about recently adopted accounting pronouncements and accounting pronouncements not yet effective is included in Note 2 to our Consolidated Financial Statements. We believe that the following are our critical accounting policies.

Accounting for investments

We have five significant types of investments: 1) investments in unconsolidated affiliates; 2) partnership interests in private equity funds; 3) investments in marketable equity securities related to our deferred compensation agreements; 4) non-marketable equity securities; and 5) seed capital investments.

The equity method of accounting is used for investments in entities, partnerships and similar interests (including investments in private equity funds for which we are a limited partner and hold a greater than 5% partnership interest in the fund) in which we have significant influence but do not control.  Under the equity method, we recognize income or losses from our pro-rata share of these unconsolidated affiliates’ net income or loss, which changes the carrying value of the investment of the unconsolidated affiliate.  

Our investments in unconsolidated affiliates, which were recorded at fair value through the allocation of the purchase price for the acquisition of DST, are accounted for under the equity method of accounting.  The carrying value of our investments in unconsolidated affiliates exceeds the proportionate share of net assets of the unconsolidated affiliates, resulting in basis differences. We recognize our proportionate share of the results of the unconsolidated affiliates and amortization expense related to basis differences in non-operating income.

Our partnership interests in private equity funds, marketable equity securities, and seed capital investments, other than those accounted for under the equity method of accounting or those that result in consolidation of the investee, are recorded at fair value, with changes in the fair value recognized in earnings. Our marketable equity securities and seed capital investments have readily determinable fair values in the market.  We use net asset value as a practical expedient for the fair value of partnership interests in private equity funds that are not accounted for under the equity method of accounting.  

Investments in non-marketable equity securities that do not have readily determinable fair values and do not qualify for the practical expedient to measure the investment using a net asset value per share are recorded using the measurement alternative in ASU 2016-01.  These investments are recorded at cost, less impairment, adjusted for observable price changes in orderly transactions for an identical or similar investment of the same issuer.  At each reporting period, we assesses if these investments continue to qualify for this measurement alternative.  Impairment is recorded when there is evidence that the expected fair value of the investment has declined to below the recorded cost.  Future adverse changes in market conditions or poor operating results of underlying investments could result in losses or an inability to recover the carrying value of the investments that may not be reflected in an investment’s current carrying value, thereby possibly requiring an impairment charge in the future, which could have a material effect on our financial position.

Long-lived Assets, Intangible Assets and Goodwill

We must test goodwill annually for impairment (and in interim periods if certain events occur indicating that the carrying value of goodwill or indefinite-lived intangible assets may be impaired) by comparing fair value of a reporting unit to its carrying value. Judgement is required in the determination of goodwill reporting units.  During the year ended December 31, 2018, our reporting unit structure changed as a result of acquisitions which we completed during the year. As of December 31, 2018, we had two reporting units, one which includes the DST business, and one which includes the rest of our operations.  To the extent that we do not achieve our revenue or operating cash flow plans or other measures of fair value decline, including external valuation assumptions, our current goodwill carrying value could be impaired. In 2017, we adopted Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2017-04, Goodwill and

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Other (Topic 350) – Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment, for our annual goodwill impairment test.  The new guidance removed the second step of the goodwill impairment test requiring a hypothetical purchase price allocation. The first step of the impairment analysis indicated that the fair values significantly exceeded the carrying values at December 31, 2018.

We assess the impairment of identifiable intangibles, long-lived assets and goodwill whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. Factors we consider important which could trigger an impairment review include the following:

When we determine that the carrying value of intangibles and long-lived assets may not be recoverable based upon the existence of one or more of the above indicators of potential impairment, we assess whether an impairment has occurred based on whether net book value of the assets exceeds related projected undiscounted cash flows from these assets. We consider a number of factors, including past operating results, budgets, economic projections, market trends and product development cycles in estimating future cash flows. Differing estimates and assumptions as to any of the factors described above could result in a materially different impairment charge, if any, and thus materially different results of operations.

