Using commercial share of wallet in private equity investments

• US 7,822,665 B2
• Filed: 08/02/2006
• Issued: 10/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Biswas, Arnab, Turner, Geraldine A., Lyon, Charles Christopher, Haggerty, Kathleen, Yuan, Chao M., Ruterman, Jon Kevin, Phelan, Robert E., Okoh, Benedict O.
• Primary Examiner(s): Subramanian; Narayanswamy
• Assistant Examiner(s): BAIRD, EDWARD J
• Application Number:
  US11/497,521
• Publication Number:
  US 20070078741A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,546 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35, 705/36.R, 705/38
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

Commercial size of spending wallet (“CSoSW”) is the total business spend of a business including cash but excluding bartered items. Commercial share of wallet (“CSoW”) is the portion of the spending wallet that is captured by a particular financial company. A modeling approach utilizes various data sources to provide outputs that describe a company'"'"'s spend capacity. Private equity firms and other investors of small businesses can use the CSoW/CSoSW modeling approach to more accurately evaluate small and privately held companies, both during investment and for evaluating prospective investments. Over-the-counter securities trading systems can also use this modeling approach to provide more accurate information and/or rankings of listed companies to their customers.

Claims

1. A method for evaluating the business prospects of a company, comprising:

modeling, by a computer-based evaluating system, industry spending patterns using individual corporate data and aggregate corporate data, including financial statement data, to create a model of industry spending patterns; and

estimating, by the computer-based system, a commercial size of spending wallet of the company based on, at least, known financial statement data of the company, total known business spending of the company, and the model of industry spending patterns, wherein the commercial size of spending wallet is the total business spending of the company that can be transacted using a payment instrument, wherein the payment instrument is associated with a transaction account, and wherein the model of industry spending patterns is used to infer financial statement data and spending data that is not known.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising developing a strategy for making a private equity investment in the company based on, at least, the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

3. The method of claim 2, where the developing step comprises:

making a private equity investment in the company.

4. The method of claim 2, where the developing step comprises:

retaining the company in a private equity portfolio.

5. The method of claim 2, where the developing step comprises:

making additional investment in the company.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the developing step further comprises deciding how to structure the investment in the company.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the commercial size of spending wallet of the company to corroborate other company data.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the using step comprises:

using the commercial size of spending wallet of the company to corroborate market data.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the using step comprises:

using the commercial size of spending wallet of the company to corroborate financial data.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the using step comprises:

using the commercial size of spending wallet of the company to corroborate industry data.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the using step comprises using the commercial size of spending wallet of the company to corroborate analyst data.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the commercial size of spending wallet of the company to valuate the company.

13. A system for evaluating the business prospects of a company, the system comprising:

a processor,

a non-transitory memory communicating with the processor,

the non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

modeling, by a computer-based evaluating system, industry spending patterns using individual corporate data and aggregate corporate data, including financial statement data, to create a model of industry spending patterns; and

estimating, by the computer-based system, a commercial size of spending wallet of the company based on, at least, known financial statement data of the company, total known business spending of the company, and the model of industry spending patterns, wherein the commercial size of spending wallet is the total business spending of the company that can be transacted using a payment instrument, wherein the payment instrument is associated with a transaction account, and wherein the model of industry spending patterns is used to infer financial statement data and spending data that is not known.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise developing a strategy for making a private equity investment in the company based on, at least, the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise using the commercial size of spending wallet of the company to corroborate other company data.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise using the commercial size of spending wallet of the company to valuate the company.

17. A tangible article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

modeling, by a computer-based evaluating system, industry spending patterns using individual corporate data and aggregate corporate data, including financial statement data, to create a model of industry spending patterns; and

estimating, by the computer-based system, a commercial size of spending wallet of the company based on, at least, known financial statement data of the company, total known business spending of the company, and the model of industry spending patterns, wherein the commercial size of spending wallet is the total business spending of the company that can be transacted using a payment instrument, wherein the payment instrument is associated with a transaction account, and wherein the model of industry spending patterns is used to infer financial statement data and spending data that is not known.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise developing a strategy for making a private equity investment in the company based on, at least, the commercial size of spending wallet of the company.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise using the commercial size of spending wallet of the company to corroborate other company data.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise using the commercial size of spending wallet of the company to valuate the company.