Duane Morris & Selvam Advises Cranium Ventures on Acquisition by ACI Worldwide

SINGAPORE, November 4, 2026 — Duane Morris & Selvam advised Cranium Ventures Ltd in connection with its sale of assets to ACI Worldwide, a global payments technology company. The transaction brings Cranium’s next-generation payment switching technology into ACI Worldwide’s cloud-native payments platform.

Ramiro Rodriguez, Head of Mergers and Acquisitions at Duane Morris & Selvam, said: “We congratulate ACI and Cranium for the completion of their successful transaction. We are delighted to be able to once again put our expertise in digital payments, IT and mergers and acquisitions to good use for our clients.”

Suilyn Yip, Director at Duane Morris & Selvam, said: “The acquisition reflects the strategic importance of modern, adaptable infrastructure as financial institutions transform their card-processing capabilities. Cranium has built a differentiated platform that addresses a critical need in the payments ecosystem. Its combination with ACI Worldwide brings together complementary technology and market reach, creating a strong foundation for continued innovation and growth.”

Founded in the United Kingdom in 2018, Cranium Ventures developed SYNAP, a microservices-based payment orchestration and card-switching platform designed to operate across cloud, on-premises and hybrid environments. The company has key operations in Singapore and Malaysia.

ACI Worldwide will integrate SYNAP into ACI Connetic for Cards, strengthening its capabilities in cloud-native card switching and supporting the continued modernisation of payments infrastructure. The transaction includes Cranium’s technology, intellectual property and commercial relationships. Cranium co-founders Ashraf Dimitri and Tony Horrell will join ACI Worldwide, which will continue to support existing SYNAP customers.

The Duane Morris & Selvam team was led by Ramiro Rodriguez and Suilyn Yip, with Li Tong Yip from the firm’s Singapore office.

About Duane Morris & Selvam LLP
Duane Morris & Selvam LLP is the joint law venture between Duane Morris LLP and Selvam LLC, with its headquarters in Singapore. By way of its global platform and extensive range of legal services, the firm helps companies conduct business in and out of Asia, the United States, Latin America, the United Kingdom and beyond. In addition to the excellent skills of its lawyers, clients benefit from the cultural fluency and key relationships that the firm has developed over many years of practising law throughout the region. The firm has a presence in the key markets of Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Yangon, as well as offices in Shanghai and Sydney. Supporting these regional offices, the firm operates a series of country desks for India, Indonesia, Korea and Japan. It is regularly ranked among the region’s leading law firms by Chambers & Partners, The Legal 500 and IFLR1000.

MAS amends the Singapore Code on Take-Overs and Mergers

By Suilyn Yip and Li Tong Yip

On 16 June 2026, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, on the advice of the Securities Industry Council (the “Council”), issued a revised Code on Take-overs and Mergers (the “Code”). The amendments to the Code aim to protect the competitive process of take-over and merger transactions, improve certainty and timeliness of schemes of arrangement, and enhance disclosures to investors and shareholders, and came into effect on 16 July 2026.

Continue reading “MAS amends the Singapore Code on Take-Overs and Mergers”

Is Knowledge King?

“Knowledge is king”, so the adage goes.

What is the relationship between ‘knowledge’ and merger and acquisition (“M&A”) transactions? In M&A transactions, representations and warranties are made by the seller with respect to the target company. What does knowledge have to do with this? The answer is simple: risk allocation.

Representations and warranties not only serve to provide information to the buyer, but more crucially play the role of allocating risk as between buyer and seller. A seller will attempt to keep its representations and warranties as narrowly drawn as possible. A buyer, at the other end of the spectrum, will seek to have the seller’s representations and warranties pitched broadly.

During negotiations, one detail that lawyers lovingly quibble over are the ‘qualifiers’ to the representations and warranties. The categories of qualifiers are aplenty. The focus here will be on the introduction of ‘knowledge qualifiers’.

Assuming the parties have crossed the hurdle and agree to use a knowledge qualifier, that is not the end of the matter. Parties will still need to discuss the following: Continue reading “Is Knowledge King?”

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The opinions expressed on this blog are those of the author and are not to be construed as legal advice.

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