Software Capitalization

Significant management judgement is required in determining what projects and costs associated with software development will be capitalized and in assigning estimated economic lives to the completed projects.  Management specifically evaluates software development projects and analyzes the percentage of completion as compared to the initial plan and subsequent forecasts, milestones achieved and the commitments to continue funding the projects.  Significant changes in any of these items may result in discontinuing capitalization of development costs, as well as immediately expensing previously capitalized costs.  We review, on a quarterly basis, our capitalized software for possible impairment.

Acquisition Accounting

In connection with our acquisitions, we allocate the purchase price to the assets and liabilities we acquire, such as net tangible assets, completed technology, customer relationships, other identifiable intangible assets, deferred revenue and goodwill. We applied significant judgments and estimates in determining the fair market value of the assets acquired and their useful lives. For example, we have determined the fair value of existing client contracts based on the discounted estimated net future cash flows from such client contracts existing at the date of acquisition and the fair value of the completed technology based on the cost savings method or the relief-from-royalties method on estimated future revenues of such completed technology and assumed obsolescence factors. While actual results during the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 were consistent with our estimated cash flows and we did not incur any impairment charges during those years, different estimates and assumptions in valuing acquired assets could yield materially different results.

Revenue Recognition

Our revenues consist of software-enabled services and license, maintenance and related revenues.

Software-enabled services revenues, which are based on a monthly fee or are transaction-based, are recognized as the services are performed. Software-enabled services are generally provided under contracts with initial terms of one to five years that require monthly or quarterly payments, and are subject to automatic annual renewal at the end of the initial term unless terminated by either party.

We recognize software-enabled services revenues on a monthly basis as the arrangement is a single performance obligation or a stand-ready performance obligation, which in either case is comprised of a series of distinct services that are substantially the same and have the same pattern of transfer to the customer (i.e. distinct days or months of service).  We apply a measure of progress (typically time-based) to any fixed consideration and allocate variable consideration to the distinct periods of service based on usage or summarization of account information.  These variable payments relate specifically to our efforts to perform the services in the period in which the fee applies.  This variability is solely attributed to and resolved as a result of the transfer of these services; these fees are independent of the transfer of past or future goods or services.  These fees meet the allocation objective of ASC 606 because they represent the amount of consideration we are entitled to for these services.  Revenue is generally recognized over the period the

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services are provided, which results in revenue recognition that corresponds with the value to the client of the services transferred to date relative to the remaining services promised.

We generate revenues in the form of software license fees and related maintenance and services fees. License fees include perpetual license fees and term license fees that differ mainly in the duration over which the customer benefits from the software. Maintenance and services primarily consist of fees for maintenance services (including support and unspecified upgrades and enhancements when and if they are available) and, in some cases, professional services which focus on both deployment and training our customers to fully leverage the use of our products.

Software license revenues are recognized at the point of time when the software license has been delivered.  Term license fees are typically due in annual installments at the beginning of each annual period and we record a contract asset for amounts recognized as revenue in excess of amounts billed.  We recognize revenues from maintenance ratably over the term of the underlying maintenance contract term because we transfer control evenly by providing a stand-ready service.  The term of the maintenance contract is usually one year.  Revenues from professional services consist mostly of services provided on a time and materials basis.

In contracts with multiple performance obligations, we account for individual performance obligations separately if they are distinct.  We allocate the transaction price to each performance obligation based on our relative standalone selling price out of total consideration of the contract.  Standalone selling price is determined utilizing observable prices to the extent available.  If the standalone selling price for a performance obligation is not directly observable, we estimate it maximizing the use of observable inputs.  For maintenance and support, we determine the standalone selling price based on the price at which we separately sell a renewal contract and the economic relationship between licenses and maintenance.  We primarily determine the standalone selling price for sales of licenses using the residual approach.  For professional services, we determine the standalone selling prices based on the price at which we separately sell those services.

We occasionally enter into license agreements requiring significant customization of our software that are not material to our results of operations.  We account for the license and professional service fees under these agreements as a single performance obligation, recognized over time using an input method during the development of the license.  This method requires estimates to be made for costs to complete the agreement utilizing an estimate of development man-hours remaining.  Revenue is recognized each period based on the hours incurred to date compared to the total hours expected to complete the project.  Due to uncertainties inherent in the estimation process, it is at least reasonably possible that completion costs will be revised. Such revisions are recognized in the period in which the revisions are determined.  Provisions for estimated losses on uncompleted contracts are determined on a contract-by-contract basis, and are made in the period in which such losses are first estimated or determined.

