Pearson acquires online learning business EmbanetCompass for $650M

October 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Pearson PLC has acquired EmbanetCompass from an investor group led by Technology Crossover Ventures and Knowledge Universe, for $650m in cash.

EmbanetCompass partners with leading non-profit colleges and universities in North America to provide online learning solutions for more than 100 university programmes. It provides a range of services including: programme design and development, marketing and student recruitment, faculty training and support, data-driven student retention and learning analytics; student services (counselling, tutoring, mentoring), technology support and launch funding.

Institutional services are one of the fastest growing areas of the US higher education market. Out of 6,700 degree-granting institutions in the US, approximately 175 institutions engage third-party vendors to power online programmes. Of a total post-secondary student population of 22 million, 2.5 million participate in purely online programmes with over 6 million taking at least one online course. Pearson believes the number of students learning online and the number of institutions serving those students will grow rapidly, as academic institutions seek low-risk and cost-effective ways to better serve new and existing customers by boosting student access, affordability, achievement and retention.

EmbanetCompass revenues have grown strongly in each of the last three years and are expected to be approximately $130m in 2012. The transaction is subject to a Hart-Scott-Rodino review. Pearson expects the acquisition to enhance adjusted earnings per share and to generate a return on invested capital above Pearson’s weighted average cost of capital from 2014.

Will Ethridge, CEO of Pearson North America, said, “The acquisition of EmbanetCompass extends Pearson’s investment in two areas where we see great opportunities for growth and impact-online education and educational services.  The combination of Pearson and EmbanetCompass creates the premier provider of online learning and education services and will further enable us to advance the goals of the institutions and students we serve with innovative and proven programs.”

Founded in 1995, with locations in Chicago, Orlando, and Toronto, EmbanetCompass has 580 employees and is headed by Steve Fireng. He will stay on as CEO of EmbanetCompass and as a senior executive at Pearson.

UK, London & USA, Chicago, IL

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ITV acquires Finish Indie Tarinatalo

October 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

ITV has acquired Finnish producer Tarinatalo as the company continues to build a strong international content business, a key part of its Transformation Plan.

Together with the recently acquired Norwegian indie Mediacircus, the acquisition provides ITV Studios, which already has a base in Sweden, with a production footprint in three of the Nordic countries.

Tarinatalo, which was founded in 1997, specialises in factual entertainment, reality and lifestyle programming.  It was also involved in co-producing the 2007 Eurovision song contest, which was held in Helsinki where the company is based.

Tarinatalo will produce 50 hours of programming this year across 11 shows ranging from pilot game show What Was That? and long running, ratings hit Antiques, Antiques on YLE TV1, through to the brand new series of Dragon’s Den on Nelonen.

Paul Buccieri, Managing Director of ITV Studios International and President and CEO ITV Studios America, said, “Tarinatalo is a terrific fit as we progress with growing our business globally.  It is an extremely creative production company and has built fantastic relationships with Finnish broadcasters.  It not only has a wonderful portfolio of hit shows but also has a huge number of great ideas in development as well. The company has expanded quickly not only in terms of its size, but also in the programme genres it covers, as well as with its licensing and online activity. We are looking forward to working with the team to help it continue to grow and develop creatively.”

The Tarinatalo team will become part of ITV Studios Nordic.

UK, London & Finland, Helsinki

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Informa acquires Zephyr Associates for $62M

October 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Informa plc, the business information and events group, has acquired  Zephyr Associates from Kemmons Wilson Companies for a consideration of $62m in cash.

Founded in 1994 and based in Lake Tahoe, Zephyr is a provider of integrated business intelligence and decision support solutions for investment and wealth management professionals. Serving more than 800 international customers across the investment management industry, it offers sophisticated and functional analytical tools that help investment professionals make informed decisions about investment products and portfolio construction.

Zephyr’s high-end analytical platform and extensive customer base is highly complementary to the products and services offered by Informa Investment Solutions (“IIS”) and the combined offering is expected to lead to good growth opportunities. Informa expects the acquisition to generate an attractive return on invested capital from 2013.

Peter Rigby, Chief Executive of Informa said, “The acquisition of Zephyr is perfectly aligned with Informa’s strategy to focus on high quality, digital subscription revenues attracting strong renewal rates and attractive cash dynamics. It is a great fit with our existing business in this area and will enhance our leading market position, ensuring a healthy return on investment.”

