Keywords Studios acquires Alchemic Dream in Canada and Reverb Localização in Brazil

January 7, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

keywordsKeywords Studios, a technical services provider to the global video games industry, has acquired Alchemic Dream Inc. in Canada, a provider of multi-lingual customer support services for the video games industry internationally for CAD$1.25m

In addition, Keywords has completed the acquisition of Reverb Localização – Preparação de Documentos Ltda. in Brazil for to €300k.

Alchemic Dream

alchemicFounded in 2001, Alchemic Dream is based in Shawinigan near Montreal, Canada where it employs 38 people, it also works with remote collaborators in 36 countries. The acquisition provides Keywords Studios with an entry point into the fast growing market for community management services, either within the game, in the game forums or within the wider social media channels. The demand for live operations support services designed to ensure players continue to engage with the game for longer is expanding due to the transition from games as a packaged product, sold through traditional retail stores, to games as a service for mobile, online, or console games.

Keywords Studios will pay a maximum total cash consideration of CAD$1.25m for 100% of Alchemic Dream dependent on certain closing balance sheet related adjustments.

Alchemic Dream’s management accounts for the 10 months to 31 October 2014 show the business achieved revenues of CAD$4.33m and profits before tax of CAD$480k. The accounts for the year to 31 December 2013 show it achieved revenues of CAD$3.7m, a loss before tax of CAD$220k and it had net assets of CAD$0.48m including net debt of CAD$0.2m.

Reverb Localização

ReverbReverb was founded in 2012 and is based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It has a small team of 5 employees, plus freelance collaborators. The company provides localisation and audio management services for Brazilian Portuguese for some leading games including World of Warcraft and Magic the Gathering. This will be Keywords’ first office in South America.

Andrew Day, Chief Executive of Keywords Studios, commented on the Alchemic Dream acquisition, “The acquisition of Alchemic Dream provides us with an important point of entry into the increasingly important market of customer care services for the video games industry.”

Commenting on the Reverb Localização acquisition, day said, “We are also pleased to be announcing our first investment in the fast developing game economy in Brazil. Brazilian Portuguese has risen to take its place in our top 5 languages alongside the more established languages of French, Spanish, German and Italian. The acquisition of Reverb provides us with a small but high quality foothold in this important growth market and we expect to be able grow our revenues and improve our margins for this language as a result.

Ireland, Dublin & Canada, Montreal & Brazil, Rio de Janeiro

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Entertainment One acquires 51% stake in The Mark Gordon Company for $132.6M

January 6, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

Entertainment One Ltd (eOne) is acquiring a 51% stake in The Mark Gordon Company creating an independent studio joint venture that will produce and finance premium television and film content for the major US networks and international distribution. The deal includes the rights owned by MGC to its existing television and film library as well as its current and future production pipeline. eOne will distribute new content created by the joint venture, subject to existing contractual commitments.

Under the terms of the agreement, eOne will acquire 51% of MGC from The Mark Gordon Revocable Trust for $132.6 million, comprising $127.5 million in cash and $5.1 million in eOne shares (based on a 30-day volume weighted average share price) payable on completion of the deal, with the opportunity to acquire the remaining 49% after an initial seven-year term.

Mark Gordon, who founded MGC in 1987, is a well known film and television producer. MGC hits, include television shows Grey’s Anatomy (228 episodes), Criminal Minds (221 episodes) and Ray Donovan (36 episodes). MGC has also produced box office successes, including Speed, 2012, The Day after Tomorrow, Saving Private Ryan, The Patriot and Source Code. Mark Gordon brings to the venture deep active relationships with leading creative talent and all the major US studios and networks.

The transaction will be financed through a US$175 million extension to the Company’s existing banking facility and is expected to be earnings enhancing for the Group in the first full year of the investment. In the year ended 31 December 2013, MGC reported net income of US$13.2 million, adjusted EBITDA of US$30.0 million and gross assets of US$3.4 million. As part of the joint venture agreement, Mark Gordon has entered into a new long term employment agreement with MGC.

Darren Throop, President and Chief Executive Officer of Entertainment One said:

“We are delighted to enter into this partnership with Mark and his team. Mark brings a wealth of experience and talent to the table. The Mark Gordon Company creates first-class content that has been entertaining audiences around the world for many years and is the first significant acquisition for eOne since the launch of our new strategy to partner with world leading creative talent to bring the best content to the world. The business will continue to operate as it does today and we are delighted to welcome MGC into the wider eOne family.”