Depreciation of Fixed Assets

For personal property, we generally prefer to own rather than lease the property when practicable.  We believe this approach provides us with better flexibility for disposing or redeploying the asset as it nears the completion of its economic life.  Management judgement is required in assigning economic lives to fixed assets.  Management specifically analyzes fixed asset additions, remaining net book values and gain/loss upon disposition of fixed assets to determine the appropriateness of assigned economic lives.  Significant changes in any of these items may result in changes in the economic life assigned and the resulting depreciation expense.

Stock-based Compensation

Using the fair value recognition provisions of relevant accounting literature, stock-based compensation cost is measured at the grant date based on the value of the award and is recognized as expense over the appropriate service period. Determining the fair value of stock-based awards requires considerable judgment, including estimating the expected term of stock options and the expected volatility of our stock price. A deferred income tax asset is recorded over the vesting period as stock compensation expense is recorded for non-qualified stock options. The realizability of the deferred tax asset is ultimately based on the actual value of the stock-based award upon exercise. If the actual value is lower than the fair value determined on the date of grant, then there would be an income tax expense for the portion of the deferred tax asset that is not realizable.

Income Taxes

The carrying value of our deferred tax assets assumes that we will be able to generate sufficient future taxable income in certain tax jurisdictions, based on estimates and assumptions. If these estimates and related assumptions change in the future, we may be required to record additional valuation allowances against our deferred tax assets resulting in additional income tax expense in our Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss). On a quarterly basis, we evaluate whether deferred tax assets are realizable and assess whether there is a need for additional valuation allowances.  The carrying value of our deferred tax assets and

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liabilities is recorded based on the statutory rates that we expect our deferred tax assets and liabilities to reverse into income. We estimate the state rate at which our deferred tax assets and liabilities will reverse based on estimates of state income apportionment for future years. Each of these estimates requires significant judgment on the part of our management. In addition, we evaluate the need to provide additional tax provisions for adjustments proposed by taxing authorities.

As of December 31, 2018, we had $118.5 million in liabilities associated with unrecognized tax benefits. All of the unrecognized tax benefits, if recognized, would decrease our effective tax rate and increase our net income. Additionally, we recognize accrued interest and penalties relating to unrecognized tax benefits as a component of the income tax provision.

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

In August 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-15, Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments. ASU 2016-15 addresses how certain cash receipts and cash payments are presented and classified in the statement of cash flows under ASC Topic 230, Statement of Cash Flow, and other Topics. ASU 2016-15 is effective for our first quarter of fiscal 2018 and the guidance requires application using a retrospective method. The impact of our adoption of ASU 2016-15 to our Consolidated Financial Statements was to reflect the presentation of debt prepayment or debt extinguishment costs as cash outflows from financing activities within our Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows. We adopted ASU 2016-15 as of January 1, 2018, which resulted in presenting fees paid for debt extinguishment as a financing activity within the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows for all periods shown.

In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-01, Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities. ASU 2016-01 requires equity investments, except those accounted for under the equity method of accounting, that have readily determinable fair values to be measured at fair value with any changes in fair value recognized in net income. Equity securities that do not have readily determinable fair values may be measured at estimated fair value or cost less impairment, if any, adjusted for subsequent observable price changes, with changes in the carrying value recognized in net income. A qualitative assessment for impairment is required for equity investments without readily determinable fair values. The updated guidance also eliminates the requirement to disclose the method and significant assumptions used to estimate the fair value of financial instruments measured at amortized cost on the balance sheet. We adopted ASU 2016-01 as of January 1, 2018, which did not have a material impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (ASC 606). ASC 606 supersedes the revenue recognition requirements in ASC 605 and 985 and requires entities to recognize revenue when control of the promised goods or services is transferred to customers at an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. We adopted ASC 606 as of January 1, 2018 using the modified retrospective transition method. See Note 11 for further details.

