Deloitte expands energy analytics capabilities with acquisition of Altos Management Partners and MarketPoint

January 14, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Deloitte has acquired substantially all of the assets of Altos Management Partners, a consultancy to energy companies that was founded in 1995, as well as those of MarketPoint, an Altos sister company best known for MarketBuilder, an analytic suite for energy market modeling and price forecasting.

The acquisition will provide Deloitte’s clients with the ability to gain a better understanding of market fundamentals for energy commodities, including oil, gas, refinery products, electricity and coal.

“Supply, demand and price analytics are critical to energy companies,” said Greg Aliff, vice chairman and U.S. energy and resources sector leader, Deloitte LLP. “In order to be leaders, these companies must understand the future better than their competitors and act first. The acquisition of Altos and MarketPoint, combined with Deloitte’s existing solutions and services, will provide our clients with tools and services to improve their planning for future markets, enabling them to act faster and more comprehensively with greater confidence, and giving them a leg up in an increasingly competitive market.”

Andy Dunn, a partner at Deloitte & Touche LLP, explained that the acquisition is the foundation for a newly created offering named Deloitte MarketPoint, which is located within the Deloitte Center for Energy Solutions. Dunn, who will manage Deloitte MarketPoint, said the acquisition “will allow Deloitte to provide the energy industry with decision support solutions, including MarketBuilder, its models and data, in addition to consulting services.”

As part of the acquisition, Dale Nesbitt, Ph.D., has joined Deloitte. Nesbitt founded MarketPoint in 1995 and is well known in the energy industry for his market analysis modeling tools, including the North American Regional Gas Model, the World Gas Trade Model, the World Oil Model, the Western European Gas Model, and the North American Regional Electricity Model. MarketPoint’s models have been widely used by companies in the North American energy industry, as well as in energy markets in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America and Australia.

According to Nesbitt, “The success of MarketPoint, combined with the strength and quantitative experience of Deloitte, will bring a wide array of advanced analytics services to energy and resources companies of all varieties.”

USA,

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GE acquires Remote Energy Monitoring

January 13, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

GE has acquired Remote Energy Monitoring, Ltd. with operations in Tring, Hertfordshire, UK and in Australia.
 
This acquisition enhances GE’s ability to address the European Union’s goals for a lower-emission, higher efficiency energy infrastructure.  Remote Energy Monitoring’s software and hardware technologies allow consumers and utilities to better monitor and manage their energy usage. 

Remote Energy Monitoring’s metering solutions are approved by UK regulators. The modular design of their solutions make them  field upgradeable,  enabling utilities to integrate new capabilities in the future without the time and expense of switching out meters. 

“Advanced software, flexible systems and robust communications are critical elements in modernizing our infrastructure to meet the world’s energy needs,” said Bob Gilligan, vice president of GE’s Digital Energy business. “The accelerating pace of change of the Energy industry demands flexible, cost effective solutions that can be modified to meet the changing needs.”

GE’s end-to-end hardware, software and communications technologies elevate electric metering beyond simply tracking energy consumption.  The metering solutions support enhancements such as remote activation and disconnect, two-way communications between households and utilities, dynamic pricing structures, pre-paid account management, and energy use adjustments in response to peak pricing events. In addition, robust software and communications enable consumers to receive energy information and control energy usage via PC, TV, smart phone and/or other mobile devices.

“Combining Remote Energy Monitoring’s UK smart metering expertise with GE’s worldwide metering, manufacturing and smart grid leadership will expedite the rollout of this important technology, enabling the UK to lead in this area of energy management and efficiency,” said Gilligan.

“Energy companies can install our new meter solution, with its interchangeable and upgradable modules, with the assurance it can be easily adapted to meet future communications and other technological advancements” said Nigel Rzemieniecki, chief executive officer, Remote Energy Monitoring, Ltd. “Adding GE’s resources helps us continue to strengthen our technology development and broaden the reach of our smart, future-proof solution today.”

The transaction closed on January 11, 2011. The entire Remote Energy Monitoring technology and support team will be joining GE. Headquarters will remain in Tring Hertfordshire, U.K.

UK, Hertfordshire

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Research shows smaller buyouts bounce back in 2010

January 11, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Source – Lyceum Capital and Cass Business School

The total value of smaller private equity buyouts completed during 2010 rose to over £2.5billion, a 150 per cent increase on 2009 levels, according to data from The UK Growth Buyout Dashboard.

