A Fusion Deal: Wilmington Group acquires NHiS

February 11, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

nhis_logo_greyFusion Corporate Partners are pleased to announce the acquisition of NHiS Limited by Wilmington Group plc. Fusion acted exclusively for the shareholders of NHiS Limited. The Fusion team responsible for the transaction were led by Mark Eisenstadt.

Wilmington Group will pay an initial cash consideration of £5.6m and a further deferred consideration of up to £3.75m subject to the Business achieving targets for the growth in underlying profit. 

The deferred consideration will be satisfied by issuing of up to 1.5m new Wilmington Group plc shares in October 2016 dependent interwilmington-logo alia upon NHiS’s audited future earnings for the years ended 30th June 2015 and 30th June 2016. The Business was acquired with cash of £0.6m and the initial consideration will be financed out of the Group’s existing £65m debt facility.

The existing executive management team led by Nick Merryfield, the founding Managing Director, and Paul Midgley will remain with the business and they, along with five other individuals, comprise the vendors of the Business.

Nick Merryfield, talking about the process said, “I must thank Fusion for orchestrating the sale process professionally and with great skill. As a leading provider of business intelligence, data analysis, workflow tools and other services to pharmaceutical companies in the UK we wanted to work with an M&A house that understood our business and the marketplace. Mark was our point man and was key in engineering a successful outcome.”

 

NHiS has been in operation since 2007 and is a leading provider of business intelligence, data analysis, workflow tools and other services to pharmaceutical companies in the UK. Around 40% of its revenue is derived from subscriptions and the business has enjoyed high overall renewal rates as defined by customer spend in excess of 90%. Over 75% of NHiS revenue is delivered digitally.

The Business will form part of the Wilmington Healthcare Division and will work closely with the highly complementary Binley’s Healthcare Information business.

NHiS’s last annual results to March 2012, showed revenue of £1.8m, up 45% from the prior year and profits before tax and nonrecurring costs of £0.8m. The Business has seen a strong start to the year and turnover for the first nine months increased by 20%. Deferred income as 31st December 2012 was up 50% on 31st December 2011. Gross Assets at 31st March 2012 were £1.6m. 

Charlie Brady, Chief Executive of Wilmington Group, said;

“NHiS is an innovative business that has built up a major business intelligence and technology capability in a complementary area where our own Binleys Healthcare Information continues to see good growth potential. The Business will benefit from being part of a larger group with the infrastructure and resources of Binleys. We are particularly pleased that the existing highly experienced management team are joining the Wilmington Group and look forward to working with them as they continue to develop NHiS”. 

UK, London & Nottingham

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Inspired Energy plc trading update for the financial year ended 31 December 2012

February 4, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

inspiredenergyInspired Energy plc trading update for the financial year ended 31 December 2012

Inspired Energy, an energy procurement consultant to UK corporates, has provided a trading update for the financial year ended 31 December 2012.

Revenues for the full year are expected to be marginally ahead of market expectations whilst profit before tax, excluding deal costs and amortisation of intangible assets associated with the acquisition of Direct Energy Purchasing Limited (“DEP”), is anticipated to be broadly in line with forecasts.  Net Debt is expected to be approximately £1.8 million.

Trading remains strong with the contracted order book of Inspired Energy Solutions Limited rising to £6.3 million as at 31 December 2012 (31 December 2011: £4.3 million).  DEP’s order book has also grown substantially in the period since its acquisition to £2.6 million (31 December 2011: £1.7 million), taking the Group’s aggregate current, contracted, order book to £8.9 million as at 31 December 2012.

Janet Thornton, Managing Director of Inspired Energy, commented: “We have a strong contracted order book and the Board is confident of the Group’s outlook. We look forward to continued organic growth in the year ahead, alongside the pursuit of further earnings enhancing acquisitions.”

Inspired Energy expects to announce its full year results for the year ended 31 December 2012 on 21 March 2013.