We do not use derivative financial instruments for trading or speculative purposes. We have invested our available cash in short-term, highly liquid financial instruments, having initial maturities of three months or less. When necessary, we have borrowed to fund acquisitions.

Interest rate risk

We derive service revenues from investment earnings related to cash balances maintained in bank accounts on which we are the agent for clients.  The balances maintained in the bank accounts will fluctuate.  For 2018, there were average daily cash balances of approximately $2.2 billion maintained in such accounts.  We estimate that a 1% change in interest rates would equal approximately $9.2 million of net income on an annual basis.  The effect of changes in interest rates attributable to earnings derived from cash balances we hold for clients is partially offset by changes in interest rates on our variable debt.

At December 31, 2018, we had total debt of $8,347.3 million, including $8,319.1 million of variable interest rate debt. As of December 31, 2018, a 1% change in LIBOR would result in a change in interest expense of approximately $83.2 million per year.

Equity price risk

We have exposure to equity price risk as a result of our investments in equity securities.  Equity price risk results from changes in the level or volatility of equity prices which affect the value of equity securities or instruments that derive their value from such

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securities or indexes.  The fair value of our investments that are subject to equity price risk as of December 31, 2018 was approximately $121.7 million.  The impact of a 10% change in fair value of these investments would have been approximately $9.1 million to net income.  Changes in equity values of our investments could have a material effect on our results of operations and our financial position.

Foreign currency exchange rate risk

During 2018, approximately 28% of our revenues were from clients located outside the United States. A portion of the revenues from clients located outside the U.S. is denominated in foreign currencies, primarily the British pound. While revenues and expenses of our foreign operations are primarily denominated in their respective local currencies, some subsidiaries do enter into certain transactions in currencies that are different from their local currency. These transactions consist primarily of cross-currency intercompany balances and trade receivables and payables. As a result of these transactions, we have exposure to changes in foreign currency exchange rates that result in foreign currency transaction gains and losses, which we report in other income (expense). These outstanding amounts were not material for the year ended December 31, 2018. The amount of these balances can fluctuate in the future as we bill customers and buy products or services in currencies other than our functional currency, which could increase our exposure to foreign currency exchange rates. We continue to monitor our exposure to foreign exchange rates as a result of our acquisitions and changes in our operations. We do not enter into any market risk sensitive instruments for trading purposes.

The foregoing risk management discussion and the effect thereof are forward-looking statements. Actual results in the future may differ materially from these projected results due to actual developments in global financial markets. The analytical methods used by us to assess and minimize risk discussed above should not be considered projections of future events or losses.

Financial statement schedules are not submitted because they are not applicable, not required or the information is included in our Consolidated Financial Statements.

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REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc.:

Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2018 and 2017, and the related consolidated statements of comprehensive (loss) income, changes in stockholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2018, including the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). We also have audited the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2018, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2018 and 2017, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2018 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2018, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the COSO.

Change in Accounting Principle

As discussed in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company changed the manner in which it accounts for revenues from contracts with customers in 2018.

Basis for Opinions

The Company's management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the Report of Management on Internal Control over Financial Reporting appearing under Item 9A. Our responsibility is to express opinions on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.  

Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

As described in the Report of Management on Internal Control over Financial Reporting, management has excluded DST Systems Inc., Eze Software, and Intralinks Holdings, Inc. from its assessment of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2018 because they were acquired by the Company in purchase business combinations during 2018. We have also excluded DST Systems Inc., Eze Software, and Intralinks Holdings, Inc. from our audit of internal control over financial reporting. DST Systems Inc., Eze Software, and Intralinks Holdings, Inc. are wholly-owned subsidiaries whose total assets and total revenues excluded from management’s assessment and our audit of internal control over financial reporting collectively represent approximately 17% and 50%, respectively, of the related consolidated financial statement amounts as of and for the year ended December 31, 2018.  DST Systems Inc. represents 16% and 47% of the related consolidated financial statement amounts, respectively.

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Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Hartford, Connecticut

March 1, 2019

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 1995.

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SS&C TECHNOLOGIES HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(in millions, except per share data)