Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services to acquire NRAI

June 16, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services (CLS) has signed an agreement to purchase National Registered Agents, (NRAI). The acquisition will add NRAI to CLS’s portfolio of industry-leading business compliance and corporate governance solutions, which includes CT Corporation and BizFilings. The terms of the deal are not being disclosed, and closing of the acquisition is subject to regulatory approval.

NRAI has been providing registered agent services since 1995, specialising in compliance and governance services for small and mid-sized businesses and the legal community that supports them. Its suite of services spans U.S. and international registered agents, corporate compliance and entity management. Headquartered in Princeton, NJ, NRAI has approximately 160 employees in offices across the U.S.

Combining NRAI’s offerings with those of CT Corporation, a leading provider of corporate business compliance solutions, and BizFilings, a leading online incorporation service provider for small-business owners, will position CLS to offer a comprehensive spectrum of solutions to the market. Whether it’s entrepreneurs, small- and medium-sized businesses, enterprise-level companies, or the law firms who serve them, Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services is the provider of choice for legal compliance and corporate governance solutions.

“For nearly 120 years, our market-leading brand, CT Corporation, has set the standard for service excellence to the legal community,” said Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services President and CEO Richard Flynn. “NRAI has built a unique and highly valued distribution model to serve small and mid-sized companies. We see this acquisition as the perfect complement to our portfolio, enabling us to provide an even broader set of services and solutions for this important customer segment.”

“NRAI was founded by industry veterans with a commitment to provide exceptional customer service and innovative technology,” said Dennis Howarth, President and CEO of NRAI. “We’ve experienced 15 years of unprecedented growth, and we wanted to position the company for continued growth, taking it to the next level. After considering a number of options, we selected Wolters Kluwer as the most logical buyer and the best strategic partner to help us achieve our goals.”

USA, New York, NY & Princeton, NJ

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Admeld to be acquired By Google for $400M

June 16, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Admeld, an on-line advertising optimisation firm, is to be acquired by Google for a reported $400 million The transaction is likely to undergo regulatory review. If the deal goes ahead it will give Google a stronger foothold in te display advertsising market.

Admeld was founed in 2007 by Ben Barokas and Brian Adams. Current Admeld customers include Answers.com, FOX News, IDG TechNetwork, Hearst Television, Discovery, The Weather Channel, ITV, Mail Online, Dennis and Future Publishing and more than 500 others worldwide. Founded in 2007, the company is headquartered in New York City with offices in San Francisco, London, Berlin, and Toronto.

Neal Mohan, Vice President of Display Advertising at Google said, “By combining Admeld’s services, expertise and technology with Google’s offerings, we’re investing in what we hope will be an improved era of flexible ad management tools for major publishers. Together with Admeld, we hope to make display advertising simpler, more efficient and more valuable, provide improved support and services, and enable publishers to make more informed decisions across all their ad space. These are all things our publisher partners have been asking us to further invest in. Of course, Admeld will continue to support other ad networks, demand side platforms, exchanges and ad servers, to yield the best possible results for publishers.”

Michael Barrett, CEO at Admeld said, “What’s driving this relationship is a shared belief that managing display advertising is still far too complicated for publishers, and together Admeld and Google can help address some of the underlying inefficiencies. Though we have no specific integration plans yet, we imagine our combined offerings can help publishers make more informed, efficient, and profitable decisions across all tiers of their inventory.”

Google Announcement

Admeld announcement

USA, Mountain View, CA & New York, NY

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Evolve Media Corp acquires Crowd Ignite

June 14, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Evolve Media Corp., an integrated digital media company, has acquired Crowd Ignite, a premium content exchange engine with proprietary technology that contextually connects audiences of similar interests, thereby growing a publisher’s audience base of valuable engaged users.

Crowd Ignite enables premium publishers within defined audience verticals to share their content within a closed network, thereby exposing their content to quality, relevant users on other sites and allowing them to acquire new, engaged users and grow their audience. The Crowd Ignite technology is able to track which pieces of content within a site are the most popular, present it to users on sites within the network and then dynamically optimize the landing page in a way that presents the content they are most likely to want to consume. Crowd Ignite has over 300 publishers participating across such verticals as women, fashion, parenting, movies, gaming, and male-lifestyle.

