Providence acquires CloserStill Media for £340M

December 19, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Providence EquityFollowing our earlier report, Providence Equity Partners has now acquired CloserStill Media, the previous owner of Clarion Events, for a reported £340 million.

The move comes after years of significant growth for the organiser, which was valued at £25 million in 2012 when Phoenix Private Equity bought into the company and £125 million in 2015 when Inflexion bought a minority stake.

Since the Inflexion investment in 2015 the organiser has made eight acquisitions – five in 2017 and three in 2018 – but CloserStill Chairman and CEO Phil Soar highlighted that the majority of the company’s growth has been organic. Much of the growth has come from the geo-cloning of successful shows in Asia, Germany and the US, with the launch of events such as Cloud Asia, Learning Technologies Germany and New York Vet.

In 2011 Providence acquired George Little Management in the US, which was then sold to Emerald Expositions in early 2014. In 2017 the company sold Clarion Events to Blackstone for a reported £600 million.

Andrew Tisdale, Managing Director at Providence, said, “CloserStill is an exceptional business led by a strong management team with a proven track record of developing and acquiring successful events around the world. With a compelling global portfolio and diverse customer base across the technology, learning and healthcare sectors, CloserStill is well-positioned to accelerate the momentum the business has generated to date. We are excited to partner with such a fantastic team and look forward to working together.”

USA, Providence, RI & UK, London

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Bertram Group acquires Education Umbrella in first bolt-on acquisition under new ownership

December 12, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Bertram BooksThe Bertram Group has acquired Education Umbrella, a leading supplier of books and digital learning resources, in its first strategic bolt-on acquisition under its new ownership. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Bristol-based Umbrella Education provides print and digital learning resources to schools around the world. Founded in 2011, the company has launched Education Umbrella Press, a digital publishing platform and technologies including TECbook, an online eBook system which converts books from top educational publishers into digital format and TECvideo, a video-based learning tool.

Chief financial officer of Bertram Group Nicholas Goodwin said: “We are delighted to announce Bertram Group’s strategic acquisition of Education Umbrella, a company which in a short time has grown to become one of the key players in its market. Education Umbrella is an exciting business that with sound financial backing has great potential for future development as part of Bertram Group.”

UK, Norwich & Bristol

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Euromoney acquires BoardEx and The Deal for $87.3M

December 7, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

EuromoneyEuromoney Institutional Investor plc is to acquire BoardEx and The Deal for $87.3 million, funded from its existing facilities.

BoardEx is an executive periling and relationship-mapping platform. It provides its users with detailed profiles of over one million of the world’s business leaders. The Deal is an information, data and intelligence platform. In the US, its digital subscription is one of the leading brands on the market in deal-driven intelligence. By combining the two platforms and integrating them with Euromoney’s existing portfolio, the company aims to create a powerful workflow tool to serve multiple industries.

CEO of Euromoney, Andrew Rashbass, said, “I am excited by the acquisition of BoardEx and The Deal, which brings two additional high-quality assets into Euromoney’s portfolio and supports our transition towards a next generation 3.0 business model. The businesses are perfectly placed to grow further under Euromoney ownership, with the Group’s existing data expected to enhance the BoardEx platform. We look forward to working with the management team and our new colleagues around the world to develop these leading brands and take advantage of the compelling growth opportunities they offer.”

UK, London & USA, New York, NY

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Mark Allen completes deal with Rhinegold

December 5, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Mark Allen GroupAfter several months’ negotiations, the Mark Allen Group has finalised the acquisition of various Rhinegold assets. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

These assets include: Choir & Organ, International Piano, Classical Music, Teaching Drama and Music Teacher, as well as the annual British Music Yearbook, the annual British Music Education Yearbook and the Music & Drama Expos in London and Manchester.

In a separate deal, MAG has also acquired from DC Thomson the goodwill of Opera Now, which previously was under licence to Rhinegold.

