ReedPOP acquires MCM Comic Con.

October 23, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet

reedpop MCMReedPOP, a Reed Exhibitions business that organises and manages events in the pop culture world, has acquired UK based MCM Comic Con. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In 2017 MCM Comic Con shows run in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool and Belfast. The company boasted nearly 300,000 pop culture fans and cosplayers attend the events throughout the year.

“For nearly a decade I’ve watched with great admiration as the MCM brand grew in size, scale and quality, as well as in the hearts and minds of UK fans. I could not be more proud and humbled to team up with the MCM team to bring two world-class pop culture event companies together,” said Lance Fensterman, Global Head of ReedPOP. “The addition of the MCM brand extends the reach and influence of the ReedPOP portfolio and further solidifies our place as the number one producer of fan events across the globe. We cannot wait to work with the MCM team to build even bigger and better events for fans in the UK.”

MCM Comic Con was co-founded by Bryan Cooney premiering the show in 2002 as the London Expo. In 2004, it rebranded as London MCM Expo – the ‘MCM’ standing for ‘Movies, Comics, Media’; and in 2005, it took the first steps that would change it from a collectors’ and autograph event into a comic con, with the addition of dedicated comics and anime areas plus film and TV content. More recent years saw MCM launch events across the UK.

USA, Norwalk, CT & UK, Northamptonshire

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Mark Allen Group to acquire Community Care from RBI

October 11, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet

MAGMA Education, a part of the Mark Allen Group, is to acquire Community Care, from Reed Business Information, part of RELX Group. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Community Care is a digital, subscription-based resource for social workers. It works through two platforms: Community Care Inform Children and Community Care Inform Adults.

For Mark Allen himself Community Care has come full circle. He was the launch editor in 1974 of what was then a news-orientated and jobs-based magazine. Subsequently, he became the magazine’s publisher.

He said: “This really is a dream come true. RBI launched Community Care at exactly the right time and it rapidly became a well-respected, award winning and highly profitable magazine. Editing Community Care at a young age was a pivotal moment in my career from which I have prospered. I never thought that one day I would own this outstanding brand.

Mark Allen Group will see revenues rise to nearly £45 million at the end of this financial year, net profits approaching £6 million and EBITDA to £8 million.

Community Care is the third acquisition the group has made this year. A few months ago, the company purchased the largest special educational needs exhibition, TES SEN Show, from TES Global Ltd.

In June the company acquired Unity Media and Unity Exhibitions, which has a number of magazines and a major exhibition, the RCI Show, in the built environment.

UK, London

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Pearson completes sale of 22% stake in Penguin Random House.

October 5, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet

Pearson has  completed the sale of a 22% stake in the Penguin Random House Venture to  Bertelsmann SE & Co KGaA.

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Briefing Media invests in business publisher Urner Barry

October 4, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet

Briefing MediaBriefing Media, the agribusiness media and information company backed by Lyceum Capital, has announced a strategic investment in Urner Barry Publications Inc. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

ub_logoUrner Barry is a business publisher specialising in the reporting of market news and quotations to clients in the poultry, egg, meat, seafood and related segments of the food industry through a variety of print and non-print media. Urner Barry can trace its roots back to 1858 when Benjamin Urner, a New York printer, publishing the Producers’ Price-Current market report—later to be known as the Urner Barry’s Price-Current.

This is the second add-on for Briefing Media since Lyceum invested in the business in 2015. It follows the acquisition of Toulouse-based Global Data Systems in June 2016.

Commenting on the deal Briefing Media’s CEO, Neil Thackray said “Urner Barry has a strong heritage, and has been relied on by generations of agribusiness professionals to provide the information they need to run their businesses. Our strategic partnership will be hugely valuable for both companies and we look forward to cementing our position as the leading global provider of agricultural information.”

UK, London & USA, Toms River, NJ

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Haynes acquires the E3 Technical business from Carweb

October 2, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet

haynesHaynes Publishing Group has reached agreement on the acquisition of the E3 Technical business from Carweb Ltd., a Solera UK subsidiary. Haynes is paying £4.72 million payable in cash on completion

The E3 Technical business consists of repair and maintenance information, vehicle registration mark look-up and an associated provision of helpdesk services. The Transaction includes the acquisition of customer contracts, and employees from Carweb.

Commenting on the Transaction, Eddie Bell, Chairman of Haynes, said “this acquisition will significantly strengthen the Group’s professional data solutions offering in the UK and provide cross over benefits for Haynes’ consumer division.”

UK, Yeovil, Somerset

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RWS Holdings acquires Article One Partners

October 2, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet

RWS1RWS Holdings plc, a provider of intellectual property support services and life sciences and commercial language services, has acquired Article One Partners, LLC, an IP information business based in the United States, for $8 million. AOP had revenues of $3.7 million for the year ended 31 December 2016,

 AOP’s online crowdsourcing platform links its clients to a community of over 42,000 researchers, across more than 170 countries, to provide them with access to IP intelligence that informs their litigation, licensing, patent enforcement and IP acquisition strategy decisions. The platform is able to match AOP’s clients’ requirements with researchers in the right technical field and geography.  

