Future PLC’s CEO & FD resign

October 27, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Future plc has announced today that Stevie Spring, CEO, and John Bowman, FD, have resigned with immediate effect.

The Board has appointed Mark Wood, the head of Future UK, and Graham Harding, the UK’s Finance Director, to replace them.

According to The Guardian, “The pair have fallen on their swords in order to help Future cut costs”. Spring, the highest-paid executive at Future, received £652,000 in total remuneration for the year to the end of September 2010. This included a £160,000 bonus. Spring’s pay packet was a 72% increase on 2009’s total remuneration of £378,000 when she did not receive a bonus. Bowman, the second-highest paid executive, received a total remuneration of £325,000 in the year to the end of September 2010. Bowman received a bonus of £39,000. This was a 14% rise over 2009’s pay packet, when Bowman also did not receive a bonus.

Peter Allen, Future’s recently appointed Chairman, said: “The Board would like to thank Stevie and John for their considerable contribution in leading Future through a period of unprecedented change. The recent restructuring which positions the company for its digital future has allowed the Board this opportunity to achieve substantial savings by eliminating an entire tier of corporate overhead.

The Board is confident that the market-leading progress in generating digital revenues will continue under Mark’s stewardship. He and Graham can now manage a more profitable business to the benefit of both shareholders and staff.”

Mark Wood said: “I’m delighted to be taking over from Stevie at such an exciting time in our development. We are making amazing progress on line and on mobile, demonstrated just this month by our success on the Apple newsstand.We have the pieces in place to achieve sustainable growth in all our core verticals.”

Group results for the year to 30 September 2011 will be announced on Thursday 24 November 2011.

Bios

Stevie Spring became CEO of Future in 2006 after six years as Chief Executive of Clear Channel, and 16 years in communications management. She chairs BBC Children in Need.

Mark Wood was appointed Chief Executive of Future’s UK business in September 2010. He was previously Chief Executive of ITN and before that Editor-in-Chief of Reuters and a member of Reuters PLC Board. He was a non-executive director of the Company (from 1 April 2009 until 23 August 2010 when he stepped down to lead the UK business).

John Bowman joined Future in November 2001 as Group Finance Director from Scottish Radio Holdings plc, where he was also Group Finance Director, having commenced his career at KPMG.

Graham Harding has been Finance Director of Future’s UK business for seven years and also Group Financial Controller since 2000. He started out his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

UK, London, UK

Future Publishing emerges as a contender for BBC Worldwide’s magazine division Posted on February 24, 2011

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Evolve Media acquires BabyandBump.com

October 26, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Evolve Media has acquired BabyandBump.com, which will become a part of its Momtastic division, an online destination and community for mothers.

BabyandBump.com is an online community dedicated to offering a friendly environment for both current and expecting mothers to engage in discussions about all things family related. Launched in 2007 by a set of expecting parents, BabyandBump has grown to become a leading destination for mothers seeking to read and discuss a variety of topics ranging from conception and pregnancy to parenting and family.

“BabyandBump.com is a perfect example of what Momtastic represents: a rapidly growing community that continuously keeps its female users drawn in through fresh conversations and engaging topics,” says Brian Fitzgerald, President and Co-Founder of Evolve Media Corp. “We are excited to welcome BabyandBump.com into the Momtastic family, and look forward to having its community further enrich our pregnancy and parenting offerings.”

The acquisition of BabyandBump.com follows Evolve’s recent acquisition of PregnancyForum.co.uk, a UK-based pregnancy community website.

USA, Los Angeles, CA

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Reader’s Digest Association plans to sell Allrecipes

October 26, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet
The Board of Directors of The Reader’s Digest Association has initiated a process to explore a possible sale of Allrecipes in order to accelerate its focus on its master brand strategy.

“The exploration of a sale of Allrecipes demonstrates our commitment to enhancing shareholder value and sharpening our strategic and financial focus on our core master brands, such as Reader’s Digest, Taste of Home and The Family Handyman,” said Robert E. Guth, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Allrecipes is a terrific business with an exceptional team, and impressive user growth over the last five years. We believe there will be strong interest in this category-leading asset.”

“Allrecipes has thrived over the last six years under the RDA umbrella,” said Lisa Sharples, President, Allrecipes. “We are excited about building on our significant success in expanding our user community to date and look forward to growing the Allrecipes brand with a new partner.”

