Anthem Publishing acquires Women’s Running magazine

July 10, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

AnthemAnthem Publishing has acquired the multi-award-winning Women’s Running magazine from Wild Bunch Media. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Women’s Running launched in 2010, and was named Consumer Magazine of the Year 2011 and Consumer Media Brand of the Year 2015 at the PPA Independent Publisher Awards, as well as winning four other industry awards. It’s the UK’s only running title dedicated to helping women enjoy and improve their running. The deal includes the Women’s Running website which has over 90,000 unique users per month, as well as the Facebook community of some 220,000 followers. The purchase does not affect Men’s Running, which remains a Wild Bunch Media brand.

Anthem CEO Jon Bickley said, “We’re delighted to bring Women’s Running on board at Anthem to join our emerging group of women’s wellness brands. Women’s Running is a title I’ve admired for many years for its powerfully strong editorial proposition and the unique relationship it enjoys with its readers and advertisers. We can’t wait to immerse ourselves in this market and bring the same levels of investment and focus to it that have proved successful with our own titles such as Vegan Food & Living and Colouring Heaven.”

UK, Bath & London

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THQ Nordic acquires German game developer and publisher HandyGames

July 9, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

THQ NordicTHQ Nordic has acquired the game developer and publisher HandyGames, headquartered in Giebelstadt, Germany.

THQ Nordic GmbH is acquiring 100% of the shares for a total cash consideration of 1 million euro. In addition, the parties have agreed a potential performance based earnout of up to 1.5 million euro.

Founded in 2000, HandyGames has released more than 150 games on a multitude of platforms, using a wide range of technologies. Current game development is focused on iOS, Android, Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, HTC Vive, tablet computers, Android TV, Wearables as well as digital-only releases on next generation consoles. The company currently has about 50 employees.

HandyGames will continue operating as a developer and publisher for value-priced projects under the management of THQ Nordic GmbH in Vienna.

THQ Nordic MD Klemens Kreuzer said, “It is a true win-win situation for all parties involved, as HandyGames perfectly complements the setup of the rest of our group as the new ‘go to’-publisher for small- and mid-sized developers and projects and will benefit from our network and infrastructure in return. In joining forces with HandyGames, THQ Nordic is tapping into the VR Games segment, and gains access to one of Europe’s most powerful mobile games distribution network”.

Austria, Vienna & Germany, Geibelstadt

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XLMedia acquires InvestorJunkie.com for $5.8M

July 5, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

XLMediaXLMedia, a provider of digital performance marketing, is to acquire InvestorJunkie.com, a US personal finance website for US$5.8 million.

InvestorJunkie is a website focused on providing information and reviews of various investment channels and financial products, including banking, stock brokers, robo advisors, lending, retirement accounts and more. The acquisition is expected to complete in the second half of 2018.

InvestorJunkieOry Weihs, Chief Executive Officer of XLMedia, commented: “We are delighted to announce the acquisition of InvestorJunkie, a very well known brand in North America. The U.S. personal finance market is a key growth market for our business, and this latest acquisition reaffirms our commitment to further diversify our revenue base. We are continuing to build a strong foothold in the North American market and look forward to accelerating our growth strategy to further leverage both our skillset and technology platform in what is a relatively nascent sector.”

UK, Jersey, St. Helier & USA, Long Beach, NY

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Uzabase to acquire business news outlet Quartz for between $75 and $110M

July 4, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Uzabase QuartzUzabase, a Japanese business intelligence and media company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is to acquire Quartz, a global business news outlet created and owned by Atlantic Media. The deal values Quartz between $75 and $110 million depending on achievement of future financial and operating performance in 2018. The deal expected to close within the next 30 days.

Quartz is a guide to the new global economy for business professionals. Founded in 2012, staff numbers around 215 around the world, including around 100 journalists, with presence in New York, London, Nairobi, New Delhi, Hong Kong, and San Francisco.

Quartz Co-President and Editor in Chief Kevin J. Delaney and Co-President and Publisher Jay Lauf — will become Co-CEOs of Quartz, reporting to Uzabase and NewsPicks Founder and CEO Yusuke Umeda. Quartz Chief Revenue Officer Joy Robins and Chief Product Officer and Executive Editor Zach Seward will continue in their positions. Quartz will retain its name and brand and continue operating from its New York City headquarters.

Quartz will assume responsibility for the English-language version of NewsPicks on behalf of Uzabase. NewsPicks is a subscription business news platform and one of Uzabase’s two core businesses. The other is SPEEDA, a financial business-intelligence service.