Mark Allen said: “We are pleased to have finally acquired these publications. They will add significantly to our current music portfolio which consists of Gramophone, Jazzwise and Songlines. We have exciting plans to develop these Rhinegold titles.”

UK, London

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Diversified Communications acquires Digital Construction Week

December 3, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

diversified communicationsDiversified Communications has acquired Digital Construction Week, adding to their building, construction and technology portfolio of events. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Digital Construction Week is the United Kingdom’s leading trade show dedicated to digital construction, engineering, design, manufacturing, and operation. The latest, and fourth edition, was held at ExCeL in London in October. It doubled its 2017 attendance, attracted 6,500 visitors, 200 exhibitors and 250 speakers, presenting across 6 stages with a dedicated conference stream. The next Digital Construction Week takes place at ExCeL London on October 17-18 2019.

This event complements Diversified’s industry leading event portfolio with market reach across four countries. Events include GEO Business in London, Commercial UAV Expo Europe in Amsterdam, DesignBUILD in Sydney, and in the United States: AEC Next Technology Expo & Conference and SPAR 3D in Anaheim, CA; International LiDAR Mapping Forum in Denver, CO; and Commercial UAV Expo Americas in Las Vegas, NV.

Diversified’s President & CEO, Theodore Wirth, said, “These synergies, in addition to our shared values and commitment to our customers through a long-term vision and industry expertise, make this a perfect fit. We are very pleased to welcome the event’s co-founders Luke Collings and Oliver Hughes and their talented show team to our growing UK division, under Managing Director Carsten Holm.”

USA, Portland, ME & UK, London

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Providence exhibits £300m bid for London Vet Show owner

November 30, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Providence EquityProvidence Equity Partners , the private equity firm behind Ambassador Theatre Group, is in talks to buy exhibitions group CloserStill Media for about £300m, according to a report by Sky News.

CloserStill is being sold by Inflexion, another buyout firm, which backed the company in 2015. A significant proportion of CloserStill’s revenues come from outside the UK, with exhibitions such as Dentiste Expo in Paris and Cloud Expo Asia in Singapore among its events. The deal with Providence, which could be signed within weeks, follows the investor’s £600m sale of Clarion to Blackstone last year.

 

USA, Providence, RI & UK, London

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Centaur Media Plc to divest digital platform, events & financial services divisions

November 19, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

centaur-logoFollowing a strategic review, Centaur, the international provider of market intelligence and specialist consultancy, is accelerating the simplification of the Group’s structure to improve operational execution and to focus attention on the leading brands within its marketing division.

Centaur is looking at the potential sale of The Lawyer, which operates a digital platform to provide intelligence and analysis to the global legal market; of its events division, including the Business Travel Show, The Meetings Show, Sub Con and Employee Benefits, and of its financial services division, which includes Money Marketing, Mortgage Strategy, Platforum, Taxbriefs and Headline Money.

Andria Vidler, Centaur Chief Executive, said, “Centaur has made substantial progress this year and these appointments will help us to deliver on our strategy to create a more focused business with good opportunities to grow its revenues and margins. We will work with our advisers to explore divestment possibilities and ensure that shareholder value is maximised.”

UK, London

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A Fusion Deal: Reorg acquires a controlling stake in Debt Explained

November 19, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Debt ExplainedDebt Explained Limited, the provider of data and analysis on the European high-yield and leverage loan markets has sold a controlling stake to Reorg, a financial media and technology company. Fusion Corporate Partners acted as corporate advisor for Debt Explained. The Fusion team was led by Paul Slight, Director at Fusion. The terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Founded in 2009, Debt Explained creates and curates data and analysis on bond and loan deals through its proprietary data bases and unique scoring and bench-marking products. These allow for detailed trend analysis in the European high yield and leverage loan markets. The combination of Reorg and Debt Explained will make these tools available on a global basis, driving a new and unique subscriber experience in Europe, the United States and beyond.

