Fusion Corporate Partners

London based Just-Eat, the takeaway ordering service, has closed a financing round of $48m co-led by two leading venture capitalists, Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures with substantial support from existing investor Index Ventures.

The investment will be used to accelerate Just-Eat’s international roll-out and further develop the consumer web offering and range of services provided to partner restaurants. Just-Eat is currently represented in ten countries, across three continents and works with over 15,000 restaurants. The Company says it will generate over $500m of revenue for local businesses in 2011.

Commenting on the investment, Klaus Nyengaard, Chief Executive Officer of Just-Eat said: “Just-Eat is takeaway the smart way. Our restaurant partners get to tap-in to the exploding e-commerce market and consumers can conveniently access a wide choice of restaurants both online and via their mobiles. The investment allows us to keep pace with hungry customer demand across planet Earth and beyond. We welcome the support of our new investors in building the global champion in the category.”

UK, London

Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc is acquiring Kiddicare, the multi channel online retailer, together with the rights to its technology platform, for a total consideration of £70 million.   The acquisition is the first step in developing Morrisons online business. The company will continue to trade separately as kiddicare.com, led by Scott and Elaine Weavers-Wright.

Kiddicare, founded in 1974 by Neville and Marilyn Wright, is a UK specialist online retailer of baby products.  Turnover in the last full financial year (2010) was £37.5 million and has grown by 75% in the past three years using leading web technology and picking software.  Over 80% of sales are now through the online channel.

The company owns a new state of the art freehold distribution facility and operates the largest baby nursery equipment retail store in Europe based in Peterborough, comprising 160,000 square feet of warehouse, retail and office space.

Morrisons intends to build its online non-food business, developing the kiddicare.com platform and management team, launching its first products in 2012.

Dalton Philips, Chief Executive of Morrisons, said, “This acquisition brings not only a respected, successful and fast growing specialist retailer into the Morrisons group but also a robust, scalable and highly advanced technology platform around which we can begin to build our e-commerce offer. We are delighted to welcome Scott and Elaine Weavers-Wright to Morrisons, along with their team.  They are two of the most talented and respected operators of online retail today and their experience and track record with Kiddicare.com has been outstanding.   Their knowledge and expertise will be invaluable as Morrisons builds its online business.”

Scott Weavers-Wright, Chief Executive of kiddicare.com, said, “Elaine and I are extremely excited about partnering with Morrisons to accelerate the pace of future growth at kiddicare.com and look forward to working with the Morrisons team to develop their on-line offer. There are fantastic synergies between the two businesses and our platform will allow both brands to enjoy future success and to continue to deliver an unrivalled customer experience.”

The acquisition is subject to certain conditions which, if not satisfied by 23 March 2011, would allow Morrisons to terminate the agreement.

UK, Bradford, West Yorkshire

Following an agreement reached between the two groups, Axel Springer is to file a friendly revised offer for the shares of SeLoger.com at a price of €38.05 per share. This price represents a premium of nearly 12% compared to the price of the initial offer filed by Axel Springer on 28 September 2010.

The Revised Offer will include a minimum acceptance threshold, set at 50.01% (including Axel Springer’s current 12.4 % stake) of the share capital and voting rights of SeLoger.com, below which the Offer will be unsuccessful.

Ralph Buechi, President Axel Springer International at Axel Springer AG said: “The agreement paves the way for a transaction based on mutual consent between Axel Springer and the Board and management of SeLoger.com. Our intention has been friendly from the beginning, and we strongly believe that it is in the best interest of all parties involved that we move ahead on agreed terms. This is especially true for the management and employees of SeLoger.com, who will now be able to fully focus on the business and continue with their excellent work. Following a careful assessment, the recent share price developments of the peer group as well as SeLoger.com’s recent upward revisions of their financial targets led us to reconsider our offer price, which is now even more attractive for the shareholders of SeLoger.com.”

Germany, Berlin & France, Paris

Related articles:

• Ringier Axel Springer Media AG acquires majority in leading Slovakian internet portal AZET.SK Posted on December 20, 2010
• Axel Springer’s public tender offer for all outstanding shares of SeLoger.com has been cleared November 30, 2010
• Axel Springer has been on a digital buying spree Posted on November 20, 2010
• Axel Springer gets rid of its wallstreet:online sites Posted on May 18, 2010
• Axel Springer Russia has acquired Gruner+Jahr Russia Posted on November 25, 2010

Hold The Front Page is reporting that regional media business Archant has acquired 50% of Tickles. 

Tickles is a money saving website which uses the power of online group buying to bring members money saving deals from businesses in their local area.

Tickles was launched in May last year and operates Norfolk and Cambridge. They have 15,000 local members and plan to launch to the rest of the country within weeks.

Read the full story on HTFP

UK, Norwich

Social commerce site LivingSocial has acquired a majority stake in Let’s Bonus. The partnership bolsters LivingSocial’s rapid international expansion, making it now live in ten countries with the addition of Let’s Bonus’ Spain, Italy, Portugal, Argentina and Mexico presences. LivingSocial now has more than 16 million subscribers, is live in more than 170 markets, and is projected to book in excess of $500 million in revenue in 2011. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“The addition of Let’s Bonus to the LivingSocial team is a great opportunity to expand into Latin America and continue our European growth,” said Tim O’Shaughnessy, CEO and co-founder of LivingSocial. “Not only is LivingSocial available in ten countries, but with this acquisition we’ve gone multilingual, offering deals in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. We’re thrilled to expand our footprint with a company that believes in building the same great merchant and consumer relationships that LivingSocial has always upheld.”

Launched in September 2009 in Barcelona, Let’s Bonus helped to pioneer the collective buying movement in Europe and is the leader in the Spanish market. The company offers daily deals with discounts of up to 70% on fun, exclusive activities including gourmet dinners, luxury spas and romantic escapes. Let’s Bonus has a strong management and sales team of more than 200 employees, including local city experts in each market where the company’s daily deals program is live, and offices in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Rome, Milan, Lisbon, Buenos Aires and Mexico. Let’s Bonus’ “Planes de Viaje” section, which offers pre-packaged travel deals to users, also naturally supports LivingSocial Escapes’ international expansion.

“LivingSocial is the perfect fit for Let’s Bonus as we share the same goal of offering unique, top notch deals for subscribers,” said Miguel Vicente, founder and CEO of Let’s Bonus. “With LivingSocial’s support, we look forward to growing Let’s Bonus even faster and stronger throughout Europe and in South America.”

In 2010, LivingSocial acquired adventure company Urban Escapes  and has expanded its reach in Australia with a controlling stake in Jump On It.

USA, Washington DC & Spain, Barcelona

Related links:

• Social shopping site LivingSocial acquires Urban Escapes Posted on October 20, 2010