The quarterly trend analysis of private equity transactions in the £10 million to £100 million segment produced by Lyceum Capital and Cass Business School shows 68 companies raised an estimated £2,504 million of buyout funding in 2010. This compares with 34 transactions and £1,045 million of funding during the previous 12 months.
The figures provide further evidence that increasing numbers of successful SMEs are seeking private equity investors’ capital and expertise to drive their post-recession expansion plans.

Commenting on the report, Andrew Aylwin, Partner at Lyceum Capital, said: “The long-term investment outlook is positive. There is a bed-rock of SMEs requiring capital to consolidate their performance and complete the transformation into more mature, high-growth enterprises. This growth will ensure the lower mid-market continues to be a highly attractive asset class for private equity investment that is capable of creating consistently strong returns for investors.”

To go to The UK Growth Buyout Dashboard click here

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ABB adds business intelligence to software offering with Obvient acquisition

January 7, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Power and automation technology group, ABB is to acquire Obvient Strategies, a privately owned specialist software provider, adding Obvient’s solutions to its recently acquired Ventyx software portfolio. The transaction will further enhance ABB’s software offering for asset management, power distribution automation and smart grid applications.

Obvient offers software and services for industries and utilities with geographically dispersed assets. The company’s business intelligence software collects, analyzes and reports critical real-time as well as periodic information. This supports decision making and helps users to optimize operations. As well as helping to manage complex operations, the solutions also reduce operating costs and improve asset reliability. Obvient’s unique products compile the power transmission and distribution sector’s best business practices into prepackaged solutions.This enables companies to monitor and manage their distributed assets more effectively, on a real-time and event-driven basis.

“The Obvient portfolio is highly complementary to our own software solutions for the power sector,” said Jens Birgersson, head of ABB’s Network Management business within ABB’s Power Systems division. “It significantly strengthens our software-based solutions, enabling us to provide better service to our customers, from asset health and customer care to distribution and outage management.”

ABB plans to retain the Obvient team and place its executives in key roles within the Ventyx product management organization. The company has offices near Atlanta, Georgia, and a staff of 40.

“We are delighted to join the global ABB family. We have already worked together on a number of projects and joining our complementary portfolios makes perfect sense,” said Ray Kasten, president and CEO of Obvient Strategies. “This move will enable Obvient to enhance support for our rapidly growing customer base while accelerating our product development initiatives.”

Switzerland, Zurich & USA, Atlanta, GA

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Fusion’s fifth deal in the energy services sector: Utility Masters Limited sold to M&C Energy Group

January 7, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Fusion Corporate Partners are pleased to announce our latest deal, the sale of procurement and energy management consultancy Utility Masters Limited (UML) to M&C Energy Group, an energy procurement and compliance specialist. M&C Energy Group are a portfolio company of private equity business, Lyceum Capital.

Fusion Corporate Partners acted as exclusive advisers to the shareholders of UML.  Paul Kelly (pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk) led the transaction at Fusion. It is the fifth energy services sector deal completed by Fusion. Previous deals were:

As previously reported on Fusion DigiNet, Lyceum Capital acquired McKinnon and Clark in January 2010 for £22 million.

This is M&C’s fourth acquisition in just 12 months and will see the Fife-headquartered company’s turnover increase to £40million. Already an established global player in cost analysis, carbon management, energy procurement, bill auditing, energy price risk management and carbon optimisation, the acquisition of UML adds further depth and breadth of expertise to the company’s existing services, innovative energy management solutions and carbon compliance. M&C now manages in excess of £6.25billion of energy consumption each year for 3,500 of the world’s largest energy users across 20 offices in 13 countries.

In 2010, M&C also acquired Australian firm Creative Energy Solutions and German consultancy ETT, increasing its international footprint. Earlier that year it acquired Encore International, a leading provider of energy price risk management services, which handles more than £2billion of procurement annually.

Dan Adler, Partner at Lyceum Capital, said: “This acquisition further highlights our commitment to creating one of the world’s leading energy management consultancies in M&C, with a broad range of complementary services and significant geographical reach. With a well-invested operational infrastructure, high calibre management team and financial muscle, M&C is well-placed to continue its expansion as we identify further opportunities for organic and acquisition-led growth.”

Simon Northrop, CEO of M&C, said: “Utility Masters is a well respected energy consultancy with significant expertise in supply management. This company is a natural fit for our business and supports M&C’s aggressive growth strategy. As the energy consultancy business matures, there will be less of an opportunity for smaller players to compete effectively with the services and product range offered by large international consultancies such as M&C. Our aim is to become a major global provider of energy management services and we are working on a number of further acquisitions, both in Europe and globally, to enable us to deliver on this objective.”