UK, London & USA, Zephyr Cove, NV

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A Fusion Deal: Kingsman SA, the Switzerland-based provider of price information and analytics for the global sugar and biofuels markets, to be acquired by Platts

October 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Fusion Corporate Partners are pleased to announce our latest deal. Platts, a McGraw-Hill division and leading global provider of energy, petrochemicals and metals information, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Kingsman SA, a privately-held, Switzerland-based provider of price information and analytics for the global sugar and biofuels markets. Paul Slight, Director at Fusion acted exclusively for the vendors.

The acquisition, whose purchase price was not disclosed, is expected to close on November 1, subject to customary closing conditions.

“McGraw-Hill is pleased to add Kingsman to our wonderful stable of world-class businesses,” said Harold McGraw III, chairman, president and chief executive officer for The McGraw-Hill Companies. “As we move to separate our education company from our financial and commodities intelligence businesses at the end of the year, this acquisition strengthens our leading position as providers of essential intelligence in the capital and commodity markets.”

“Kingsman is widely recognized as the leading global brand for sugar market data and analytics,” said Larry Neal, president of Platts. “Our acquisition of Kingsman deepens Platts’ capabilities in biofuels and gives us a springboard for growth in the global agricultural markets. It also reinforces our commitment to becoming a leader in market analytics as well as news and price information.”

Neal noted that agriculture is a large, complex global commodity market similar to other markets that Platts serves. “It requires the level of pricing expertise that Platts can uniquely offer,” he said, “and, with its broad range of sub-sectors, it presents multiple opportunities for Platts to develop benchmarks that support market evolution and enhance price transparency.”

Founded in 1990 and based in Lausanne, Kingsman employs analysts, researchers and report writers in key markets including London, Montreal, New Delhi and Sao Paulo. It serves a global clientele of producers, traders, refiners, financial institutions and end-users, offering a variety of subscription publications covering sugar, ethanol and biodiesel.

With its prime focus on market analysis, supply and demand fundamentals and trade flows, Kingsman complements Platts’ long-standing expertise in reporting news, assessing prices and explaining the factors driving those prices.

“This is a great move for Kingsman. We will benefit from the strong market position Platts enjoys across a wide range of commodities, the broad operational footprint it has around the world, and its cohesive global sales force. These strengths will enable Kingsman to better serve customers and more quickly expand its business globally,” said Jonathan Kingsman, the company’s founder.

“Most notably,” he added, “Platts’ technology capabilities will enable Kingsman to provide new market data services and expanded web offerings.”

Platts and Kingsman provide complementary biofuels services covering Asia, Europe and the Americas. Platts has covered the biofuels market for many years with news and prices featured in its oil and petrochemicals information services.

Recently, Platts launched a portfolio of dedicated biofuels information products, including a newsletter, a real-time alert and market data package.

Kingsman, whose business originally focused on the sugar markets, moved into the adjacent ethanol and biodiesel sectors as alternative green fuels were developed in the early 2000s. It currently offers a range of daily, weekly and monthly reports covering ethanol and biodiesel as well as sugar.

USA, New York, NY & Switzerland, Lusanne

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OTHER FUSION DEALS:

Media and Information

Business Services
Events, Broadcast and Other deals
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Penske Media Corporation acquires Variety from Reed Business Information

October 9, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Penske Media Corporation, a digital media and publishing company, has purchased Variety from Reed Business Information, part of Reed Elsevier. Terms of the asset purchase agreement between the parties were not disclosed.

Jay Penske, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PMC, said, “Since 1905, Variety has been the world’s premier entertainment news source, and is today one of the most recognized global media brands.  We are thrilled to welcome Variety and its exceptional team into the PMC organization.  As part of this significant acquisition, we plan to rapidly build upon Variety’s foundation while extending this invaluable brand’s presence across the web, broadcast, mobile, and international markets.”

“We are enthusiastic that PMC will become the new steward of the great Variety franchise, which Reed Elsevier has built over the past 25 years, and the Silverman family for the 80 years before that,” said Neil Stiles, President of Variety. He added, “PMC is uniquely positioned to preserve and build the market presence of Variety.  Their shared values and complementary assets provides for many new opportunities for the business model and brand.”

For more than a century, Variety has set the standard for comprehensive and relevant entertainment industry news, with resolute attention to the highest journalistic standards. The Variety business today includes Daily Variety, Weekly Variety, Conferences & Events, along with Variety.com’s searchable archives, interactive box office charting, credits database, film and television data business, in-depth industry calendar, and reviews dating back to 1914.

