Accenture to expand smart grid operations and energy trading and risk management services through acquisition of Structure

January 7, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

accenture1Accenture is to acquire Structure, a provider of consulting, system integration and customised solutions and services to energy and utilities clients. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“Bringing together two very similar cultures with deep skills in the utilities and energy industries reinforces our ability to help our clients solve some of the most complex and critical challenges that lie at the heart of the digital transformation,” said Omar Abbosh, senior managing director, Accenture Resources operating group. “Structure’s capabilities in grid operations and power systems engineering, combined with Accenture’s global strengths in information technology (IT), will provide our clients with comprehensive end-to-end solutions and services to support the integration of operational technologies with IT systems, forging a path toward a smarter, more digital grid.

“This includes the deployment of advanced distribution management systems and automation solutions, as well as improved outage management and grid analytics. We also plan to combine Structure’s market operations and commodities trading services with Accenture’s capabilities in digital asset management to help our clients optimize their commercial positions.”

Founded in 1998, Structure is based in Houston. Its more than 190 employees will operate within Accenture’s Resources operating group.

The acquisition of Structure is the second for Accenture in the energy sector within a few months – in August last year it acquired Hytracc Consulting, an IT services company that provides IT consulting services to firms in the oil & gas sector. In December last year Accenture acquired Australia-based digital agency Reactive Media.

USA, Houston, TX

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Accenture Completes Acquisition of Acquity Group Posted on July 9, 2013

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Communisis acquires Life Marketing Consultancy for up to £23.3M

January 6, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

communisisCommunication services business Communisis plc has acquired shopper marketing agency, Life Marketing Consultancy Limited.

Life’s adjusted EBITDA (on a normalised basis before non-recurring items) for the year ending 31 December 2014 is expected to be approximately £1.4 million. For the financial year ended 31 December 2013, Life generated adjusted EBITDA of £1 million on turnover of £7.0 million (£4.6 million net of recharged third-party costs). Gross assets of Life at that date were £3.6 million.

Communisis will acquire Life for an initial consideration of up to £14 million including its estimated free cash at completion of £0.7m. The initial consideration will be satisfied by the issue of a two-year, bank guaranteed promissory note of £9.3 million, £0.7 million in cash and the issue to the vendors of 7,988,015 new ordinary shares in Communisis. The new ordinary shares have a one-year restriction on sale.

Additional consideration of up to £9.3 million will be payable on the basis of Life’s future performance including its average adjusted EBITDA for the two financial years ending 31 December 2015 and 2016 and the contribution from defined synergies realised over Life’s three financial years ending 31 December 2017. The additional consideration will be satisfied in cash of up to £7.3 million and by the issue of new ordinary shares up to a value of £2.0 million.

The maximum consideration payable is £23.3 million.

Life is a research and insight-led shopper marketing agency. It’s clients are leading consumer goods groups especially in the food, drinks, technology and pharmaceutical sectors. Life has 63 permanent employees and operates from offices in Birmingham and London. The principal vendors, David Poole and Ian Humphris will join the Group in senior executive roles.

Shopper marketing focuses distinctly on understanding and influencing consumer behaviour within the shopping environment whilst also taking account of retailer strategies and requirements. It is an important component of the marketing budgets of large consumer goods brands.

Andy Blundell, Chief Executive, commented; “Life has an excellent reputation in shopper marketing. It brings new capability to Communisis, broadening our agency proposition and complementing the brand deployment services offered to our growing number of consumer goods clients. This acquisition will benefit our fastest growing and higher margin business segments.”

UK, London

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Moody’s completes acquisition of remaining stake in Copal Amba

December 12, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

moodysMoody’s Corporation has completed its acquisition of the remaining shares of Copal Amba and now owns 100% of the company. Moody’s announced on September 30 that it had agreed to acquire the remaining minority stake in Copal Amba.

Copal Amba“We are continuing to expand Copal Amba’s capacity and capabilities to meet the strong demand for high-quality outsourced financial research and analytics,” said Linda S. Huber, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Moody’s. “Moody’s is committed to building on Copal Amba’s extensive expertise to advance our global efficiency while continuing to grow Moody’s overall business.”

Copal Amba’s offshore research and analytics services support a wide range of clients, from global financial institutions and Fortune 100 corporations to boutique investment banks and asset managers. It was formed through Moody’s acquisitions of Copal Partners in 2011 and Amba Investment Services in 2013. Copal Amba operates seven service delivery centers and has approximately 2,500 staff worldwide.

The acquisition of the remaining shares in Copal Amba is not expected to have an impact on Moody’s earnings per share (EPS) in 2014 and is expected to be approximately $0.04 to $0.05 accretive to Moody’s EPS in 2015. Moody’s funded the acquisition from international cash on hand. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

USA, New York, NY

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Cello Group acquires Worldwide Promedica

December 9, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

cello-logoCello Group plc, the healthcare and consumer strategic marketing group, has acquired Worldwide Promedica Inc. 

Promedica is a San Francisco based market research firm serving pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Promedica had revenues of $1.9m in the year to December 2013.

Promedica will form part of Cello Health, and will work closely with Cello Health Insight in London, New York and Chicago to continue the development of the offer to the global clients of Cello Health.

The initial consideration is $700,000 payable in cash, with a maximum of $1.8m payable as deferred consideration dependent on financial performance in the period to 31 December 2017. Up to 50% of the deferred consideration is potentially payable in shares at the sole option of Cello. 

Stephen Highley, Chairman of Cello Health commented:

“We’re delighted to warmly welcome Promedica into Cello Health. This experienced and talented team will now open up capacity on the West Coast of America where we are seeing significant activity from both pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients”.