“Evolve Media Corp. focuses, as a company, on tapping into and activating engagement and conversations around popular, passionate points of interest or affinities among Internet users,” said David Denton, Vice President of Product Management for Evolve Media Corp. “With Crowd Ignite we are able to expose users to additional high-quality, relatable content; therefore they consume more content, stay longer, and are generally more engaged.”

The Crowd Ignite team, which consists of account managers, business development, sales and engineering, will continue to run day-to-day operations post acquisition. Crowd Ignites’ founder and creator, Jake Moilanen, will continue with the company acting as Managing Director of Crowd Ignite.

USA, Los Angeles, CA

 

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IHS makes five acquisitions – CMAI, ODS-Petrodata, Dyadem International, EIATrack & CSM South America

June 14, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

IHS has made its fifth acquisition this year, Chemical Market Associates (CMAI), a provider of market & business advisory services for the worldwide petrochemical, specialty chemicals, fertilizer, plastics, fibers and chlor-alkali industries.

“CMAI is a natural complement to our ever-expanding capabilities in the chemical industry’s information, analysis and consulting market,” said IHS Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jerre Stead. “The company’s comprehensive information and analysis adds to our event-driven supply-chain information strategy and the company’s price discovery and analysis business will broaden IHS commodities and cost information capabilities. CMAI’s unique and proprietary chemical information can be used throughout IHS to deliver additional high-value analytical services to our global customers.”

CMAI clients include chemical companies, oil and gas companies, technology and engineering companies, financial institutions, plastic converters, industrial and consumer manufacturers, retailers, government agencies, trading companies, financials and shipping companies. The company is headquartered in Houston, with offices in Bangkok, Dubai, Dusseldorf, London, New York, Shanghai and Singapore.

The IHS acquisition of CMAI follows a string of strategic transactions that bolster the company’s broad base of capabilities in energy and power, environmental health and safety (EHS) and sustainability, petrochemicals and automotive industry forecasting.

During the first four months of 2011, IHS also acquired:

ODS-Petrodata – A premier provider of data, information and market intelligence to the offshore energy industry.

Dyadem International – The market leader in Operational Risk Management and Quality Risk Management solutions.

EIATrack – A subscription-based, online tool for quickly and cost-effectively navigating and managing global environmental regulations and legislation, EIATrack tracks more than 6,000 pieces of legislation from proposal to implementation, analyzing environmental regulatory activity in North America, Europe, South America and Asia Pacific. The acquisition represents continued investment in the electronics supply chain, for which IHS has already established a strategic position through the company’s REACH and Compliance Suite offerings, as well as the recent iSuppli acquisition.

CSM South America – CSM South America compiles and maintains automotive forecast information for all South American countries. The company also sells IHS Automotive products and manages the resulting customer relationships in the region. The acquisition will give IHS more direct access to this critical, rapidly growing market, while providing a platform to enhance the company’s automotive forecasting business with localized insight.

“With these five transactions completed so far in 2011, IHS has completed more than 30 strategic acquisitions since 2007, deploying more than $1.3 billion in capital,” added Stead. “Each of these acquisitions affords our company the opportunity to expand the information and insight offerings we provide to our customers to help them make critical business decisions every day.”

As a result of the company’s 2011 acquisition activity, IHS is updating its full-year 2011 revenue and adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) guidance. For the year ending November 30, 2011, IHS expects:

  • All-in revenue between $1.275 and $1.305 billion; and
  • All-in adjusted EBITDA between $388 and $398 million.
USA, Englewood, CO
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Informa acquires Brasil Trade Shows Partners Participacoes S.A. & Ibratexpo Feiras e Eventos Ltda

June 14, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Informa plc has acquired Brasil Trade Shows Partners Participacoes S.A. (BTS). BTS is a leading organiser of trade shows in the Food & Beverage Services, Furniture Manufacturing and Franchising sectors, with leading brands including Fispal, ABF and ForMobile.  BTS has been acquired from DLJ South American Partners LP.