Allrecipes is the world’s largest digital food brand, with over 24 million monthly unique users globally, nine million downloads of mobile apps, the number one how-to recipe channel on YouTube, and receives 700 million annual visits from home cooks who discover and share food experiences through recipes, reviews, photos, profiles, and blog posts. For 14 years, the Seattle-based site has served as a dynamic, indispensable resource for cooks of all skill levels seeking everyday and special occasion meal solutions, plus practical cooking information.

Morgan Stanley and Evercore Partners are acting as financial advisors to assist the Company with the strategic review process.

USA, New York, NY & Seattle, WA

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Mattel acquires HIT Entertainment

October 26, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Mattel has entered into an agreement to acquire HIT Entertainment for $680 million in cash from a consortium led by Apax Partners funds. HIT Entertainment owns a global portfolio of popular preschool brands, including Thomas & Friends®, Barney®, Bob the Builder®, Fireman Sam® and Angelina Ballerina®. With more than $180 million of revenues, HIT Entertainment represents one of the largest independent owners of preschool intellectual property. The purchase price equates to a multiple of about 9 ½ times trailing earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

“Mattel is the right home for Thomas & Friends®. This powerhouse brand is joining the ranks of such iconic brands as Barbie®, Hot Wheels®, Fisher-Price® and American Girl®,” said Robert A. Eckert, chairman and chief executive officer of Mattel. “Thomas & Friends® routinely ranks among the world’s leading preschool toys. Additionally, with more than half of the Thomas & Friends® revenue generated from non-toy products, this transaction will marry Mattel’s global marketing, distribution and brand management capabilities with HIT Entertainment’s global programming and licensing expertise to accelerate growth of the combined portfolio.”

Thomas & Friends® is the premier brand in the HIT Entertainment portfolio. Created more than 65 years ago, the brand has grown into the number 1 licensed preschool property in the world, with television programming, home entertainment products, toys and other consumer products available throughout the globe.

Mattel currently markets many Thomas & Friends® toy products under a license from HIT Entertainment which extends through 2014. Mattel’s global sales of Thomas & Friends® die-cast and plastic toys are more than $150 million, and Mattel believes that this transaction will allow the company to continue to expand and grow these product lines into the foreseeable future. Another key advantage to the acquisition is that Mattel will be able to reunite two key pieces of the Thomas & Friends® toy business: plastic and die-cast toys with the wood-based business. The current wood license expires at the end of 2012, at which time Mattel expects to add that line of business to its portfolio. Historically, the sales of wood-based toys have been around half the size of the plastic and die-cast business.

The HIT Entertainment portfolio also includes a number of other highly popular preschool brands with established television broadcast and licensing relationships around the world. The acquisition does not include HIT Entertainment’s interest in the cable network station, Sprout.

RBC Capital Markets, LLC acted as financial advisor and Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal advisor to Mattel in connection with the transaction. BofA Merrill Lynch acted as financial advisor and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP served as legal advisor to HIT Entertainment in connection with the transaction.

USA, El Segundo, CA & UK, London

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Meredith to Acquire Every Day with Rachael Ray

October 25, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Meredith Corporation has reached agreement in principle with author and American television personality Rachael Ray for Meredith to acquire Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine and its related digital media assets from the Reader’s Digest Association. The transaction is expected to close before the end of the year. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“The acquisition of Every Day with Rachael Ray will further extend our leadership and deepen our reach in providing women with best-in-class food content, while offer advertisers multiple avenues to reach them,” said Meredith National Media Group President Tom Harty. “We are excited to add this well-recognized franchise to our strong portfolio of national media brands.”

“We are constantly looking for strategic acquisitions and investment opportunities like this to expand our reach and create shareholder value,” said Meredith Chief Development Officer John Zieser.

USA, Des Moines, IA & New York, NY

 

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Universal Magazines acquires Westwick-Farrow Media

October 6, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Here is one we missed in August.

Universal Magazines has acquired Westwick-Farrow Media from founding owners Adrian and Yvonne Farrow. The business will retain its current staff and continue to operate from the existing Westwick-Farrow Media offices in Wahroonga on Sydney’s north shore.

Westwick-Farrow Media celebrated its 30th anniversary earlier this year and the acquisition includes titles such as What’s New in Electronics, What’s New in Process Technology, Radio Comms Asia-Pacific and Voice+Data. The acquisition will enhance Universal’s ability to grow further by entering into new trade publishing markets in Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

“We have always been interested in opportunities to advance Universal’s position as a dominant media company and today’s news represents such an opportunity to expand our presence into new domestic and international trade markets,” said Prema Perera, CEO of Universal Magazines. “Most importantly, the deal emphasises Universal’s commitment to and belief in print as well as digital media, as magazines continue to be profitable tools of communication for advertisers who want to reach engaged and receptive audiences.