UK, Kirkham, Lancashire

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Infusionsoft acquires social media marketing company GroSocial

January 24, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

infusion-logoInfusionsoft has acquired social media marketing software company GroSocial. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

GroSocial’s web-based software allows small businesses to easily build and track social media marketing campaigns that generate leads across popular social networks, including Facebook and Twitter. Earlier this month, Infusionsoft announced $54 million in growth capital financing led by Goldman Sachs.

“As we considered an acquisition in the social media marketing space we were looking for three key factors,” says Hal Halladay, Infusionsoft SVP of corporate development. “We wanted an affordable but powerful product that made social media lead generation simple for true small businesses and that could easily integrate with our software. We wanted a team that could bring to Infusionsoft grosocialdeep knowledge and expertise in social media marketing. Finally, we wanted a company that shared our passion to help small businesses succeed. GroSocial was the undisputed leader in all three areas. I don’t know if we could have found a better strategic and cultural fit than the GroSocial team.”

Founded in 2010 by Zach Mangum, Kevin Kirkland and Chris Wright, GroSocial currently has more than 30,000 users. The 19-person GroSocial team will join Infusionsoft and push the company’s total employee count to 370, but will continue to operate as a dedicated product team in Utah. Mangum will continue to lead the Utah operation and will oversee, with Kirkland, the social product strategy for GroSocial.

This is Infusionsoft’s second acquisition. In Nov. 2011, Infusionsoft acquired CustomerHub, an online membership site and customer portal tool.

Today, there are more than 12,000 small businesses that use Infusionsoft to attract and capture leads, nurture and convert prospects automatically, grow sales and referrals, and save time.

USA, Chandler, AZ & Orem, Utah

 

 

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McGraw-Hill Education to acquire a 20 percent equity stake in Area9 Aps

January 24, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

McgrawhilleducationMcGraw-Hill Education is to acquire a 20 percent equity stake in Area9 Aps, the Denmark-based adaptive learning company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

McGraw-Hill Education’s equity investment in Area9 marks the culmination of a longstanding relationship between the two companies. Since 2007, McGraw-Hill Education and Area9 have worked together to develop products that deliver personalised learning experiences by using adaptive technology to continually assess students’ knowledge and skill levels and design study paths that bolster students’ understanding in the areas where they need to improve the most. By allowing students to focus their outside-of-class study time on the area-9topics and concepts that are most challenging to them, McGraw-Hill Education’s adaptive solutions have been shown to help students study more efficiently, develop greater proficiency and earn better grades. As part of the agreement, McGraw-Hill Education and Area9 will work together to develop new adaptive learning products, both within and outside the higher education market.

“At McGraw-Hill Education, we have a passion for teaching and learning, and we believe that delivering personalized experiences through adaptive technology is a key ingredient to teaching and learning success,” said Brian Kibby, president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education. “Through our investment in Area9, we’re working to create more deeply integrated teaching and learning experiences that we  see as a central element in the future of education.”

Founded in 2006 by Dr. Ulrik Juul Christensen, Area9 develops technologies that fix the gaps in helping people learn with the goal of finding a better way of delivering training and education. Area9’s roots trace back to the early 1990s, when at the Danish Institute for Medical Simulation Dr.Christensen began to see how adaptive technology could improve the inefficiencies in medical training. Through years of research and development, Dr. Christensen and Area9 realized that adaptive technologies could be developed to make learning more effective and efficient for students everywhere.

USA, New York, NY & Denmark, Copenhagen

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RPS Group PLC acquires Petroleum Institute for Continuing Education

January 17, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

RPSlogoRPS Group PLC, an energy and natural resources consultancy, has acquired Petroleum Institute for Continuing Education (“PEICE”), a Canadian based business providing geoscience and engineering training to the oil and gas industry, for a maximum consideration of C$11.7 million (£7.4 million).

PEICE has been providing training to the oil and gas industry for 12 years. During 2012 it delivered over 200 courses, primarily in Canada and the US. The courses cater for a wide range of participants including recent graduates and technical and administrative support staff, as well as senior energy company staff. Course formats include open courses, in-house at client facilities and on-line delivery. peice

In the year ended 31 August 2012 PEICE had revenues of C$7.4 million (£4.7 million) and profit before tax of C$2.0 million (£1.3 million), after adjustment for non-recurring items.  Net assets at 31 August 2012 were C$0.4 million (£0.25 million).  On the same basis, gross assets at 31 December 2012 were C$1.0 million (£0.6 million).