UK, London & USA

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ALM Acquires Summit Professional Networks

January 5, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

ALM2ALM, owner of The American Lawyer and The National Law Journal and other titles, is to acquire Summit Professional Networks, the publisher of Investment Advisor and several insurance and legal publications including National Underwriter and InsideCounsel. The deal also includes Judy Diamond Associates, a provider of prospecting tools and data within the benefits industry.

Summit ProfThis is the second acquisition by ALM in two months. ALM acquired Kennedy Consulting Research & Advisory in December.

“The acquisition of Summit Professional Networks represents the next major step in ALM’s growth strategy, expanding our reach into new strategic markets,” said Bill Carter, President and CEO of ALM. “What makes Summit an ideal fit with ALM is their strong competitive position in the markets they serve, driven by a combination of award-winning journalism and their robust custom marketing solutions.”

With six offices in the U.S., Summit publishes content through several brands in the investment advisory, legal, insurance and benefits fields. In addition to Investment Advisor, National Underwriter, and InsideCounsel, Summit publishes other brands including Credit Union Times, Benefits Selling, ThinkAdvisor.com, PropertyCasualty360 and LifeHealthPro, among others.

ALM was acquired in July by a consortium led by private-equity firm Wasserstein & Co. for $417 million. Wasserstein had previously owned ALM, but sold it to Incisive Media in 2007 for $630 million.

USA, New York, NY

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Wasserstein & Co. to by back ALM Media from Apax at a discount Posted on June 5, 2014

 

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ITE Group acquires transportation and logistics exhibition business Breakbulk

December 23, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

ITEITE Enterprises Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of ITE Group Plc, has acquired Breakbulk Holdco UK Ltd and its subsidiary companies from Electra backed, AXIO Data Group for up to $42 million (c.£26.8 million).

Breakbulk consists of a series of exhibitions, serving the transportation and logistics market for large scale project equipment, which are held annually in Houston, Antwerp, Shanghai, Johannesburg, Istanbul and Sao Paulo. In addition, the acquisition brings to ITE a magazine in print and digital format with expanded industry coverage along with its exhibition websites which serve the global breakbulk community.

breakbulkThe transaction is financed out of the Group’s existing cash and bank facilities and is expected to be earnings enhancing in the current financial year. Out of the total consideration of c.$42 million, $40 million was paid on completion with the balance payable once Breakbulk’s results for the period ended 31 December 2015 are available. The value of the gross assets being acquired is around $14m. The total profits generated by the assets acquired in the period ended 31 December 2013 was $2.6m. The Group anticipates that the purchase price equates to circa 8.5x expected FY15 EBITDA.

Breakbulk’s main events take place in Shanghai in March, Antwerp in April and Houston in October. Forward bookings for these 3 events for FY2015 are currently c90% of budget.

The current management team including Breakbulk’s Managing Director, Alli McEntyre will stay with the business.

Commenting on the acquisition, ITE’s Chief Executive Officer, Russell Taylor, said:

“ITE is continuing to build businesses in strategically important industry sectors and the acquisition of Breakbulk increases our presence in the global transportation and logistics sector. This complementary move represents progress in achieving the Group’s ambitions to expand its operations in markets and geographies with further potential for growthas well as continuing to diversify the geo-political risk in our portfolio.

UK, London

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Hearst Corporation acquires WVTM-TV (NBC) in Birmingham, Ala. & WJCL-TV (ABC) in Savannah, Ga.

December 23, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

Hearst CorpHearst Corporation has acquired Birmingham, Ala., NBC affiliate WVTM-TV, Channel 13, from Media General, Inc. and Savannah, Ga., ABC affiliate WJCL-TV, from LIN Media LLC. The announcement was made by Steven R. Swartz, president and CEO, Hearst Corporation, and Jordan Wertlieb, president, Hearst Television Inc. The terms of the transactions were not disclosed.

Birmingham is the 44th largest television market and Savannah is the 92nd largest.