“We created Quartz to be a new kind of news organization, pioneering better ways to serve readers with innovative news products and smart journalism from around the world. We’re proud of our accomplishments since 2012 and are really excited about this ambitious new chapter working with NewsPicks as part of Uzabase,” said Mr. Delaney.

Atlantic Media will continue to provide corporate support to Quartz through a transition period of at least 12 months following the acquisition. Atlantic Media Chairman and owner David Bradley will continue to work with the company as a senior advisor and shareholder. Bradley, with Atlantic Media President Michael Finnegan, will continue to own and operate the privately held holding company’s other businesses, National Journal Group, Government Executive Media Group, and The Atlantic. (Emerson Collective is the majority owner of The Atlantic.)

Uzabase was founded in 2008 by former investment bankers Yusuke Umeda and Ryosuke Niino, as well as Yusuke Inagaki, a former IT consultant. The company’s primary products are NewsPicks, a subscription business news platform, and SPEEDA, a B2B financial information and corporate intelligence platform.

Japan, Tokyo & USA, New York, NY

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Acuris acquires Sparkspread

June 20, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

AcurisAcuris, the BC Partners and GIC backed provider of data, research, intelligence and analysis, has acquired SparkSpread, an online news service providing intelligence on M&A and financing in the global energy business. The financial terms were not disclosed.

 

New York-headquartered SparkSpread was founded by journalists Will Ainger and Victor Kremer in 2005. It will become part of Acuris’ Infrastructure division.

“We are excited to welcome the acclaimed SparkSpread team to the growing Acuris family,” said Hamilton Matthews, CEO of Acuris. “We have been considering ways to broaden our energy sector coverage for asset managers, fund investors and advisors alike. We look forward to collaborating with Will and Victor to achieve this.”

 

UK, London & USA, New York, NY

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Informa completes the takeover of UBM

June 18, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

InformaInforma has completed the takeover of UBM. The new Informa Group will employ more than 11,000 people. It will own and operate a portfolio of more than 500 exhibitions brands in 15 industry verticals including Health & Nutrition, Life Sciences & Pharma, and Real Estate & Construction. In addition, it will own a portfolio of confex/conference brands, a range of specialist information and intelligence brands; plus have capabilities in B2B consulting and marketing service.

The board of Informa will be as follows:

  • Derek Mapp (Non-Executive Chairman)
  • Greg Lock (Deputy Chairman)
  • Stephen A. Carter CBE (Chief Executive)
  • Gareth Wright (Group Finance Director)
  • Gareth Bullock (Senior Independent Non-Executive Director)
  • Mary McDowell (Non-Executive Director)
  • David Wei (Non-Executive Director)
  • Helen Owers (Non-Executive Director)
  • Cindy Rose (Non-Executive Director)
  • Stephen Davidson (Non-Executive Director
  • David Flaschen (Non-Executive Director)
  • John Rishton (Non-Executive Director)

Company announcements:

Previous reporting

UK, London

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 Ascential acquires WARC for £24M

June 15, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

ascentialMedia and events business Ascential plc has acquired WARC Limited for an initial cash consideration of £19.5m, plus deferred consideration of £4.5m payable in 2019.  The acquisition is expected to complete on 2 July 2018.

WARC is a digital subscription business that helps brands, agencies and media platforms assess marketing effectiveness across all channels.  It provides information and insight to understand and measure multi-channel advertising effectiveness.  Founded in 1985, the business offers advertising best practice, evidence and insights from the world’s leading brands.  The business employs approximately 90 people with offices in London, Washington DC and Singapore and serves approximately 1,200 customers globally. 

In the year to 31 March 2018 WARC generated unaudited revenue of £10.8m (a growth of 10%) and EBITDA of £2.2m.  Gross assets at 31 March 2018 were £9.6m. 

Duncan Painter, CEO of Ascential, commented: “Ascential enables its customers to win in the digital economy.  WARC is an important step forward as we continue to grow our digital offering, adding breadth and depth to our marketing proposition.  Alongside Cannes Lions’ The Work, our recent digital product launch, we will now have a digital subscription product of scale encompassing both creative excellence and marketing effectiveness.”

UK, London

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American Media acquires celebrity and kids group titles from Bauer Media USA

June 15, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

American Media IncAmerican Media, Inc., has agreed to purchase the celebrity group and the teenage and kids group of Bauer Media USA. Details of the transaction were not disclosed but it is expected to close on or about July 1, 2018. With this agreement, AMI will take ownership of the complementary print and digital properties for the 13 brands within these two groups. Titles such as In Touch, Life & Style, Closer, J-14 and Teen Boss will round out AMI’s current portfolio.