Following the acquisition, UML’s founding partners, Jim McGhie, Shaun McClarnon and Kevin Whaites, will join the M&C team.

Jim McGhie, Managing Director, Utility Masters Limited, said: “M&C is unquestionably one of the world’s leading energy consultancies with a strong reputation for excellence in customer services and product innovation. M&C’s global reach will bring significant benefits to our clients, many of whom require an integrated energy service across many sites worldwide. My partners and I are looking forward to working with M&C to drive forward this strong business.”

Paul Kelly, Director at Fusion, said “We were delighted to work with Jim, Kevin and Shaun. They built a fantastic business which meant we were able to run a highly competitive deal process. Even with all the acquisitions that have taken place in the energy services sector in 2010, it is still a fragmented market where even the biggest global players only have a small market share. We expect to see further consolidation in the market. Fusion continue to be active in the space in 2011”.

UK, Dunfermline and Oldham

Related links – Click here for the Energy Services sector news archive

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US information industry M&A report shows deal value and volume Up 36%

January 7, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Berkery Noyes has released its 2010 Information Market M&A Trends Report. The report analyses merger and acquisition activity in the US Information Industry in 2010 and compares it with activity in the three previous years.

Highlights

  • Transaction volume in 2010 surpassed 2009 by 36 percent, climbing to 2,046 transactions.
  • Transaction value has increased by 36 percent as well, with $112 billion in aggregate acquisition value.
  • The median revenue and EBITDA multiple both increased over 2009, with the revenue multiple rising to 1.8 and the EBITDA multiple to 11.2, a 29 percent increase over the 8.7 of 2009.

“Multiples have started to make a return to pre-crisis levels,” said James Berkery, CIO of Berkery Noyes. “There are more deals happening and there are higher valuations. While we’re not at the levels we saw in 2007, I think we’re well on the road to recovery.”

Strategic acquirers have been the most common acquirer in the industry, yet financially sponsored transactions rose 39 percent by value over 2009 while losing 2 percent in volume over 2009. This trend of larger financially sponsored transactions is further evidenced by two of the top seven deals by value this year being made by financial acquirers: Interactive data Corporation’s acquisition by Warbug Pincus and Silver Lake Partners for $3.2 billion and Visma ASA’s acquisition by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for $1.9 billion.

Google was not only the most active buyer in the information industry in 2010, with 28 acquisitions, but was also the most active buyer from 2007 through 2010, with 48 transactions during that time.

The largest transaction in 2010 was Intel Corporation’s announced acquisition of McAfee, Inc., for $7.55 billion.

To view the full report click here:

USA, New York, NY

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Kleinfelder acquires LPG Environmental & Permitting Services

January 6, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Kleinfelder has acquired LPG Environmental & Permitting Services, a firm headquartered in Orlando that offers a diverse set of environmental consulting services. The transaction closed on Dec. 31, 2010.

“We are pleased to join forces with a company that has such a strong reputation and record of excellence,” said Bill Siegel, PE, president and CEO of Kleinfelder. “LPG’s wealth of knowledge in environmental planning and permitting as well as their reputation for environmental responsibility will only serve to strengthen Kleinfelder’s ability to deliver turnkey services to clients across the nation.”

Steve Adams, president of LPG, added, “We are thrilled to be part of a national firm that shares our values and dedication to the environment, our employees, our clients and our industry. Kleinfelder will provide our clients global resources and a diverse set of services, knowledge and experience. As partners, we will work synergistically to continue providing the innovative solutions our respective clients have come to expect.” S E A Consultants to become part of Kleinfelder

LPG employs 20 people in three Florida locations: Orlando, Jacksonville and Lakeland. Their offerings include a diverse set of environmental planning and permitting services that are key to Florida, such as endangered species evaluations and wetland consulting. LPG will now operate under the Kleinfelder name, providing additional capabilities and resources that will foster growth in the southeast.

Kleinfelder has been executing a strategic growth plan since 1992. Kleinfelder’s 2015 strategic goals strive to further demonstrate the company’s role as a trusted adviser to its clients through ongoing training for employees, increased involvement with universities and associations, and a focus on technically challenging projects that strengthen the company’s environmental planning and permitting core competencies: National Environmental Policy Act and state-equivalent studies, transit-oriented developments with land-use linkages, and site-specific restoration and resource management incorporating a watershed/ecosystem approach.