Andrew Brode, Chairman of RWS, commented: “The acquisition of AOP is a natural fit to accelerate the development of our growing Patent Information division and will provide clients with a complementary, online resource to aid their intellectual property research needs.

 “We see a number of opportunities for the business to benefit from RWS’s scale and global presence, particularly given our established sales team’s ability to offer clients the fuller range of intellectual property services across multiple geographies, so we are excited about the potential for this additional service going forward.”

Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, UK & New York, NY, USA

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Campus Management acquires Hobsons’ Admissions software business from DMGT

September 28, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet

CampusCampus Management Corp., a provider of cloud solutions and services for higher education institutions, has acquired the Hobsons’ Admissions software business from DMGT. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

The Admissions business consists of the Radius, AppReview, ApplyYourself, Connect, and Retain CRM and application management product lines. It accounted for approximately a quarter of Hobsons’ revenues in the year to date

The approximately 100-person team of CRM and application management staff will move across to Campus Management.

“As we continue to evolve our CampusNexus® engagement platform, fostering communications and relationships throughout the student lifecycle, we look to constantly improve upon what we offer to the market,” said Campus Management CEO Jim Milton. “The CRM and application management products add to our already strong CampusNexus suite to achieve that goal, and the addition of the very talented Hobsons team members reinforces our mission to deliver the higher education platform and services that enable institutions to transform their academic delivery, student success, and operational efficiency, on their terms.”

Boca Raton, FL & UK, London

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Newsquest acquires NWN Media

September 26, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet

NewsquestNewsquest Media Group has acquired NWN Media Ltd, the publisher of 13 local news brands across North and Mid Wales, Cheshire and Shropshire. The terms of the deal were not disclosed,

NWN’s portfolio comprises 12 weekly newspapers and one daily, with associated websites, including the likes of The Leader (Wrexham and Flintshire), the Chester Standard, the Powys County Times, the Denbighshire Free Press, the Whitchurch Herald and the North Wales Chronicle. NWN also operates an extensive contract printing operation.

Henry Faure Walker, Newsquest CEO said: “NWN Media comprises a stable of really strong local media brands that command great trust and unrivalled audiences in their communities. We’re looking forward to working with the NWN staff as they continue to transition their business to a successful and more sustainable future. We aim to facilitate a structure whereby they can benefit from the resources that Newsquest can provide whilst enabling them to carry on doing what they do best – namely providing first class local content, and advertising solutions for the readers and businesses in their region.”

UK, London & UK, Flintshire, Wales

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Informa acquires Dove Medical Press

September 26, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet

DoveInforma PLC has acquired Dove Medical Press, a privately held company specializing in the publication of Open Access peer-reviewed journals across the broad spectrum of science, technology and especially medicine. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.


Dove Medical Press was founded in 2003 with the objective of combining the highest editorial standards with the ‘best of breed’ new publishing technologies. The company has offices in Manchester and London in the United Kingdom, representatives in Princeton, New Jersey in the United States, and editorial offices in Auckland, New Zealand. 

Stephen A. Carter, Informa Group Chief Executive, said: “The addition of Dove Medical Press adds strength and capability to our OA portfolio, further increasing choice and flexibility for researchers across a widening range of subject areas. Its track record, publishing platform and growing reputation in Health Sciences enhance our Journals business, strengthening our position in the attractive and growing OA market.”

Dove Medical Press is an independent OA journals publisher, founded in 2003, producing a range of quality OA journals, mainly in Health Sciences, with additional content in Science and Technology. A large proportion of its journals are indexed by the Web of Science and PubMed and a growing number have established and improving impact factors. Leading titles include OncoTargets and Therapy, International Journal of Nanomedicine and Clinical Ophthalmology. 

The company has offices in Manchester and London in the United Kingdom, representatives in Princeton, New Jersey in the United States, and editorial offices in Auckland, New Zealand. 

Financial details were not disclosed but the transaction is expected to be modestly accretive to adjusted earnings in the first full year of ownership and deliver a return on investment ahead of the cost of capital within three years.

UK, London & Manchester

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Time Out Group acquires 80 Més 4 Publications

September 7, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet

Time OutTime Out Group plc has acquired 80 Més 4 Publications, the Group’s Spanish licensing partner who currently runs Time Out in three cities in Spain.

 The Time Out brand launched in Spain in 2008 to cover Barcelona; Time Out Madrid followed in 2014 and Time Out Girona in 2016.

The business, acquired with cash and deferred share consideration, provides the Group with further growth and monetisation opportunities across e-commerce, advertising and Premium Profiles.

In August 2017, Time Out Group also added, at no cost, Time Out Singapore and Time Out Seoul to its network of owned and operated businesses which now comprises 76 cities in 20 countries. Including its licensing partners, Time Out has a worldwide presence in 108 cities across 39 countries.

Julio Bruno, CEO of Time Out Group plc, said: “Over the past several months, we have expanded Time Out Group’s footprint around the world as we continue to deliver on our strategy to grow our network of owned and operated businesses. We now have a strong presence in APAC and the acquisition of Time Out Spain will further consolidate our already significant presence in Europe.

UK, London & Spain, Barcelona

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