AMI owns and operates the leading print and digital celebrity and active lifestyle media brands in the United States. AMI’s titles include Us Weekly, OK!, Star, Men’s Journal, Muscle & Fitness, Mr. Olympia Contest, National Enquirer and other celebrity titles. AMI also manages nine different digital sites including Usmagazine.com, OKmagazine.com, RadarOnline.com, MensJournal.com, MuscleandFitness.com and other digital and social properties. AMI’s magazines have a combined total circulation of 5.3+ million and reach more than 51 million men and women each month. AMI’s digital properties reach approximately 60 million unique visitors monthly.

Chairman and CEO David J. Pecker, said, “It gives me great pleasure to announce this acquisition which provides AMI with an extraordinary opportunity to further build upon the success of our entertainment group. AMI has built an award-winning portfolio of celebrity brands second to none in the industry. Our leadership team will remain focused on growth, innovation and continued disruption with today’s changes designed to further reinforce our leading position in the publishing industry and foster remarkable storytelling across all of our brands and platforms.”

USA, New York, NY & Englewood Cliffs, NJ

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Bridgepoint Development Capital to acquire Private Equity International

June 8, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

BridgepointBridgepoint Development Capital is to acquire a majority stake in PEI Media – the global provider of insight, market-data and business conferences for professionals active in alternative asset class investment. Details of the transaction were not disclosed. The business is being acquired from its founders, management and minority shareholder, LDC.

PEI Media focuses on private investment markets in real estate, infrastructure, private equity, and private debt – including specialist sector-specific activities within those private asset markets. The group has developed deep connections with international sources of alternative investment capital since its inception in 2001. Clients served include public sector and company pension plans, insurance groups, endowments and family offices – as well as leading private-asset fund managers who raise and deploy capital raise from institutional investors.

PEI was formed following a management buyout from Euromoney Institutional Investor plc. It has grown a diversified portfolio of alternative asset-focused publications, databases and branded events. Headquartered in London with offices in Hong Kong and New York, the company currently employs around 180 people and has clients based in over 80 countries. The company’s publications include PERE, Infrastructure Investor, Private Debt Investor, Private Equity International, Real Estate Capital, Private Funds Management, Agri Investor and Secondaries Investor, amongst others.

BDC Partner Robin Lawson said, “PEI is recognised for its differentiated insight into the worlds of multiple alternative asset classes. As investors look for higher yields, continued inflows into these classes means that there is growing demand for the information, analysis and event-networking opportunities of providers like PEI. Today’s investment by BDC will support the continued international expansion of the business as well as further development of its technology platform and digital product set. Our aim in working with PEI’s management will be to ensure that it remains best-placed to scale its digital offering in a growing market and deliver progressive evolution of its specialist-brand in line with advancing client needs. In this way, we expect that increasingly sophisticated customers, both existing and new, will remain able to access the information and market connections they increasingly need to be successful in their global alternative investment strategies.”

UK, London

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CloserStill acquires majority stake in Masie Productions’ “Learning Conference”

June 8, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

CloserStillCloserStill Media, the London-based exhibition and conference organiser, has entered a joint venture with Masie Productions to produce future editions of the Learning Conference in Orlando. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Learning Conference draws around 2,000 delegates from the technology and corporate learning sectors each year and more than 40 commercial sponsors in the learning and technology field. In 2017, former First Lady Michelle Obama and actor John Lithgow were keynote speakers and Leslie Odom Jr., author of “Failing Up”, and star of Broadway hit musical Hamilton and author Dan Pink will head the international speaker faculty of ‘Learning 2018’ in November.

Elliott Masie is among the most well-known figures in the global eLearning industry. He is founder of the Masie Center, an international learning lab, and chair of The Learning Consortium, a 20 year old collaboration of Fortune 500 companies. Under the new partnership with CloserStill, Masie will continue to lead the programme curation and act as host for the Learning Conference for the new JV company – CSM Learning, LLC.

A new focus on disruptive technologies will form part of Learning 2018, with the introduction of Tech @Learning – a multi-strand content programme focussing on adaptive learning, artificial intelligence and machine learning, emerging assessment technologies, chatbots, immersive realities, edTech and venture innovations.

CloserStill’s Learning Group Director, Mark Penton, said: “We are thrilled and honoured to be working with Elliott and his team. Elliott is an innovator and a disruptor and we feel that our combined global experience in the learning world will make for a very exciting new era for the Learning Conference which we have long admired and respected”.

UK, London & USA, Saratoga Springs, NY

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