Hearst also announced new management for the stations. Henry “Hank” Price, a highly recognised broadcast industry veteran who has served since 2000 as president and general manager of Hearst’s WXII-TV, the NBC affiliate in the Greensboro/Winston-Salem, N.C., TV market, will move to WVTM in the same role. His successor at WXII-TV will be announced at a later date. Timothy J. (Tim) Morrissey, most recently president and general manager of WCNC-TV, the Gannett-owned NBC affiliate in Charlotte, N.C., will become president and general manager of WJCL; the move marks a return to Hearst for Morrissey, who in the mid-1980s served as news director at Hearst’s WISN-TV in Milwaukee.

” Jordan Wertlieb, president, Hearst Television Inc., said. “Television stations with strong news brands attract the largest audiences. A dedication to quality local programming and community service will be our focus as we grow our audience in the region. Hank and Tim exemplify that dedication.”

USA, New York

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Bloomsbury Publishing acquires Osprey Publishing

December 22, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

BloomsburyBloomsbury Publishing Plc has acquired Osprey Publishing Ltd, the Oxford-based military and natural history publisher, from private equity ownership, principally The Third Alcuin Fund LP, a fund managed by Alcuin Capital Partners LLP. The acquisition values Osprey at £4.6 million: £3.2 million paid in cash on completion plus 869,054 newly issued Bloomsbury Ordinary shares to the value of £1.4 million, which constitute approximately 1.2 per cent. of Bloomsbury’s outstanding share capital. Osprey had approximately £0.3 million of cash at the time of acquisition.

ospreyOsprey generated £7 million of revenue and £0.3 million of adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation in the year ended 31 December 2013. Gross assets at that date were £4.5 million. There are opportunities for profit enhancements following the integration of the business into Bloomsbury. The acquisition is expected to be immediately earnings enhancing contributing approximately £1.0 million of revenue to Bloomsbury in the year ending 28 February 2015.

The Osprey Group consists of Osprey Military, Heritage and Custom Publishing, and British Wildlife Press. Osprey Publishing is the world’s best known military history brand, publishing in trademark series, in both print and e-book formats, titles with international appeal, covering history from ancient times to the modern day. The Military division is the largest part of Osprey with a significant subscriber database. British Wildlife Publishing publishes high quality books and the British Wildlife magazine for lovers of the natural world. Last year Osprey Group published 212 titles in addition to its British Wildlife magazine. Osprey owns the copyright over the majority of its titles. Over 50 per cent. of Osprey’s revenue is generated outside the UK, principally in the US. The business will operate within Bloomsbury’s Special Interest Publishing, a part of the Adult division.

Nigel Newton, Chief Executive of Bloomsbury commented:

“The acquisition of Osprey increases our presence in niche special interest markets. It is complementary to, and will substantially enhance, our existing lists; in particular increasing the division’s expertise in natural history and military history publishing, as well as international sales.”

UK, London & Oxford

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News Corp acquires Indian start-up BigDecisions.Com

December 19, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

newscorpNews Corp has acquired BigDecisions.com in India.

BigDecisions.com aims to help Indian consumers make smarter financial decisions through interactive, decision-making tools powered by sophisticated algorithms and data. Its mission is to provide a platform to deliver unbiased information and analysis to consumers on topics ranging from life and health insurance and retirement planning to providing for a child’s education or buying and renting real estate.

big decisions“Our latest investment builds on our abiding belief that a digital India needs more trusted, reliable and independent data,” said Robert Thomson, Chief Executive of News Corp. “BigDecisions.com will help Indians make the most important decisions by using accurate information tailored to their personal needs. This platform will be high quality, privacy-protected and easy-to-use.”

The acquisition of BigDecisions.com includes the site’s parent company, FinDirect Services Pvt Ltd.

The investment follows News Corp’s acquisition in November of a 25% stake in PropTiger.com, a residential real estate platform that also provides accurate and independent data and information to India’s homebuyers. News Corp’s other operations in India include Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal, Factiva and HarperCollins Publishers businesses.

Started in early 2013 by Manish Shah and Gaurav Roy, and operating until recently as bigdecisions.in.Following the acquisition, both co-founders will help oversee a significant expansion of the Mumbai-based BigDecisions.com team as well as its consumer offerings. They will report to Raju Narisetti, News Corp Senior Vice President, Strategy.

USA, New York & India, Mumbai

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Euromoney Institutional Investor completes Dealogic transaction

December 18, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

dealogic_logoEuromoney Institutional Investor PLC, the online information and events group, has completed the acquisition of a 15.5% equity stake in New Dealogic for £59.2 million. For the year to December 31, 2013, Dealogic achieved adjusted earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation of $66.7 million on $152.3 million of revenues, and at that date had gross assets of $127.7 million. The transaction takes effect from December 18.

