Wilmot abandons plans to make an offer for Centaur

October 22, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

centaurOn 24th September Geoffrey Wilmot, the former chief executive of Centaur Media plc, said that he was in talks with financial backers about making a bid for the Centaur business. He had until 5.00pm on Tuesday 22nd October to clarify his intentions, by either announcing a firm intention to make an offer or that he does not intend to make an offer.

Since then, Wilmot has engaged with an extended number of finance providers and these discussions have progressed significantly.

However, a stock market statement issued today said, “It has become apparent that the Board of Centaur’s views on the value of the Company materially diverge from those of Mr Wilmot and his potential financing partners. Accordingly Mr. Wilmot confirms that he currently does not intend to make an offer for Centaur.”

Geoff Wilmot left Centaur in May this year.

UK London

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Euromoney Institutional Investor acquires Infrastructure Journal for £12.5M

October 15, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Euromoney PLCEuromoney Institutional Investor plc, the international online information and events group, is expanding its project finance and infrastructure business with the acquisition of Infrastructure Journal.

Infrastructure Journal is an information source for the international infrastructure markets.  Its business model is centred on premium subscription content that tracks market activity and is delivered in real-time through its online platform which is accessible from desktops, tablets and smartphones.  Infrastructure Journal also runs a portfolio of events which includes conferences, forums and awards attended by senior investment professionals, industry practitioners and advisors.  The Infrastructure Journal Awards are held annually in London.

ij-logoEuromoney is acquiring 100% of the assets of Infrastructure Journal from Top Right Group (“TRG”) for a cash consideration of £12.5 million, funded from its existing committed borrowing facility.  The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing for Euromoney in its financial year 2014.  Infrastructure Journal had revenues of £3.1 million for the year to December 2012.  The transaction will complete after the required TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment) consultation period, expected to conclude by November 1, 2013.

“Infrastructure Journal is a business we have long admired and we are delighted that it is now part of our stable of global brands,” said Richard Ensor, chairman of Euromoney.  “With an estimated 57 trillion dollars of investment into infrastructure projects required around the world by 2030, we believe this part of the business-to-business information sector offers attractive growth fundamentals.  Euromoney aims to create a comprehensive market-leading infrastructure information provider by combining, under the Infrastructure Journal brand, the deals database and news coverage of Infrastructure Journal and the deals analysis, awards and conferences of Project Finance.”

Duncan Painter, CEO of Top Right Group, said: “Infrastructure Journal is well respected in its sector and delivers valuable insight and expertise to its customers.  The skill of the team, investment in content and the launch of new topical forums each year have kept the brand ahead and we are delighted that the Infrastructure Journal name will continue in the marketplace. We believe Euromoney Institutional Investor will be a good long term home for the brand and we wish the business every success in the future.”

UK, London

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PA Group acquires content marketing business Sticky Content

October 9, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

PA Group, the parent company of the Press Association, has acquired an 80 per cent stake in Sticky Content, a digital copywriting and content strategy agency, significantly increasing PA’s presence in the content marketing sector. PA’s content for marketing businesses will now operate under the Sticky Content name..

PA Group Acquires Content Marketing Business Sticky Content Continuing its Long-term Strategy for ReinvestmentCatherine Toole, Sticky Content’s former Chief Executive and new Chairman, said: “The Press Association is the perfect partner for Sticky Content, as the demand for effective, high-quality content soars. Now we can deliver pretty much any kind of content there is.

Emily Shelley, PA’s former Head of Content For Marketing and new Managing Director of Sticky Content, said:PA Group Acquires Content Marketing Business Sticky Content Continuing its Long-term Strategy for Reinvestment “Sticky Content sets the standard for best practice in digital copywriting – across usability, optimisation and conversion. They also lead the field in the execution of content strategy; a discipline which is becoming essential for all companies with a digital presence. By combining this digital expertise with PA’s live delivery of topical, engaging multi-platform content, we can capitalise on the demand for effective content marketing services. I’m excited about what we can achieve together for our clients and our business.”

Clive Marshall, PA Group’s Chief Executive, said: “This is the second significant investment we have made since we sold our stake in Canada Newswire at the end of 2012. Last month we acquired mminternational (Europe) – a leading European weather company – to exploit the significant opportunities for growth in our MeteoGroup weather business and further strengthen its position as one of the world’s leading commercial weather organisations. The acquisition of Sticky Content is part of our drive to broaden the market for the Press Association’s news and information services and expand the range of products and services that complement our traditional news feed business.”

UK, London

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PA Acquires Globelynx “TVready” Network November 19, 2011

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Euromoney Institutional Investor completes acquisition of HSBC’s Quantitative Techniques operation

October 2, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Euromoney logoEuromoney Institutional Investor PLC, the international online information and events group, has completed the acquisition of HSBC’s Quantitative Techniques operation with effect from September 30.  QT is the benchmark and calculation agent business of HSBC Bank plc which creates and maintains more than 100 equity and bond indices for HSBC’s Global Markets division and for over 60 external clients.

The business has been rebranded Euromoney Indices.  As part of the completion terms, HSBC has agreed to purchase index calculation services from Euromoney Indices for a minimum period of three years.

Previous reporting – Euromoney Institutional Investor to acquire HSBC’s Quantitative Techniques operation Posted on April 4, 2013

UK London

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Nielsen completes the acquisition of Arbitron

October 1, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

nielsenNielsen Holdings N.V., a provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy, has completed its acquisition of Arbitron Inc., an international media and marketing research firm.

“This is a great day for Nielsen and a natural step in our evolution,” said Nielsen Chief Executive Officer David Calhoun. “Arbitron will allow us to analyze and understand an additional two hours of the U.S. consumer’s day while bringing us another opportunity to provide advertisers with metrics on the effectiveness of the mediums that they advertise on.”