In addition, Informa has acquired Ibratexpo Feiras e Eventos Ltda which includes Serigrafia, the largest sign, screen and digital imaging show in South America from the Alatzatianou family.

The combined maximum cash consideration payable is BRL 210m (£81m).  Informa expects these acquisitions to be earnings enhancing in 2011 and to enhance the Group’s return on capital in 2012.

These acquisitions will further strengthen Informa’s global exhibition operations.  Serigrafia enhances Informa’s leading position in the print sector alongside IPEX, one of the world’s largest print related exhibitions.  BTS provides a platform for growth in South America and strengthens Informa’s experience in the strategically important food sector.  Furthermore, the strength of its brands will provide Informa with attractive geo-cloning opportunities.

Commenting on the acquisitions Peter Rigby, Chief Executive, of Informa said, “These acquisitions are consistent with two of our strategic goals; growing our trade show business and expanding our presence in emerging markets.  BTS is an exceptionally well-managed trade show organiser with an enviable reputation in one of the world’s most dynamic and fast growing regions.  Serigrafia provides the perfect platform on which to expand our print portfolio in the emerging markets.  We are delighted that the senior management team of BTS and the founders of Serigrafia are joining the Group on acquisition.”

UK, London & Brazil

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DMGT to sell GLM, the United States’ largest privately-held tradeshow management company

June 10, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

The FT is reporting that The Daily Mail & General Trust is to sell George Little Management (GLM), the United States’ largest privately-held tradeshow management company.

An information memorandum has been sent to prospective trade and private equity bidders, with Reed Elsevier, UBM and Informa potentially interested parties.

GLM was founded by George F. Little, in 1924, and acquired by dmgt in 2007, and is part of the dmg::events portfolio. The company is forecast to tuenover $71 million and make $26 million of pre-tax profits. GLM employs some 100 people, with offices in White Plains, NY, Atlanta, GA and Naples, FL.

GLM currently produces 15 tradeshows. Alltogether, these events have around 11,000 exhibitors in 1.8 million net square feet of exhibit space, and attract approximately 345,000 attendees.

Outside of the trade arena, the company’s Soiffer Haskin division organizes private sales for luxury goods manufacturers and retailers. Established in 1982 and acquired by GLM in 1998, Soiffer Haskin currently conducts 40 private sales annually, for clients including Hermes, Mikimoto, Bulgari, Tourneau, Loro Piana, Pratesi, Valentino, Max Mara, Ralph Lauren Home, Hugo Boss and Hickey Freeman.

USA, White Plains, NY

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A Fusion Deal: FMB Consultants sold to Argus Media

June 10, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Fusion Corporate Partners are pleased to announce our latest deal, the sale of FMB Consultants Ltd (FMB) to leading energy price reporting agency Argus Media. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

FMB is a leader in the provision of timely and accurate intelligence on the world fertilizer market. FMB reports monitor global trade and pricing for nitrogen, phosphate, sulphur, potash and ammonia. Founded in 1982, FMB publishes 100 price references, which are widely used for benchmark pricing and settlement of derivatives. FMB Conferences and Exhibitions are currently run on four continents, providing major networking opportunities for senior industry executives.

Argus chairman and chief executive Adrian Binks said “FMB is a natural fit with Argus’ strategy of expanding its commodity market reporting capabilities beyond energy.  Like Argus, FMB has developed an excellent reputation for bringing transparency to opaque markets.  We look forward to working with FMB staff to combine their deep expertise with Argus’ global reach and scale”.

Kevin Hill, Director at FMB said “We are delighted to be joining Argus and look forward to further developing FMB’s products and services utilising Argus’ global presence, technical resources and commercial team.  FMB and Argus share the same cultural strengths based on close relationships with the industries they serve, and a resolute commitment to high quality reporting, ethics and integrity.”

Paul Slight, Partner at Fusion said, “We have known Kevin and the rest of the team at FMB for many years and were delighted to have the opportunity to work with them. FMB is a great business and tailor-made for Argus. I am sure it will be a great success in its new home.”

