Thomson Reuters to sell its healthcare division

June 22, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

According to the Financial Times, Thomson Reuters have appointed Morgan Stanley and Allen & Co to sell its healthcare division. Bernstein Research and BNP Paribas have valued the business at between $850 million and $1.2 billion. The proceeds are expected to be reinvested in professional information and services in faster-growing markets such as Latin America and Asia.

Read the fully story here.

USA, New York, NY

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Euromoney Institutional Investor to acquire Ned Davis Research Group for £69M

June 21, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC (“Euromoney”), the international publishing, events and electronic information group, has agreed terms to acquire Ned Davis Research Group (“NDRG”), the US-based provider of independent financial research to institutional investors.

On completion, Euromoney expects to pay approximately US$112 million (£69 million) for an initial 87% interest in NDRG. The consideration will be funded from Euromoney’s existing committed borrowing facility. The remaining interest in NDRG will be acquired under an earn-out agreement, in two equal instalments, based on the profits of NDRG for the years to December 31 2012 and 2013. The maximum amount payable for a 100% interest in NDRG is $173 million. NDRG’s pre-tax profit for the year to December 31 2010 was US$11.8 million and the value of its gross assets at May 31 2011 was US$11.2 million.

UK, London & USA, Venice, FL

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Mondadori reaches agreements on JVs with Rodale and Hearst

June 16, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

As part of efforts to optimise its Italian magazine portfolio, the Mondadori Group has reached agreements on its joint ventures with Rodale Inc. and The Hearst Group.

The Mondadori-Rodale joint venture was established in 2000 for the publication of Starbene and Men’s Health. Mondadori will buy the 50% of the share capital held by the American publisher Rodale Inc.

This will allow Mondadori to manage autonomously the monthly magazine Starbene, the leading women’s title in the health/wellbeing sector, while at the same time continuing the publication of the Italian edition of Men’s Health, thanks to a multi-year licensing contract.

The Hearst-Mondadori Editoriale partnership was set up in 1999. A year later they began publishing the Italian edition of Cosmopolitan under licence from the Hearst Group. HMI International is to acquire the 50% stake currently held by Mondadori.

“Both of these operations are part of efforts to optimise our portfolio,” declared Stefano De Alessandri, general manager of Magazines Italy, “and are in line with the aim of redefining, reinforcing and expanding Mondadori’s presence in women’s magazines.”

Italy, Segrate

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Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services to acquire NRAI

June 16, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services (CLS) has signed an agreement to purchase National Registered Agents, (NRAI). The acquisition will add NRAI to CLS’s portfolio of industry-leading business compliance and corporate governance solutions, which includes CT Corporation and BizFilings. The terms of the deal are not being disclosed, and closing of the acquisition is subject to regulatory approval.

NRAI has been providing registered agent services since 1995, specialising in compliance and governance services for small and mid-sized businesses and the legal community that supports them. Its suite of services spans U.S. and international registered agents, corporate compliance and entity management. Headquartered in Princeton, NJ, NRAI has approximately 160 employees in offices across the U.S.

Combining NRAI’s offerings with those of CT Corporation, a leading provider of corporate business compliance solutions, and BizFilings, a leading online incorporation service provider for small-business owners, will position CLS to offer a comprehensive spectrum of solutions to the market. Whether it’s entrepreneurs, small- and medium-sized businesses, enterprise-level companies, or the law firms who serve them, Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services is the provider of choice for legal compliance and corporate governance solutions.

“For nearly 120 years, our market-leading brand, CT Corporation, has set the standard for service excellence to the legal community,” said Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services President and CEO Richard Flynn. “NRAI has built a unique and highly valued distribution model to serve small and mid-sized companies. We see this acquisition as the perfect complement to our portfolio, enabling us to provide an even broader set of services and solutions for this important customer segment.”

“NRAI was founded by industry veterans with a commitment to provide exceptional customer service and innovative technology,” said Dennis Howarth, President and CEO of NRAI. “We’ve experienced 15 years of unprecedented growth, and we wanted to position the company for continued growth, taking it to the next level. After considering a number of options, we selected Wolters Kluwer as the most logical buyer and the best strategic partner to help us achieve our goals.”

USA, New York, NY & Princeton, NJ

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IHS makes five acquisitions – CMAI, ODS-Petrodata, Dyadem International, EIATrack & CSM South America

June 14, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

IHS has made its fifth acquisition this year, Chemical Market Associates (CMAI), a provider of market & business advisory services for the worldwide petrochemical, specialty chemicals, fertilizer, plastics, fibers and chlor-alkali industries.