Arbitron is being rebranded Nielsen Audio and will be integrated into Nielsen’s U.S. Watch business segment, which provides information and insights primarily to the media and advertising industries across television, online, mobile and radio. With Arbitron, Nielsen now measures eight hours a day per person of dynamic media consumption.

“Our combined capabilities offer opportunities to measure unmeasured areas that are important to the industries and clients we serve, like streaming audio, out-of-home measurements for television consumption and deeper measurement of multicultural audiences in the U.S.,” said Calhoun. “Globally, this is an opportunity to expand our measurement of consumer behavior and introduce audio measurement capabilities in new markets.”

As previously reported on Fusion DigiNet, Nielsen entered into an agreement on December 17, 2012 to acquire all of the outstanding common stock of Arbitron for $48 per share or a total of $1.3 billion purchase price, funded by cash on hand and recent debt financing. Nielsen expects $0.26 of accretion to adjusted net income per share during the first full year of operations, and $0.32 of accretion to adjusted net income per share during the second year, reflecting an incremental $0.06 in year two.

USA, New York. NY

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Informa completes the disposal of its five Corporate Training businesses.

October 1, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

informa2Informa plc has completed  the disposal of its five Corporate Training businesses to Providence Equity Partners.

The initial consideration of $165m, consists of $100m in cash (net of indebtedness and working capital adjustments on completion) and a $65m vendor loan. The vendor loan is for a maximum term of 6.5 years and attracts a PIK interest rate of 1% in the first two years, rising to 10% in the third year with a further 1% per annum increase thereafter.

providenceequityMore more information see Fusion DigiNet’s July 2013 article here.

UK, London

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UBM plc sells Property Week to Metropolis and UBM Channel to The Channel Company

September 27, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

UBM

UBM has agreed to sell its Property Week print magazine and related products to Metropolis International. Property Week’s 35 staff will transfer to Metropolis International following completion. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

metropolisUBM has also sold its North American IT channel business to a management-led investment group. The new company, called The Channel Company, will own and operate all of the businesses and products formerly owned by UBM Tech (Channel) in North America. The Comdex brand and UBM India’s CRN business are excluded from this transaction. UBM has retained a 30% minority equity interest in the business.

These disposals constitute the bulk of the operations treated as discontinued in UBM’s H1 2013 results and classified as held for sale at 30 June 2013. The combined cash proceeds from these disposals are approximately £8.5m, subject to working capital adjustments on completion.

UK, London & USA, San Francisco, CA

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Artemis Energy Holdings acquires WooEB.com

September 26, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Artemis Energy Holdings has acquired WooEB.com. WooEB.com is an online social networking platform that provides members with one place to post their content. In addition to posting content, WooEB.com also offers press release distribution and SEO services. With an active member base that utilizes the websites free and paid for services. The member can post content inside their individual hub and then share the content to other social networking sites to increase awareness. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Todd Davis stated, “With the closing of WooEB.com, Artemis Energy Holdings has an additional revenue stream that will help grow our business and increase shareholder value. With WooEB.com, TransWorldNews.com and LinkMyStock.com being a core platform of Artemis Energy Holdings, we are focusing our efforts on building our sales team along with improving opportunities for members to purchase ads, press releases and SEO content packages online.”

USA, Atlanta, GA

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Former Centaur Media chief executive Geoff Wilmot to make a bid for the company

September 25, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

centaurGeoff Wilmot, the former chief executive of Centaur Media plc has said that he is in talks with financial backers about making a bid for the business. Geoff Wilmot left Centaur in May this year. Tim Potter, MD of the Business Publishing division left at the same time.

A stock market announcement released yesterday said:

“Mr Wilmot notes the recent movement in the share price of Centaur.

Mr Wilmot, the former CEO of Centaur, confirms that he is considering an offer for Centaur and to that end has had preliminary discussions with certain prospective finance providers.

Mr Wilmot must, in accordance with Rule 2.6(a) of the Code, clarify his intentions by no later than 5.00pm on Tuesday 22nd October, by either announcing a firm intention to make an offer or that he does not intend to make an offer, in which case the announcement will be treated as a statement to which Rule 2.8 of the Code applies. This deadline will only be extended with the consent of the Panel in accordance with Rule 2.6(c) of the Code.

This announcement does not constitute an announcement of a firm intention to make an offer under Rule 2.7 of the Code and there can be no certainty that an offer will be made, nor as to the terms on which any offer will be made.

Further announcements will be made in due course.”

Centaur Media issued a statement today:

“Centaur Media plc (LSE: CAU, “Centaur”) notes the announcement yesterday by Geoffrey Wilmot that he has had preliminary discussions with prospective financial providers in relation to a potential offer for Centaur.

The Board of Centaur (the “Board”) confirms that to date no discussions have taken place between the Company and Geoffrey Wilmot concerning a potential offer.”

UK, London

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DMGT pre-close trading update

September 25, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

DMGTDaily Mail and General Trust plc has issued a pre-close trading update.

Ahead of the year end on 30 September 2013, the statement provides an update on the Group’s progress in the current year.

It covers the eleven month period to the end of August 2013 and includes comments on September.

Summary

  • Solid Group revenue performance, up 2% underlying#
  • Good revenue growth from B2B operations, up 6% underlying#
  • Resilient revenue performance at dmg media, down 2% underlying#
  • Active portfolio management; targeted acquisitions and non-core asset disposals
  • Share buy back programme of £69 million to date
  • Net debt/EBITDA ratio expected to be less than 2.0 at year end
  • Full Year guidance unchanged and in line with market expectations

DMGT results1 2013

Click on the table for an enlarged view

The full statement can be read here.

UK, London

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