Universal plans to maintain much of the original operating structure. Current Associate Publisher Geoff Hird, who has been with Westwick-Farrow for more than 21 years and is Chairman of Publishers Australia, will stay on in his new role as Publisher of the Westwick- Farrow businesses.

Australia, Sydney

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Sanoma acquires Tammi Learning and Bonnier Utbildning AB from Bonnier / Bonnier acquires Werner Söderström from Sanoma

October 6, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Sanoma has acquired the assets of the Finnish educational publisher Tammi Learning and all the shares of the Swedish educational publisher Bonnier Utbildning AB from the Swedish media group Bonnier AB.

At the same time, Sanoma has sold the shares of its Finnish general literature publisher Werner Söderström Ltd. (WSOY) to Bonnier. The transaction of WSOY is subject to the approval of the Finnish competition authorities. The closing of the transaction is expected during the autumn.

Currently Sanoma has learning operations in Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary, Poland and Russia. The total net sales of Sanoma’s learning business were EUR 249 million in 2010. This transaction is in line with Sanoma’s strategy to focus its operations and to concentrate on consumer media and learning solutions.

“Learning solutions are one of Sanoma’s key focus areas. These transactions are logical steps for us as they support our ambition to grow this business and focus our operations” says Harri-Pekka Kaukonen, President and CEO of Sanoma.

“We are delighted with this transaction which brings us to the Swedish learning market and strengthens our Finnish learning business. Both Bonnier Utbildning and Tammi Learning are excellently performing learning companies, which extend well our portfolio” says Jacques Eijkens, CEO of Sanoma Learning & Literature.

On the acquisition of WSOY Maria Curman, CEO of Bonnier Books, said.”Our ambition is to provide WSOY, its authors and employees, the means needed to reach their full potential. WSOY together with Tammi forms a perfect match within the Bonnier publishing family. I see this as an important step in successfully developing our offering of general literature to the Finnish market.”

In 2010, net sales of Tammi Learning, Bonnier Utbildning and WSOY General literature were EUR 10.2 million, EUR 17.6 million and EUR 32.5 million, respectively. Tammi Learning and Bonnier Utbildning employed some 80 people (FTE) and WSOY General Literature some 100 people. The transaction is estimated to improve Sanoma’s profitability from 2012 onwards.

Following the transaction with Bonnier, the net sales of Sanoma Learning & Literature in 2011 are estimated to be at the previous year’s level and operating profit excluding non-recurring items is expected to decrease somewhat. Previously, the net sales of Sanoma Learning & Literature were estimated to increase slightly and operating profit excluding non-recurring items was expected to be at the previous year’s level. Learning business has a strong seasonality within the year, the first and fourth quarter being typically loss-making. For general literature, on the other hand, the fourth quarter is typically the strongest one. Due to this seasonality, this transaction will lower Sanoma Learning & Literature’s fourth quarter result in 2011.

Finland, Helsinki & Sweden, Stockholm

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TrueCar acquires ALG

October 5, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

TrueCar, a publisher of real-time new and used vehicle pricing data in the U.S. market, has completed its acquisition of ALG. formerly a subsidiary of DealerTrack Holdings. and an industry source for automotive residual values.

“TrueCar has shown a tremendous commitment to maintaining the continuity of ALG operations,” said Raj Sundaram, Senior Vice President of the Services and Solutions Group at DealerTrack Holdings.  “The TrueCar executive team has exhibited a profound understanding and respect for the strong relationship ALG has with the entire automotive industry – and I believe they will actively seek ways maintain and enhance that relationship now and in the years to come.”

TrueCar has also announced that Larry Dominique will be joining TrueCar as Executive Vice President of the Data Solutions Group. Dominique comes to TrueCar from Nissan North America where he served as Vice President, of Advanced and Product Planning and Strategy.

USA, Santa Monica, CA

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Report: Quarterly analysis of UK-headquartered private equity control deals in the £10 million to £100 million segment

October 5, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

  The volume and value of deals completed during the first nine months of 2011 in the lower mid- market investment space has increased year on year for the past three years, according to research from Lyceum Capital and Cass Business School.

For more information, visit the Lyceum Dashboard

Data from The UK Growth Buyout Dashboard – a quarterly analysis of UK-headquartered private equity control deals in the £10 million to £100 million segment – shows that 63 transactions completed between 1 January 2011 and 30 September 2011. This compares to 50 investments for the same period of 2010 and just 25 during the first nine months of 2009.