USA, Orlando, FL

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Platts completes acquisition of BENTEK Energy

January 5, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Platts, a global provider of energy and metals information and a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.  has completed for an undisclosed cash sum its acquisition of BENTEK Energy, LLC, a privately held energy market analytics company headquartered in Evergreen, Colorado. DigiNet first reported the acquisition on December 14, 2010. Bentek, which provides analytics and information services to a blue-chip customer base in North America, is widely recognized as the industry leader in natural gas market fundamental analysis.

“Bentek’s expertise in utilizing data modeling to provide clients with business-critical analytics and insights strengthens Platts’ analytical capabilities and enables us to enhance the content and value of our North American and European natural gas products,” said Larry Neal, president of Platts.  

Bentek will continue to operate under its current name with its current management.

USA, New York, NY & Evergreen, CO

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ISG acquires Compass

January 5, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Information Services Group, an information-based services company, has acquired Compass, the United Kingdom-based independent global provider of business and information technology benchmarking, performance improvement, data and analytics services.

The acquisition unites ISG unit TPI, the sourcing data and advisory firm, with a leading global brand for benchmarking. Together, TPI and Compass will have more than five decades of global leadership in information and advisory services, more than 600 employees in 21 countries on six continents, and a track record of significant achieved or identified client savings.

“We are pleased to welcome Compass into our company, immediately enhancing the data, analytics and advisory capabilities we can deliver to our clients.  By combining an approach grounded in real-time data collection and fact-based analysis, TPI and Compass can together take advantage of the robust demand for insight and operational expertise required by our clients around performance improvement and transformational change in these organizations,” said Michael P. Connors, Chairman and CEO of ISG. “Importantly, this acquisition also represents the next step in executing our strategy of building ISG into a premier global information-based services company.”

“The combination of ISG, TPI and Compass is strategically powerful, timely and capable of creating substantial growth opportunities over the near and long term,” continued Connors.

Founded in 1980 and headquartered in the UK, Compass has 180 employees in 16 countries including the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Australia, serving nearly 250 clients worldwide. The company pioneered the aggregation and application of sophisticated metrics to understand root causes of organizational performance issues. Today, the company provides state-of-the-art benchmarking and analysis as well as transformational consulting services to global blue-chip clients such as Credit Agricole, HSBC, ING, Kraft, Old Mutual, Sony and Total.

In addition to global data and analytic capability, Compass’ Fact-Based Consulting® http://www.compassmc.com unit generates tangible improvements in client businesses through sourcing advisory programs, recommendations in operational excellence and support in implementing transformational change in business operations. Compass uses benchmarking to support fact-based decision making, analysis to optimize cost reduction, and tools and techniques to manage business performance.

“We see great opportunities for Compass to provide ISG with a new platform of information and data-based advisory capabilities to capture additional market share, grow revenue, increase our returns and fuel future acquisitions,” added Connors. “Together, we have the world’s foremost database of performance improvement benchmarking and sourcing metrics that will provide global reach for sales, project execution and advisory services– real data from real clients.”

“Compass is delighted to be joining ISG and we look forward to partnering with expanded resources and services for the benefit of our clients,” said David Whitmore, CEO of Compass, who also becomes ISG Vice Chairman. “ISG is well-known and respected in the global information services industry. Its people are committed to driving the growth of our business so we can better serve the needs of our clients and our employees in partnership with TPI.”

ISG is acquiring Compass from its current shareholders who include the founder, Olof Soderblom, senior management and a syndicate of private investors. Marek Gumienny, an investor in Compass and Chairman of Candover Partners, a UK based private equity firm, has agreed to purchase an additional 500,000 shares of ISG following the consummation of the transaction. This will bring his ISG holdings up to approximately 4.7% of the total outstanding shares.

UK, Surrey & USA, Stamford, CT

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Energy Savvy raises $1.1 million

December 28, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

EnergySavvy, closed a $1.1 million series A investment according to a report on TechCrunch quoting the company’s founder and chief executive Aaron Goldfeder. EnergySavvy’s web service helps homeowners to save money on utility bills and to use energy more efficiently.

NorthWest Energy Angels led the round, joined by several investors in the Pacific Northwest, including Geoff Entress, Andy Liu, and aQuantive alumni Mike Galgon and Karl Siebrecht (the latter two are on EnergySavvy’s board).

USA, Seattle, WA

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