RPS is acquiring the entire share capital of PEICE for a maximum total consideration of C$11.7 million (£7.4 million), all payable in cash.  Consideration paid at completion was C$5.7 million (£3.6 million).  Subject to certain operational conditions being met, two further sums of C$3 million (£1.9 million) will be paid on the first two anniversaries of the transaction.

The founder and joint owner (with his wife) of the business will be remaining with RPS after the transaction, along with all current PEICE staff. They will work with RPS’ existing energy training teams in the UK and US to extend the range of courses offered and the geographical reach of the business.

Alan Hearne, Chief Executive of RPS, said, “The acquisition of PEICE extends the geographical reach and capability of our existing energy training business.  This remains a growth market, as technical training continues to be important for most of our E&P clients.”

UK, Abingdon, Oxforshire & Canada, Calgary, AB

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Argus acquires FCC, boosting fertilizer consulting business

January 14, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

ArgusGlobal energy and commodity price reporting agency Argus has acquired Fertilizer and Chemical Consultancy (FCC), a provider of long-term outlooks and strategic consulting for fertilizer markets.

FCC was founded in 2004 by Bernard Brentnall and Frances Wollmer, who between them have 50 years of experience in the fertilizer industry. Argus previously had a 49pc stake in FCC, which it acquired when it purchased leading fertilizer price reporting agency FMB in June 2011 (a Fusion Deal). Argus has now bought the remaining shares in FCC. Bernard and Frances will join Argus as principals, Fertilizer Consulting Services.

Argus Media chairman and chief executive Adrian Binks said: “We are delighted to bring FCC wholly into Argus. Bernard and Frances are well respected professionals with extensive experience and knowledge on fertilizer and fertilizer raw material markets. They are a welcome addition to both our fertilizer service range and our global consulting team.”

Frances Wollmer added: “We are looking forward to developing fertilizer consultancy services further using Argus’ global resources. There is a growing need for intelligent and relevant insight in our industry and we are now even better equipped to deliver that to our growing number of customers.”

UK, London

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Tribal Group acquires International Graduate Insight Group

December 21, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

TribalTribal Group, a provider of technology systems and solutions to the education, learning and training markets, is to acquire International Graduate Insight Group Limited (“i-graduate”), an education benchmarking and student experience research business.  The acquisition is expected to complete on 2 January 2013.

Tribal Group will pay n initial amount of £2.86 million on completion and up to a maximum of £7.5 million based on an earn out structure for the 3 year period ending 31 December 2015.  The unaudited profit before tax of International Graduate Insight Group Limited for the year ended 31 March 2012 was £423k and the value of gross assets at that time was £1,799k.

i-graduate is an independent benchmarking and analytics group, working in partnership with institutions and education organisations to provide evidence-based information on education experience and outcomes across higher education, further education and schools markets.  The business works with over 1,200 education institutions in 24 countries, receiving and analysing feedback from more than 1.3 million students of over 190 nationalities.  i-graduate will join Tribal’s Services business and will strengthen the Group’s evidence-based analytics offering.

i-graduate was founded in 2005 by Will and Lindsay Archer.  Will Archer will continue to lead the i-graduate business and will head up the integration of i-graduate’s offerings with Tribal’s existing financial benchmarking and analytic capabilities.

Tribal’s Chief Executive Officer, Keith Evans, commented: “Our strategic priority is to provide our customers with evidence based systems and solutions that will support the on-going improvement of educational outcomes.  Quantitative and qualitative technology based benchmarking and analytics is a cornerstone of the evidence base.  This acquisition will enable us to strengthen our capabilities in this exciting and emerging area, expands our product offering to our existing customers and provides increased access for our existing products to the i-graduate customer base, both in the UK and in our targeted international markets.”