UK, London & USA, San Francisco

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Next Fifteen Communications Group acquires Morar Consulting Limited 

December 4, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

next15Next Fifteen Communications Group plc, a digital communications group, has acquired a 75% stake in Morar, a market research consultancy based in London, which measures and advises on brand performance.

Morar was founded in 2005 by Roger Perowne and Alistair Cunningham, both of whom will remain with the business following the acquisition. The team includes researchers, consultants, strategists and software developers; together providing managers with the insight and ideas to grow the value of their brands. Morar’s client list includes Admiral, Land Securities, Dell, Fitness First, Sky, Nando’s, Pearson, Global Blue and TPG Capital.

The initial consideration is £1.35m in cash with a further payment expected to be approximately £0.45m in February 2015 dependent on Morar’s normalised profit before tax for the twelve months to 31 January 2015. Deferred consideration is payable in 2018 dependent upon the performances of Morar for the financial years to January 2017 and 2018, Any deferred consideration that may become payable may be satisfied in cash or up to 25% in new Next 15 ordinary shares, at the option of Next 15.

The remaining 25% stake in Morar will be acquired by Next 15 in 2020 for a consideration dependent upon the performances of Morar for the financial years to January 2019 and 2020.

For the nine months ended 31 October 2014 Morar achieved turnover of approximately £1.3m and a normalised profit before tax of approximately £0.5m and had net assets of approximately £0.9m.

Tim Dyson, CEO of Next 15 commented: “In the last few years Morar has invested in the development of its own technology platform. Morar’s approach of combining high level consulting and technology fits with our digital strategy and extends our commitment to the insight and analytics area of marketing.”

UK, London

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Mitie acquires real estate, technology and risk management consultancy Source Eight Limited

November 26, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

MITIE

Mitie Group plc has acquired a majority stake in Source Eight Limited, a real estate, technology and risk management consultancy.

Source8 delivers real estate, technology and risk management consultancy services to global corporations, with particular expertise in emerging markets and complex environments. The company had turnover of £4.5m in 2013. The initial consideration payable is a maximum of £2.95 million, with £2.5 million paid in cash on completion, and the remainder payable dependent on performance targets. Further consideration is payable in cash up to a maximum of £12.5 million (£15.45m total consideration) depending on financial performance over a five year period.

UK, Bristol & London

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Mitie acquires pre-employment screening company Procius

October 16, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

MITIEMitie Group plc has acquired Procius Limited, a UK pre-employment screening company, from the management team for around £2.3 million.

Procius is a specialist in pre-employment screening and vetting, and has particular expertise in the aviation and transportation sectors. The acquisition will provide Mitie’s Total Security Management business with additional niche capability. The combined business has over 3,000 customers across all sectors. The acquisition will add an operational hub in Basingstoke to Mitie’s PeopleCert and UKCRBs businesses which are located at MiTec (Mitie’s technology hub in Northern Ireland).

Ruby McGregor-Smith CBE, Mitie’s Chief Executive, said: “I am delighted to welcome the Procius employees to our rapidly growing screening and vetting business. This acquisition will significantly enhance the services that we offer to our customers, particularly in the aviation and transport sectors.”

UK, Bristol & Basingstoke

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Energy Assets Group acquires Origin Technical Business Services

October 7, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

Energy Assets GroupEnergy Assets Group plc, the UK provider of industrial and commercial gas metering services in the UK, has acquired the entire issued ordinary share capital of Origin Technical Business Services Limited, a provider and developer of mobile works management systems, data capture, data hosting and analysis services to both Energy Assets and a number of other customers within the utility sector. 

The total value of the transaction is £0.85m. It includes an initial payment of £0.4m, a deferred consideration of £0.25m and an amount of £0.2m for the completion cash balance. 

Phil Bellamy-Lee, Chief Executive of Energy Assets, said, “The software services that Origin provides are key components of our bespoke management systems and the acquisition will enable Energy Assets to further improve the service offering provided to our customers through differentiated technology.”

Based in Chesterfield, Origin was established in 2001 by Simon Matthews as a spin off from British Gas contractor, Thomas Bermingham.  The company has nine employees including a team of software development engineers.  Origin has a long standing relationship with Energy Assets Group and currently provides the software interface and on-site mobile installation and audit platform for Energy Assets’ project and supply chain management platform ‘TEAMS’. All intellectual property rights will transfer on acquisition.

UK, Blackburn, Lancashire

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Moody’s to Acquire Full Ownership of Copal Amba

September 30, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

moodysMoody’s Corporation is to acquire the remaining outstanding shares of Copal Amba. Moody’s is currently a majority owner of Copal Amba, which was formed through the acquisitions of Copal Partners in 2011 and Amba Investment Services in 2013.

Copal AmbaCopal Amba, a leader in the market for Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO), provides offshore research, analytics and business intelligence services to the financial and corporate sectors. Its clients range from global financial institutions and Fortune 100 corporations to boutique investment banks and asset managers.

“Copal Amba has had strong momentum since its formation and has expanded its penetration into the growing market for outsourced financial research, analytics and business intelligence services,” said Linda S. Huber, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Moody’s.

The acquisition of the remaining shares is not expected to have an impact on Moody’s earnings per share in 2014 and will be funded from international cash on hand. The terms of the transaction, which is expected to be finalised in Q4 2014, were not disclosed.

USA, New York, NY

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Asset International acquires Corporate Insights

September 17, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

asset internationalAsset International has acquired Corporate Insights. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Based in Vancouver, Corporate Insights is a market research firm focused on the Canadian financial services industry. Corporate Insights works with wealth management and retail banking organizations on issues related to strategic decision-making, business growth initiatives, sales force management and competitive benchmarking.

Corporate Insights will operate as a division of Asset International’s Investor Economics, a business acquired by Asset International in 2013.

USA, New York & Canada, Vancouver

 

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