Zoopla Property group to acquire the Property Software Group

April 20, 2016 — Fusion DigiNet

zooplapropertyZoopla Property Group Plc is to acquire Property Software Holdings Limited from LDC for £75 million in cash with £47m payable on completion, £22 million payable 6 months after completion and £3m payable each of 12 and 24 months after completion.

In the year ended 31 March 2016, PSG generated revenues of £15.9 million and Adjusted EBITDA of £5.1 million, with 84% recurring revenues and a customer retention rate of over 97%. The value of PSG’s gross assets was £28.2 million as at 31 March 2015

Property Software GroupEstablished in 2007, PSG is a provider of software solutions to property professionals, used in over 8,000 agency branches. PSG provides workflow tools to over 40,000 estate and lettings agents across the UK through its innovative cloud-based (Alto, Jupix) and desktop (Vebra, Core, CFP) software products and provides essential systems for the day-to-day management of inventory, marketing and communications as well as diary management, chain progression, business reporting tools and financial processes.

In addition to its software products, PSG’s newest products, MyPropertyFile and MoveIT, provide agents with digital platforms for engaging more effectively with their clients and generating additional revenue streams from a variety of property-related services.

PSG will continue to operate as a standalone platform. Mark Goddard, CEO of PSG, will become Managing Director of the Group’s Property Services division, reporting to ZPG Founder & CEO, Alex Chesterman.

Alex Chesterman, Founder & CEO of Zoopla Property Group Plc said, “This acquisition is a game-changer, combining ZPG’s best-in-class property marketing solutions with PSG’s best-in-class property workflow solutions, and will transform the services available for both UK agents and consumers.

UK, London

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IHS and Markit to merge

March 21, 2016 — Fusion DigiNet

ihsmarkitFinancial data companies IHS and Markit are merging. Based on the closing prices of IHS and Markit common stock on March 18, 2016, the implied equity value of the transaction is more than $13 billion. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 201

The combined company will be renamed IHS Markit and will be headquartered in London and have operations based in Englewood, Colorado. IHS shareholders will own approximately 57 percent and Markit shareholders will own approximately 43 percent of the combined company.

The combined company’s reported results for fiscal year 2015 include approximately: $3.3 billion in revenue, $1.2 billion in adjusted EBITDA, and $800 million in free cash flow. IHS Markit will have more than 50,000 key customers.

IHS makes most of its revenues from energy and automotive data, while Markit focuses on financial information and is best known for its purchasing managers’ index.

Jerre Stead, IHS Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will assume the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of IHS Markit. Lance Uggla, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Markit, will be President and a member of the Board of Directors.

Uggla will assume the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of IHS Markit when Stead retires on December 31, 2017. The Board of Directors of the combined company will be comprised of 11 members, with IHS designating six members (including the chairman) and Markit designating five members (including the lead director) from their current boards.

UK, London & USA, Englewood, CO

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DVV Media Group GmbH acquires Road Transport Media Ltd

January 25, 2016 — Fusion DigiNet

DVVHamburg-based DVV Media Group GmbH has acquired Road Transport Media Ltd (RTM), based in Sutton, Surrey.

With its print, web and event portfolio, RTM is a leading provider of specialist information and media services for the road freight industry and commercial vehicle sector in the UK. Its portfolio includes long-established print titles Commercial Motor, Motor Transport, and Truck & Driver. With a combined circulation of more than 40,000 copies, RTM reaches all relevant players in the industry. RTM also has a comprehensive online presence, including a digital marketplace, as well as smartphone apps.

commercial_motorRTM runs various events such as Freight in the City, Tip-ex, and Tank-ex. Its flagship Motor Transport Awards, which has been taking place in London for more than 30 years, highlights outstanding achievements in the area of road freight transport and is attended annually by more than 1,500 senior industry decision makers.

DVV Media UK is the publisher of rail and air freight industry titles including Railway Gazette International and Air Cargo News. With the acquisition of RTM, DVV Media Group is significantly expanding and strengthening its presence in the UK market.