UK, London

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Nielsen to acquire Arbitron

December 18, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

nielsenNielsen Holdings N.V., a provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy, is to acquire Arbitron Inc., an international media and marketing research firm.

Nielsen will acquire all of the outstanding common stock of Arbitron for $48 per share in cash, representing a premium of approximately 26 percent to Arbitron’s closing price on December 17, 2012. Nielsen has a financing commitment for the total transaction amount.

“U.S. consumers spend almost 2 hours a day with radio. It is and will continue to be a vibrant and important advertising medium,” said Nielsen Chief Executive Officer David Calhoun. “Arbitron will help Nielsen better solve for unmeasured areas of media consumption, including streaming audio and out-of-home. The high level of engagement with radio and TV among rapidly growing multicultural audiences makes this central to Nielsen’s priorities.”

Arbitron generated total revenues of $445 million and adjusted EBITDA of $131 million for the 12 months ended September 30, 2012. Cost synergies are reported to be at least $20 million and will be largely driven by the integration of technology platforms and data acquisition efforts.

USA, New York, NY

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Decision Resources Group Acquires Abacus International

December 15, 2012 — askhabra

decision-resources-printDecision Resources Group, a subsidiary of Piramal Enterprises Ltd. announced on 4th December its acquisition of Abacus International, a UK based provider of evidence-based global market access solutions for many healthcare companies worldwide. Abacus will become part of the Market Access Business Unit at Decision Resources Group which currently includes the brands: Fingertip Formulary, HealthLeaders-InterStudy, PharmaStrat and Pinsonault. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 1995, Abacus has experience “across a wide range of disease areas,” providing services to its healthcare (many of which pharmaceutical) clients at all stages of their product life cycles including analysis of clinical evidence, development of technical health economic models and pricing input amongst others. With over 55 staff, Abacus is one of the largest independent health economic consultancies in Europe. The firm also offers software solutions in the form of in-house produced web and mobile applications.

Abacus states on its website that its current management team will remain in place and that it will “continue to deliver its services as normal.” The firm will also remain headquartered in Bicester, UK.

Peter Hoenigsberg, CEO of Decision Resources Group said “Abacus is an important acquisition in Decision Resources Group’s overall strategy to expand our market access capabilities and offer our clients the most innovative, high-value advisory solutions.” He continued “It also serves to boost our position in Europe as an important resource for healthcare firms worldwide.” The firm’s press release for the acquisition states that  “The acquisition is part of Decision Resources Group’s overall strategy to acquire and/or build leading brands that can leverage each other’s thought leadership to create meaningful products and services for the healthcare industry.” View the press release here.

US, Massachusetts & UK, Bicester

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Nielsen, NM Incite acquires SocialGuide

November 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

NM Incite, a joint venture between Nielsen and McKinsey & Company, has acquired SocialGuide, a leading provider of social TV measurement, analytics and audience engagement solutions.  Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

SocialGuide is a real-time social TV capture service covering programming across 232 U.S. TV channels in English and Spanish, and over 30,000 programs.  Built for linear TV, SocialGuide’s intelligent analytics and engagement platform provides insight on the social impact of TV, enabling networks to engage with the social fan base in realtime.

SocialGuide will be integrated immediately into NM Incite, the hub of Nielsen’s social media measurement and analytics efforts.  SocialGuide’s software technology and data streams complement NM Incite’s existing software and data solutions.  Together, Nielsen, NM Incite and SocialGuide will focus on efforts to quantify the relationship between social TV and TV ratings to enable advertisers to maximize the impact of their spend, and provide new research metrics to understand social TV’s impact on consumer behavior and viewing habits.

“The opportunity in social TV is too big to ignore and there is a need for standard metrics and research to uncover the effect of social TV on programming and advertising strategies,” said Andrew Somosi, CEO of NM Incite.  “TV networks are expanding their research, advertising and engagement efforts across social media. The powerful combination of Nielsen, NM Incite and SocialGuide will enable us to deliver unparalleled insights and capabilities to our TV and advertiser clients.”

USA, New York, NY

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