“Reorg’s partnership with Debt Explained will create the industry-leading product in the global non-investment grade credit markets”, said Kent Collier, founder and chief executive officer of Reorg. “This fits in perfectly with our strategic vision, and we look forward to building our business together and providing more and even better information to our subscribers.”
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Stephen Mostyn-Williams, founder and chairman of Debt Explained, will continue as part of the combined business. Mostyn-Williams said, “All the Debt Explained team are very pleased to partner with Kent and his team in taking our combined offering onto a global stage. This transaction gives us a tremendous opportunity to enhance the strengths of two market leading firms for the benefit of our mutual global client base. Combining our research, data and scoring products with Reorg’s editorial content and proprietary technology will provide world class, industry leading products across Europe, Asia and North America.”

USA, New York, NY & UK, London

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JPIMedia acquires Johnston Press Group businesses

November 18, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Johnston PressJPIMedia, a newly-formed company owned by bondholders of Johnston Press, has acquired the group after the publisher put itself into administration. Johnston Press, which owns papers including the i, The Scotsman and The Yorkshire Post, had been looking to refinance £220m of debt due to be repaid in June next year.

As part of the transaction, the bondholders have agreed to reduce the level of senior secured debt by £135m (more than 60%), from £220m to £85m, with extended debt maturity to December 2023. Additionally, the bondholders have provided £35m of additional funding for the business.

David King, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Group, becomes Chief Executive of JPIMedia. He said, “The sale of the business to JPIMedia is an important one for the Johnston Press businesses as it ensures that operations can continue as normal, with employees’ rights maintained, suppliers paid, and newspapers printed. We will focus on ensuring the group’s titles continue to publish the high-quality journalism we are known for and which has never been more important. I look forward to working with JPIMedia to assess and implement the opportunities available to us in the future, underpinned by a stronger balance sheet.”

UK, Edinburgh

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Touch Medical Media acquires Heart International and forms strategic partnership with Interventional Academy

November 16, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

TouchMedical MediaTouch Medical Media has acquired leading cardiology journal Heart International for an undisclosed sum, and formed a strategic partnership with Interventional Academy, owner of the Complex Cardiovascular Catheter Therapeutics (C3) Global Summit.

Heart International is an open access, peer reviewed journal dedicated to the publication of original research and reviews on cardiovascular disease in its broadest terms. Heart International is indexed in a number of different databases including the Emerging Sources Citation Index, Scopus and has its full archives listed on PubMed Central.

C3 is a leading global annual cardiology conference that is rapidly growing. It has been designed for physicians who specialise in interventional cardiology, vascular surgery, interventional radiology, podiatry, as well as fellows, residents, and other healthcare professionals interested in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Heart International is led by Editor-in-Chief, Dr Magdi El-Omar and Co-Editor-in-Chief, Dr Rajesh Davé. Dr Magdi El-Omar is Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at the Manchester Heart Centre, and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester, Manchester, UK, whilst Dr Rajesh Davé is Chief Medical Executive, Holy Spirit Cardiovascular Institute, Chairman, Department of Cardiology and Director, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories, the Ortenzio Heart Center at Holy Spirit Hospital, Camp Hill, PA, USA. Dr Davé is Chairman of C3, whilst Dr El-Omar is a co-director of the course.

Barney Kent, Group Managing Director at Touch Medical Media said, “We are really excited about the recent acquisition of Heart International, which has been in circulation since 2006, and also our partnership with Interventional Academy. The addition of Heart International to the touchCARDIO journal portfolio will give our website more depth of content, and since the Journal is indexed on all major databases, it will encourage authors to publish with us and ultimately increase the flow of high-quality open access content for our users. The acquisition has significantly strengthened our rapidly growing database of physicians who sign up to receive regular updates and in addition, our strategic partnership with Interventional Academy will be very beneficial to both organisations on a number of levels. Myself and the team here at touchCARDIO very much look forward to working with Dr El-Omar and Dr Davé to develop the Journal and our partnership over the coming years.”

UK, Reading & USA, Harrisburg, PA

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