CEO, Martin Weber says: “The acquisition of Road Transport Media is an important milestone in the further development of our international publishing activities.”

currentcoverDVV Media Group GmbH, a sister company of the Rheinische Post Media Group, has more than 200 employees and produces over 30 business to business publications in the transport & logistics, maritime, rail, public transport, travel/conferences, and defence sectors. The publishing portfolio includes newsletters, specialist books, reference works, websites and apps. DVV Media Group also organises events and conferences.

Germany, Hamburg & UK, Sutton, Surrey

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Wilmington acquires JMH Publishing Limited (Wellards)

January 19, 2016 — Fusion DigiNet

WilmingtonWilmington plc has acquired JMH Publishing  Ltd, a UK provider of specialist and accredited online education for the healthcare industry and owner of the trading brand “Wellards“.

As part of Wilmington, Wellards will become the principal education and training platform for the Insight division and will benefit from Wilmington’s enhanced healthcare market access, both in the UK and in mainland Europe.

WellardsWilmington is acquiring Wellards for an initial consideration of £4.2m payable in cash. Wellards is being acquired with £1.3m of cash in its balance sheet. A final payment of up to £0.9m in March 2016 will be made once the final net current asset position has been agreed.

Wellards, established in 1990 is based in Kent, England and is managed by its founder John Heath, CEO who will remain with the business for a transitional period of one year.

Wellards runs over 70 online courses and has more than 25,000 registered users. Subjects covered include critical areas for pharma industry representatives such as market access and financial flows, clinical modules of key therapy areas such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular health, ABPI code and compliance. Over 70% of its revenue is generated by its online training portal, Wellards Academy, which services the needs of UK pharmaceutical and Medtech commercial staff.

In the twelve month period ended 31 October 20151, revenue per the unaudited management accounts was £2.0m, an increase of 12 percent on the same period in 2014 and the adjusted profit before interest, amortisation and taxation was £0.6m1.  Gross assets were 2.0m1. Over 70% of its revenue is subscription based with over 90% renewal rates.

Pedro Ros, Chief Executive Officer of Wilmington, said: “I am delighted to welcome Wellards to Wilmington; its addition completes one of our strategic objectives of having information, education and networking capabilities for each of our knowledge areas. I am particularly excited by the scalability of the online products both in the broader healthcare industry and internationally where we can utilise our existing market access in particular to the French and German healthcare markets.”

UK, London & Eridge, East Sussex

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Progressive Digital Media Group acquires GlobalData Holding Limited

January 14, 2016 — Fusion DigiNet

progressiveProgressive Digital Media Group Plc is to acquire GlobalData Holding Limited, a company owned by Mike Danson (Executive Chairman of Progressive Digital Media Group) and Wayne Lloyd for approximately £66.5 million.

On completion the company name will be changed to GlobalData plc. Bernard Cragg will be appointed as Chairman, Michael Danson as Chief Executive Officer and Simon Pyper as Chief Financial Officer

The Company has also announced that its subsidiary, PDMH, has also conditionally agreed to dispose of the entire issued share capital of PTML (a company which holds Progressive’s non-core B2B assets) to Research Views Limited, a company also controlled by the Vendors, for a consideration of £1, together with the indirect assumption by the Company of an inter-company loan of £4.5 million owing by PTML to PDMH.

A General Meeting of the Company will therefore be held on 19 January 2016 for Shareholders to approve the acquisition and disposal.

UK, London

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A Fusion Deal: Incisive Media’s Legal Week sold to ALM

January 12, 2016 — Fusion DigiNet
ALM-Publications

ALM publications

Incisive Media‘s Legal Week, a U.K.-based business-to-business publisher, has been sold to ALM. Fusion Corporate Partners acted as corporate advisor for Incisive Media. The Fusion team was led by Paul Slight, Director at Fusion. The terms of the deals were not disclosed.

ALM, which publishes The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, The National Law Journal, The New York Law Journal and other legal and business publications including Law.com and The Am Law Daily, said that the deal is its fourth acquisition since the company was purchased by the private equity firm Wasserstein & Co. in July 2014.