During Q3 2011, deal volume has built on an encouraging first six months of 2011 with a greater number of deals completed than in Q2. The combined value of those deals fell slightly (from £794 million to £785 million) but both volume and value of deals was still higher than the same quarter of 2010.

Q3 deal value being lower than Q2 despite five more transactions, indicates that there are fewer large deal opportunities however the lower mid-market continues to replenish itself as new businesses enter the space looking to grow with private equity investment.

Transaction sizes

The combined deal value of £785 million exceeds the £698 million recorded during Q3 2010 and the £220 million of Q3 2009.

The highest transaction value recorded in the last three months was £87.8 million, compared to a high of £100 million in Q2 H1 2010.

Meanwhile, transactions valued between £50 million and £100 million fell from seven in Q2 to five in Q3. The majority of the 22 lower mid-market deals completed were in the £26 million – £50 million range, with 86 per cent under £50 million.

The increase in deal activity indicates that there is a growing appetite for investment and that transactions should continue to rise unless there is a significant reversal in the state of the wider economy. There may not currently be the appetite for the larger end deals in the mid-market space but as long as volume maintains its upward trend, the necessary deal flow which keeps the market moving does exist.

Transaction types

Management buyouts (MBOs) and secondary buyouts (SBOs) remained the most prevalent transaction types for private equity investors, but the number of MBOs completed in Q3 2011 actually fell to nine from 12 in Q3 2010 – lower than each of the previous six quarters back to Q1 2010.

There were also two public to private delistings during Q3, compared to one in each of the previous two quarters.

No Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) were recorded, a trend which stretches back to Q1 of 2010 and is unsurprising in a financial climate of weak capital markets where so many anticipated floats have been shelved.

Trade, IPO and secondary exits

A total of nine secondary buy-outs (SBOs) characterised the quarter – the highest number of any quarter during the last two years and an indication that private equity firms are now beginning to sell assets that they have held onto throughout the depths of the economic downturn.

There were six exits to trade, higher than the previous two quarters but lower than the eight which took place in Q3 2010.

Investments by industry

Technology, media, telecommunications (TMT) businesses continue to dominate the lower mid- market with eight out of 22 deals this quarter (38 per cent) and five transactions in business support services.

Retail – undoubtedly one of the sectors hardest hit by a dip in consumer spending – continues an encouraging run of three deals or more completing in every quarter since Q2 2010.

Commentary

Andrew Aylwin, Partner at Lyceum Capital, said: “In the £10m to £100m value range, UK private equity deal volumes continue to recover. With 63 completed transactions so far for the 9 months to 30th September, the market is trending back to historical norms of 100+ control deals a year. The UK lower mid-market segment remains a plentiful source of high quality opportunities across a range of sectors and private equity firms such as Lyceum Capital continue to play a key role in supporting dynamic companies that need capital to continue their successful development and drive the recovery of UK plc.”

Professor Scott Moeller at Cass Business School commented further: “This performance of the UK lower- mid market in the third quarter is in distinct contrast to the overall market when much larger deals of £100 million plus are considered. That market has declined during the past two quarters and some reports show it declining dramatically in Q3 – Bloomberg, for example, this week reported a 43 per cent decline in deals with European purchasers for the overall market. Therefore, the volume of deals in the lower mid market is encouraging in this difficult economic environment, and may prove in the next quarter to continue to be resilient. There is further evidence in our figures of a positive shift in the market with a strong mix of industries, including healthcare, which was absent last quarter and a resurgence in technology deals.”

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Postmedia Network acquires Sprouter

October 4, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Canadian newspaper publisher Postmedia Network has acquired Sprouter, an Internet content company that specialises in the areas of technology, digital media, entrepreneurship and startups. Through the acquisition, Sprouter becomes a division of Postmedia Network. Sprouter will continue to operate under the Sprouter name and branding under the leadership of Sarah Prevette.

“We are thrilled to welcome Sprouter to the Postmedia Network family,” said Paul Godfrey, President and CEO. “Sprouter complements our Digital First strategy and brings a spark of digital entrepreneurship to our family of brands.”

Founded in 2009 by Sarah Prevette, Sprouter enables entrepreneurs to ask a question, browse relevant content, comment on answers, and share advice with their networks. Sprouter also produces the Sprouter Weekly entrepreneurship publication, and hosts Sprout Up events.

Canada, Toronto

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