“CMAI is a natural complement to our ever-expanding capabilities in the chemical industry’s information, analysis and consulting market,” said IHS Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jerre Stead. “The company’s comprehensive information and analysis adds to our event-driven supply-chain information strategy and the company’s price discovery and analysis business will broaden IHS commodities and cost information capabilities. CMAI’s unique and proprietary chemical information can be used throughout IHS to deliver additional high-value analytical services to our global customers.”

CMAI clients include chemical companies, oil and gas companies, technology and engineering companies, financial institutions, plastic converters, industrial and consumer manufacturers, retailers, government agencies, trading companies, financials and shipping companies. The company is headquartered in Houston, with offices in Bangkok, Dubai, Dusseldorf, London, New York, Shanghai and Singapore.

The IHS acquisition of CMAI follows a string of strategic transactions that bolster the company’s broad base of capabilities in energy and power, environmental health and safety (EHS) and sustainability, petrochemicals and automotive industry forecasting.

During the first four months of 2011, IHS also acquired:

ODS-Petrodata – A premier provider of data, information and market intelligence to the offshore energy industry.

Dyadem International – The market leader in Operational Risk Management and Quality Risk Management solutions.

EIATrack – A subscription-based, online tool for quickly and cost-effectively navigating and managing global environmental regulations and legislation, EIATrack tracks more than 6,000 pieces of legislation from proposal to implementation, analyzing environmental regulatory activity in North America, Europe, South America and Asia Pacific. The acquisition represents continued investment in the electronics supply chain, for which IHS has already established a strategic position through the company’s REACH and Compliance Suite offerings, as well as the recent iSuppli acquisition.

CSM South America – CSM South America compiles and maintains automotive forecast information for all South American countries. The company also sells IHS Automotive products and manages the resulting customer relationships in the region. The acquisition will give IHS more direct access to this critical, rapidly growing market, while providing a platform to enhance the company’s automotive forecasting business with localized insight.

“With these five transactions completed so far in 2011, IHS has completed more than 30 strategic acquisitions since 2007, deploying more than $1.3 billion in capital,” added Stead. “Each of these acquisitions affords our company the opportunity to expand the information and insight offerings we provide to our customers to help them make critical business decisions every day.”

As a result of the company’s 2011 acquisition activity, IHS is updating its full-year 2011 revenue and adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) guidance. For the year ending November 30, 2011, IHS expects:

  • All-in revenue between $1.275 and $1.305 billion; and
  • All-in adjusted EBITDA between $388 and $398 million.
USA, Englewood, CO
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A Fusion Deal: FMB Consultants sold to Argus Media

June 10, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Fusion Corporate Partners are pleased to announce our latest deal, the sale of FMB Consultants Ltd (FMB) to leading energy price reporting agency Argus Media. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

FMB is a leader in the provision of timely and accurate intelligence on the world fertilizer market. FMB reports monitor global trade and pricing for nitrogen, phosphate, sulphur, potash and ammonia. Founded in 1982, FMB publishes 100 price references, which are widely used for benchmark pricing and settlement of derivatives. FMB Conferences and Exhibitions are currently run on four continents, providing major networking opportunities for senior industry executives.

Argus chairman and chief executive Adrian Binks said “FMB is a natural fit with Argus’ strategy of expanding its commodity market reporting capabilities beyond energy.  Like Argus, FMB has developed an excellent reputation for bringing transparency to opaque markets.  We look forward to working with FMB staff to combine their deep expertise with Argus’ global reach and scale”.

Kevin Hill, Director at FMB said “We are delighted to be joining Argus and look forward to further developing FMB’s products and services utilising Argus’ global presence, technical resources and commercial team.  FMB and Argus share the same cultural strengths based on close relationships with the industries they serve, and a resolute commitment to high quality reporting, ethics and integrity.”

Paul Slight, Partner at Fusion said, “We have known Kevin and the rest of the team at FMB for many years and were delighted to have the opportunity to work with them. FMB is a great business and tailor-made for Argus. I am sure it will be a great success in its new home.”

Fusion acted exclusively for the shareholders of FMB Consultants. The team responsible for this transaction were Paul Slight (pslight@fusioncorp.co.uk) and Paul Kelly (pkelly@fusioncorp.co.uk). Waterfront Solicitors, headed by Matthew Cunningham, provided legal advice to the vendors.