Fusion acted exclusively for the shareholders of FMB Consultants. The team responsible for this transaction were Paul Slight (pslight@fusioncorp.co.uk) and Paul Kelly (pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk). Waterfront Solicitors, headed by Matthew Cunningham, provided legal advice to the vendors.

UK, London

Other Fusion Deals:

Media and Information

Business Services
Events, Broadcast and Other deals
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Research In Motion, acquires social mobile gaming business Scoreloop

June 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Research In Motion, makers of the Blackberry, has acquired social mobile gaming business Scoreloop.

Scoreloop was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Munich, Germany with offices in the US and Asia. The company was funded by European VCs Target Partners and Earlybird.

Tyler Lessard, VP Global Alliances & Developer Relations at RIM, said on the Blackberry blog, “We’re excited that the Scoreloop team is joining the BlackBerry® Developer team and bringing their expertise in creating social and collaborative gaming toolkits for mobile developers to the BlackBerry platform. We have recently enabled our developers to create social app experiences through our BBM™ Social Platform and have seen some very innovative applications result from that. We look forward to working with the team at Scoreloop to provide tools that will further enable our developer community to take gaming to a new level of social integration on the BlackBerry platform.”

Canada, Ontario & Germany Munich

 

 

 

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Montgomery Worldwide to acquire 100% of Fresh RM

June 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Montgomery Worldwide is in the final stages of a deal to acquire Reed Exhibitions’ shareholding in the 50:50 Montgomery:Reed joint venture, Fresh RM, for an undisclosed amount. The deal is expected to complete on 1 July 2011.

The joint venture set up in 1999 brought together Montgomery’s food and drink events and Reed’s hospitality portfolio into a single company.

Fresh RM’s portfolio of shows includes Hotelympia, IFE, Pro2Pac, Speciality & Fine Food Fair, Speciality Chocolate Fair, Hospitality, Careers in Hospitality, and ifeproductsearch.com.

“During the course of the joint venture, Fresh has developed into the largest and most respected UK exhibition organiser in the food, drink & hospitality sectors” commented Sandy Angus, Chairman of Montgomery Worldwide. “The company has not only developed the initial portfolio of shows but has expanded its business with a number of launch events that are now well established within the marketplace.”

Commenting on the sale, Reed Exhibitions UK’s CEO Andrew Fowles said “The Fresh RM JV has been a great success for Montgomery and Reed Exhibitions.  We believe now is an appropriate time for the business to be managed under one owner and the sale of our shares to Montgomery allows continuity for the staff. We plan to complete on 1st July 2011 and thereafter wish Montgomery and the Fresh RM team every success for the future.”

Fresh RM will continue to operate out of the Montgomery Worldwide offices in London.

“We have enjoyed our joint venture with Reed Exhibitions, they have been excellent partners”, says Sandy Angus. “However both parties felt that Fresh can grow faster under the control of one company and we are delighted that it will be Montgomery Worldwide taking the business forward.”

Uk, London

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Clarion events take over Scotland’s Speciality Food Show from The Guild of Fine Foods

June 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Clarion events bought Scotland’s Speciality Food Show from The Guild of Fine Foods. For the last four years Clarion Events and The Guild of Fine Food have jointly owned the Show, which has been co-managed by Springboard and The Guild.

In their announcement The Guild of Fine Foods say the reason for the sale is “they are keen to commit more time and resources to their many other interests within the UK speciality food and drink market.”

Scotland’s Speciality Food Show is co-located with Scotland’s Trade Fair and the two fairs attract 4800 key buyers and retailers from the gift and food sectors in Scotland.

Springboard Events, as well as organising Scotland’s Trade Fair, have been very involved in the marketing and operations of the Food Show in the past and are planning the transition from the current management.

Springboard Director Mark Saunders said: “This new arrangement will allow Clarion and Springboard to channel more resources in terms of management, sales and marketing into this Show. The show will remain co-located with Scotland’s Trade Fair as this is popular with both sets of buyers. We will maintain separate identities and marketing campaigns for both shows and we will be looking to grow both the exhibitors and visitors to increase the appeal of the show.”

UK, London & Glasgow

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