Mark Kelsey, CEO of Reed Business Information, said: “Variety is an iconic title serving the film and entertainment industry for more than 100 years. With RBI’s increasing focus on data services, it makes sense for us to sell the Variety business. Variety has an incredibly talented team who have successfully innovated and expanded the franchise in industry news and analysis. I have no doubt the business will continue to thrive under PMC’s ownership.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to now operate two of the finest brands in business of entertainment category,” said Nic Paul, SVP Entertainment Sales at PMC. He added, “Deadline.com’s supremacy in breaking news, and Variety’s extraordinary content and industry analysis, coupled with readership that combines key industry decision makers and influencers, creates a compelling value proposition for our partners and advertisers.”

Debt and equity financing for the transaction was provided by affiliates of Third Point LLC.  Evercore Partners advised Reed Elsevier on the sale transaction.

USA, Los Angeles

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GiftCardLab.com acquires 1-800-GIFTCARD.com

September 25, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

GiftCardLab.com, an online provider of gift cards, has acquired 1-800-GIFTCARD.com, Inc., including its client portfolio and vanity 1-800 number. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“I have a great deal of respect and admiration for the 1-800-GIFTCARD.COM team. They have built a wonderful business based upon superior customer service and had amazing vision to register and trademark key assets in the gift card industry. We plan to continue in this tradition, now as a team. With sales now approaching $100 Million, we believe this acquisition is the first step in reaching $1 Billion in annual gift card sales by 2014” said Dave Jones, CEO of Gift CardLab.

USA, Dallas, TX

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Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC – pre-close trading update

September 25, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC have issued a pre-close trading update ahead of the announcement of its results for the year to September 30, 2012.

Trading

Since issuing its Interim Management Statement on July 25, 2012, trading has continued in line with the board’s expectations.  As highlighted in that statement, market conditions became noticeably tougher from June, particularly in Europe.  As a result, revenues for the fourth quarter are expected to be broadly in line with the same period last year, with growth in subscriptions offset by weakness in advertising and delegate revenues.

Total revenues for the year to September 30, 2012 are expected to show a headline increase of approximately 9% on 2011.  The underlying increase, excluding acquisitions, is expected to be 3%.  Exchange rate movements have not had a significant impact on headline or underlying revenues.

Despite the challenging market conditions, the group expects to announce a record adjusted profit before tax* of not less than £105 million for the year to September 30, 2012 (2011: £92.7 million), helped by a reduction in net finance costs following the sharp reduction in the group’s net debt, as well as a lower long-term incentive expense.

Financial Position

At current exchange rates, group net debt at September 30, 2012 is expected to be no more than £40 million, against £88.5 million at March 31, reflecting the group’s strong second half operating cash flows.  Movements in the US dollar exchange rate have not had a significant effect on net debt levels.

Next Trading Update

The year end results will be announced on the morning of November 15, 2012, followed by an analyst presentation and investor meetings.

* Adjusted profit before tax is profit before tax, acquired intangible amortisation, accelerated long-term incentive expense, exceptional items, movements in deferred consideration, and non-cash movements in acquisition option commitment values.

UK, London

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September 24, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Groupon has acquired Savored, a provider of reservations at restaurants across the United States. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Savored works with around 1000 restaurant across the United states. After booking a reservation on Savored.com and visiting the restaurant, diners receive up to a 40% discount applied automatically to their bill. The restaurant get incremental revenue for tables that would otherwise be empty.

“Savored’s platform nicely complements Groupon’s efforts in yield management, an area we’ve pioneered with Groupon Now!,” said Dan Roarty, VP of Groupon Now. “We look forward to working together to achieve a common goal – making dining out even more fun and affordable for consumers while helping restaurateurs manage inventory and grow their businesses.”

USA, Mountain View, CA & Chicago, IL

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Mediafed acquires Taptu

September 22, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

RSS advertising service Mediafed is acquiring mobile search and technology company, Taptu, known for its consumer apps and news aggregation platform. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Our acquisition of Taptu will create the first global platform to monetize RSS across all digital devices,” said Ashley Harrison, Chief Executive Officer of Mediafed. “This is the future of publishing and we are elated to gain the incredible Taptu product, technology, team and committed user base in this quest.”

UK, Cambridge & USA, Denver, CO

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Universal Music gets approval to buy EMI’s recorded music business

September 21, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

UPDATE: Vivendi’s Universal Music Group has received EU regulatory approval to buy EMI’s recorded music unit for $1.9 billion after agreeing to sell record labels that bring in nearly a third of the British company’s revenues.

Original story: Universal Music could get approval to buy EMI’s recorded music business as early as tomorrow Posted on September 21, 2012

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