UK, London

Other Fusion Deals:

Media and Information

Business Services
Events, Broadcast and Other deals
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Bauer Media on the acquisition trail

June 6, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

MediaWeek, quoting a source with “knowledge of the process” is reporting that Bauer Media, the consumer division of the publishing group has renewed its focus on small “bolt-on” acquisitions to complement its existing portfolio. This follows Bauer’s failure to acquire BBC Worldwide’s magazine portfolio. BBC Worldwide is now in exclusive negotiations with Exponent Private Equity.

The Bauer Media Group is an international media company publishing 323 magazines as well as numerous special publications in 15 countries. The Group publishes 54 magazines in Germany, 84 in Poland and 79 in the UK.

Bauer Media joined the Bauer Media Group in January 2008 following acquisition of Emap plc’s consumer and specialist magazines, radio, TV, online and digital businesses.

In the 2009 reporting, the Bauer Media Group’s consolidated sales passed the two-billion-euro mark with an increase of 17.7 per cent or EUR 316.8 million for a total of EUR 2.107 billion. Sales in the United Kingdom consequently climbed by EUR 431.9 million to EUR 565.2 million.

Read the full story.

UK, London

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BBC Worldwide goes exclusive with Exponent Private Equity over the sales of BBC Magazines.

June 6, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, has selected Exponent Private Equity as its preferred strategic partner for BBC Magazines.

This follows a competitive tender process started in 2010.  BBC Worldwide’s decision to move to exclusivity with Exponent has been approved by the BBC Trust.

Discussions will continue with Exponent, with a view to completing an agreement this summer.

UK, London

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Getty Images has completed the acquisition of Photolibrary

June 6, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Getty Images, a leading creator and distributor of visual content and other media, has successfully completed the acquisition of Photolibrary, a leading provider of creative stills imagery. The acquisition was first announced on April 27 2011 and will bring Photolibrary’s renowned collections, including Peter Arnold and Oxford Scientific, to even more customers around the world.

“The demand for compelling creative content continues to increase around the world and it represents a vital part of the imagery industry. This acquisition positions us to meet and exceed our customers’ demand for this unique content, across both the Asia Pacific region and globally” said Jonathan Klein, co-founder and CEO of Getty Images.

With the combined resources of Getty Images and Photolibrary, Getty Images will build upon their complementary geographic presence whilst making Photolibrary’s content more widely available for global online distribution.

In May this year, Getty Images acquired PicScout, a leader in identifying image use, metadata and licensing information on the web.

USA, New York, NY

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EBSCO Publishing and The H.W. Wilson Company have merged

June 6, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

EBSCO Publishing and The H.W. Wilson Company have merged. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

According to Tim Collins, President of EBSCO Publishing, this acquisition leads directly to heightening the value and quality of EBSCO and Wilson resources. “Upholding the integrity of the Wilson indexing is essential, and extending these attributes to EBSCOhost resources is a critical part of this venture. When it comes to thesauri (subjects and names), and how these are leveraged, Wilson has long been an industry leader.  We look forward to bringing this value and approach to all applicable EBSCOhost databases and are excited about the benefits this will bring to EBSCOhost users. We are also pleased to be able to add the Wilson databases into the EBSCO Discovery Service search experience”

Harry Regan, President & CEO for Wilson, commented, “EBSCO and H.W. Wilson have been engaged as business partners for a number of years and are now officially operating as one. The result will be a broader and deeper range of products and services for the library reference community with significantly added value. Both companies have had separate, distinctive histories, but have always shared a common commitment for the highest order of customer satisfaction.”

Wilson’s Vice President of Indexing & Editorial Services, Mark Gauthier, is excited about the opportunities that lie ahead. “As a company, Wilson has focused heavily on the quality of our indexing and how it impacts the search experience. With EBSCOhost full-text and abstract/index databases, along with EBSCO Discovery Service, EBSCO is really focusing on detailed editorial value to truly take its services to new levels. We’re excited about the possibilities and what we can do together to benefit the research experience for libraries.”

All Wilson indexing, abstracts and full text will be fully searchable via EBSCO Discovery Service for subscribers of Wilson databases. The addition of Wilson’s robust abstract/index records and unique full text will strengthen EBSCO Discovery Service.

Wilson databases will be loaded onto EBSCOhost over the coming months.  EBSCO will continue to maintain Wilson Web until such time that all Wilson databases are available on EBSCOhost and customers have been transitioned to EBSCOhost.

USA, Ipswich, MA & New York, NY

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