See also: Euromoney to acquire a strategic shareholding in Dealogic: Sells Capital DATA and Capital NET posted on November 5, 2014

New Dealogic is a new company incorporated by The Carlyle Group to acquire Dealogic Holdings plc alongside Carlyle and Dealogic’s founders.  Euromoney’s investment in New Dealogic has been funded through the sale to New Dealogic of its interests in two businesses, Capital DATA and Capital NET, which Dealogic and Euromoney had operated jointly since the 1980s. The transaction values Euromoney’s participation in these two businesses at $85 million.

Dealogic provides data and analytics, market intelligence and capital markets software solutions to investment banks to help them manage their workflows, assist with deal origination and execution, and optimise productivity across their equity capital markets, fixed income, investment banking and research, sales and trading businesses.

UK, London

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POLITICO and Axel Springer acquire EUROPEAN VOICE

December 17, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

POLITICO, the Washington-based political news organisation, and Axel Springer, the owners of the POLITICO joint venture in Europe, have acquired EUROPEAN VOICE and will rebrand the Brussels publication as POLITICO in the spring of 2015.

The owner and publisher of the EUROPEAN VOICE, Shéhérazade Semsar-de Boisséson, will become managing director of POLITICO’s European operation, in charge of business operations. POLITICO’s European news operation will be led by Executive Editor Matthew Kaminski, a senior journalist and commentator on international affairs with The Wall Street Journal.

POLITICO’s European editorial operations will launch in spring 2015 with a website, POLITICO.EU; a weekly newspaper with circulation in Brussels; conferences and events in Brussels, Paris and Berlin; and a European edition of POLITICO Pro, a subscription-based news service covering major European policy coverage areas, such as financial services, technology, health care and energy.

Kaminski will report to POLITICO co-founder and Editor-in-Chief John F. Harris, who will be overseeing the vision and execution of POLITICO’s European newsroom in his position as chairman of the joint venture’s editorial committee. As editor in chief, Harris will be a regular presence in Brussels as the joint venture takes one of the most influential brands in American journalism to the European arena. Bill Nichols, POLITICO’s editor-at-large, will serve as the joint venture’s founding editor-at-large. Florian Eder, EU correspondent for DIE WELT, will become a managing editor. Carrie Budoff Brown, senior White House reporter for POLITICO, will become associate editor and senior reporter. POLITICO’s Gabe Brotman will oversee strategy and business development.

The EUROPEAN VOICE website, newspaper and events will all be integrated with POLITICO at the time of the spring launch. The joint venture will also take ownership of Paris-based Development Institute International (DII), France’s event promoter in the public affairs space, a business Semsar-de Boisséson co-founded in 1993. DII will continue to operate as a standalone business led by its Managing Director and co-founder Stephane Baudoin.

Semsar-de Boisséson will report to a management committee in which Axel Springer and POLITICO are equally represented.

“We see EUROPEAN VOICE, a familiar and well-respected platform in Brussels, as giving our joint venture an invaluable head start in establishing POLITICO as the new media agenda-setter at this historic moment in European politics,” said Ralph Büchi, President of Axel Springer International. “From the moment we met Shéhérazade, it was clear that her strong personality, energy and experience made her exactly the right person to lead this business.”

Germany, Berlin & Belgium, Brussels

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21st Century Fox to Acquire true[X]

December 17, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

21CF21st Century Fox is to acquire true[X] media, a video advertising company that specializes in consumer engagement and on-demand marketing campaigns. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

true[x] mediaFounded in 2007, with headquarters in Los Angeles and New York, and offices in Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Detroit, true[x] offers online publishers and advertisers a marketing platform for premium content in digital and on-demand environments. The Company’s client list includes Microsoft, Visa, Apple, Disney, Coca-Cola, Kia, Kraft, Macys, Nestle, and Procter & Gamble. Following the acquisition, true[X] will remain a stand-alone business.

“The connections between brands and consumers have continued to evolve within digital video environments, and true[x] is at the center of this vital area of innovation,” said James Murdoch, Co-COO of 21st Century Fox. “We’re thrilled at the opportunity to have true[x]’s talented team work with us as we set out together to create new experiences in what we believe is a very exciting time in digital video.”

USA, New York, NY

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