“This acquisition is an important next step as we expand our offerings into key international markets,” said Bill Carter, CEO of ALM. “Legal Week has a strong audience base in Europe and Asia, and an impressive collection of industry events.”

Legal Week has shared the same corporate umbrella as ALM before. In 2007, Incisive bought ALM from Wasserstein & Co. for $630 million.

Two years later, Incisive defaulted on its debt amid the global financial crisis, prompting the company’s lenders, private equity firm Apax Partners and The Royal Bank of Scotland, to take control of ALM. At the time, Legal Week remained part of Incisive, and the London-based company has been in ongoing talks with RBS and other lenders about reorganizing its debt. (Legal Week reported last year that Magic Circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer had London-based Macfarlanes had lead advisory roles in Incisive’s refinancing.)

In 2014, Apax and RBS sold ALM back to Wasserstein & Co. for a reported $417 million. Later that year ALM acquired Kennedy Consulting Research & Advisory, and ALM then paid another $40 million in early 2015 to buy legal and insurance publisher Summit Professional Networks. Last summer, ALM agreed to acquire China Law & Practice from Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC for an undisclosed sum.

ALM’s president of legal media, Lenny Izzo, said the company is not planning additional acquisitions at this time, though it isn’t ruling out the idea. He said no layoffs were planned as a result of the Legal Week acquisition, adding that the move was “about strengthening our position in key markets, rather than realizing cost reductions.”

Like many media companies, ALM has seen recent reductions in staff. In April, the company filed a notice with the state of New York indicating that 61 staffers would be laid off between July and September.

Over the last four years, the legal news industry has reorganized amid a series of deals.

In 2011, Bloomberg LP bought The Bureau of National Affairs, a private information provider for clients in government, business and academia, for $990 million. The following year, LexisNexis paid $150 million to purchase Portfolio Media, the parent company of Law360. Meanwhile, the legal magazine California Lawyer closed its doors in October.

For its acquisition of Legal Week, ALM was advised by Jones Day, which has a long-standing client relationship with Wasserstein & Co. Jones Day advised the private equity firm when it initially bought ALM in 1997 and when it sold ALM a decade later. Incisive was advised by the London-based firm Macfarlanes.

Aside from publishing legal news and analysis, Legal Week organizes events, including Legal Week Private Client Forum, Trust & Estates Litigation Forum and Strategic Technology Forum, among others.

Legal Week and Incisive were represented by Paul Slight, Director at Fusion Corporate Partners (UK) Limited.

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Recent Fusion transactions include:

Media & Business Information

Business Support Services and Energy & Environmental Services

Exhibitions & Conferences

Healthcare

Broadcast

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A Fusion Deal: Creditflux sold to Mergermarket Group

January 6, 2016 — Fusion DigiNet

CreditfluxFusion Corporate Partners are pleased to announce the completion of the sale of Ceditflux to Mergermarket Group.

Fusion Corporate Partners acted as corporate advisor for Creditflux. The Fusion team was led by Paul Slight, Director at Fusion. The terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Founded and headquartered in London, Creditflux is the authoritative provider of intelligence, analysis, data and events covering CLO and credit fund pricing, investments, trading and returns.

“I am delighted that Creditflux is joining forces with Mergermarket Group, a company which shares our relentless focus on providing original and insightful intelligence to the fixed income community,” said Mike Peterson, Managing Editor and founder of Creditflux. “The combination of Debtwire, Xtract Research and Creditflux will create an information power house for the global credit market.”

The acquisition accelerates the global expansion of Mergermarket Group’s extensive real-time fixed income intelligence and data provision. The company’s Debtwire and Xtract Research products already deliver insight and analytics on corporate high yield, distressed and restructuring situations.

mergermarket“We are very excited to fortify the growth story of our global fixed income division with the acquisition of Creditflux, a highly regarded and trusted source of CLO and credit fund intelligence and data,” commented Hamilton Matthews, CEO of Mergermarket Group. “For the past decade, Debtwire and Xtract Research have blazed a trail of market-leading coverage in the field of corporate debt analysis. Creditflux provides valuable analysis of fixed income investors, giving our valued subscribers access to deeper analysis of the full credit investment cycle.”

Paul Slight, Director at Fusion, said “We have known Mike and the key shareholders at Creditfux for many years and they thoroughly deserve their reward for the hard work that has gone into building a business brand of high editorial integrity. The fit with MergerMarkets was evident from the start at a business and cultural level and I am sure Mike and his team will be able to take advantage of the commercial knowhow and international presence MergerMarket offers. This is the second transaction we have concluded with MergerMarkets in the last 3 months and on both occasion they have acted with the highest level of sensitivity during both the negotiations and completion process”

UK London

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The Fusion Team has completed over 80 UK and cross border Media, Business Information & Technology, Exhibitions & Conferences, Energy & Environmental Services, Business Support Services, TV Broadcast & Production, Healthcare and Online Commerce transactions.

Recent transactions include:

Media & Business Information

Business Support Services and Energy & Environmental Services

Exhibitions & Conferences

Healthcare

Broadcast

 

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Bloomsbury acquires six LexisNexis and Jordan family family law titles

December 22, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

DuckworthBloomsbury Publishing is to acquire six LexisNexis and Jordan family family law titles from RELX for £1.4m. The titles include Duckworth’s Matrimonial Property & Finance and Hershman and McFarlane: Children Law and Practice. They are all sold in loose-leaf format and are available in online digital format.

Gross profits to 31st March 2015 for the combined titles were £0.8 million on revenues of £1.1m.

The consideration will be paid in two equal instalments, the first on completion and the second six months later. Completion of the acquisition is conditional on the CMA approval of RELX’s acquisition of the Jordan publishing business, a ruling on which is expected in January 2016.

Bloomsbury’s preliminary results for the full year ending 29th February 2016 will be announced on 19th May 2016.

UK, London

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UBM sells PR Newswire to Cision

December 15, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

 

PR NewswireUBM plc has agreed to sell PR Newswire to Cision, a provider of public relations software, for $841m.

Cision, which is controlled by Chicago-based private equity group GTCR, acquired media monitoring group Gorkana from private equity group Exponent for £200m last year.

PR Newswire had revenue of 195.8 million pounds in 2014, about 26 percent of UBM’s total revenue.

Terms of the deal:

  • The total sale price is $841m, $810m in cash and $31m of preferred equity
  • The total sale price of $841m is a circa 11.2 times multiple of PR Newswire’s 2014 adjusted
    earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. The cash value of $810m represents a circa 10.8 times multiple.
  • £245m is proposed to be returned to shareholders by way of a special dividend.
  • Net cash proceeds received on completion are expected to be approximately £498m after adjustments for transaction expenses, debt-like items, tax and a contribution of £10m to UBM’s pension scheme

The agreement is subject to anti-trust clearance in the US. Completion is expected late in Q1 2016

Tim Cobbold, Chief Executive of UBM plc, said: “Today’s announcement represents a significant step in the execution of UBM’s “Events First” strategy, the objective of which is to become the world’s leading focused B2B Events business. The Board is confident that this transaction realises excellent value for our shareholders.

Following the successful acquisition of Advanstar in 2014, the disposal of PR Newswire further increases our focus on the attractive, high growth and high margin events sector with more than 80% of UBM’s continuing revenues generated in Events. In addition, the retained sales proceeds will increase our capacity to invest in bolt-on acquisitions to strengthen the portfolio and grow the
business faster, whilst maintaining appropriate financial discipline.”

UK, London & USA, Chicago, IL

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Symphony Technology Group Acquires Simmons and Hitwise from Experian

December 14, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

 

Private equity firm Symphony Technology Group has acquired Simmons and Hitwise from Experion. The terms of the two transactions in aggregate were $47 million plus a further potential amount of up to $5 million based on an earnout.

Hitwise and Simmons provide consumer measurement and analytical services to marketers, media brands and advertising agencies. Simmons is best known for its National Consumer Study. Hitwise, a provider of large-scale online clickstream data collection and consumer behavioral analytics, is being acquired by Connexity Inc, an STG portfolio company.

USA, Palo Alto, CA & UK, London

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