Informa acquires Brasil Trade Shows Partners Participacoes S.A. & Ibratexpo Feiras e Eventos Ltda

June 14, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Informa plc has acquired Brasil Trade Shows Partners Participacoes S.A. (BTS). BTS is a leading organiser of trade shows in the Food & Beverage Services, Furniture Manufacturing and Franchising sectors, with leading brands including Fispal, ABF and ForMobile.  BTS has been acquired from DLJ South American Partners LP.

In addition, Informa has acquired Ibratexpo Feiras e Eventos Ltda which includes Serigrafia, the largest sign, screen and digital imaging show in South America from the Alatzatianou family.

The combined maximum cash consideration payable is BRL 210m (£81m).  Informa expects these acquisitions to be earnings enhancing in 2011 and to enhance the Group’s return on capital in 2012.

These acquisitions will further strengthen Informa’s global exhibition operations.  Serigrafia enhances Informa’s leading position in the print sector alongside IPEX, one of the world’s largest print related exhibitions.  BTS provides a platform for growth in South America and strengthens Informa’s experience in the strategically important food sector.  Furthermore, the strength of its brands will provide Informa with attractive geo-cloning opportunities.

Commenting on the acquisitions Peter Rigby, Chief Executive, of Informa said, “These acquisitions are consistent with two of our strategic goals; growing our trade show business and expanding our presence in emerging markets.  BTS is an exceptionally well-managed trade show organiser with an enviable reputation in one of the world’s most dynamic and fast growing regions.  Serigrafia provides the perfect platform on which to expand our print portfolio in the emerging markets.  We are delighted that the senior management team of BTS and the founders of Serigrafia are joining the Group on acquisition.”

UK, London & Brazil

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Aegis Media’s iProspect acquires ICUC to support growing social media offerings

June 10, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Aegis Group plc, one of the world’s leading marketing communications and market research groups, has acquired ICUC Moderation Services (“ICUC”), Canada, a provider of social media intelligence and moderation services. As at 31 December 2010, ICUC had gross assets of US $1.4m.

Aegis Group’s digital performance media business iProspect, will leverage ICUC’s community management platform and social media expertise to continue enhancing iProspect’s social media offerings. iProspect has more than 800 employees in 29 countries, and 39 offices worldwide.

Jerry Buhlmann, CEO of Aegis Group plc, said: “ICUC’s market leadership and breadth of expertise in media intelligence and moderation services will boost iProspect’s leadership across the digital performance spectrum. Beyond social media moderation, ICUC brings nearly a decade of astute social media understanding and intelligence to verticals ranging from entertainment and media to CPG and retail which fits in every respect with the next generation of social media services.”

Robert Murray, iProspect Global CEO, said: “There is an ideal match between ICUC’s real-time social media services and our clients’ growing needs across the social media landscape. As consumers continue to lead the evolution of brand interaction, iProspect will be perfectly poised to offer our clients robust social media expertise, based on technology leadership as well as in-depth end customer understanding.”

UK, London & USA, Boston, MA & Canada, Winnipeg

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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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Research In Motion, acquires social mobile gaming business Scoreloop

June 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Research In Motion, makers of the Blackberry, has acquired social mobile gaming business Scoreloop.

Scoreloop was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Munich, Germany with offices in the US and Asia. The company was funded by European VCs Target Partners and Earlybird.

Tyler Lessard, VP Global Alliances & Developer Relations at RIM, said on the Blackberry blog, “We’re excited that the Scoreloop team is joining the BlackBerry® Developer team and bringing their expertise in creating social and collaborative gaming toolkits for mobile developers to the BlackBerry platform. We have recently enabled our developers to create social app experiences through our BBM™ Social Platform and have seen some very innovative applications result from that. We look forward to working with the team at Scoreloop to provide tools that will further enable our developer community to take gaming to a new level of social integration on the BlackBerry platform.”

Canada, Ontario & Germany Munich

 

 

 

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Montgomery Worldwide to acquire 100% of Fresh RM

June 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Montgomery Worldwide is in the final stages of a deal to acquire Reed Exhibitions’ shareholding in the 50:50 Montgomery:Reed joint venture, Fresh RM, for an undisclosed amount. The deal is expected to complete on 1 July 2011.

The joint venture set up in 1999 brought together Montgomery’s food and drink events and Reed’s hospitality portfolio into a single company.

Fresh RM’s portfolio of shows includes Hotelympia, IFE, Pro2Pac, Speciality & Fine Food Fair, Speciality Chocolate Fair, Hospitality, Careers in Hospitality, and ifeproductsearch.com.

“During the course of the joint venture, Fresh has developed into the largest and most respected UK exhibition organiser in the food, drink & hospitality sectors” commented Sandy Angus, Chairman of Montgomery Worldwide. “The company has not only developed the initial portfolio of shows but has expanded its business with a number of launch events that are now well established within the marketplace.”

Commenting on the sale, Reed Exhibitions UK’s CEO Andrew Fowles said “The Fresh RM JV has been a great success for Montgomery and Reed Exhibitions.  We believe now is an appropriate time for the business to be managed under one owner and the sale of our shares to Montgomery allows continuity for the staff. We plan to complete on 1st July 2011 and thereafter wish Montgomery and the Fresh RM team every success for the future.”

Fresh RM will continue to operate out of the Montgomery Worldwide offices in London.

“We have enjoyed our joint venture with Reed Exhibitions, they have been excellent partners”, says Sandy Angus. “However both parties felt that Fresh can grow faster under the control of one company and we are delighted that it will be Montgomery Worldwide taking the business forward.”

Uk, London

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Clarion events take over Scotland’s Speciality Food Show from The Guild of Fine Foods

June 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Clarion events bought Scotland’s Speciality Food Show from The Guild of Fine Foods. For the last four years Clarion Events and The Guild of Fine Food have jointly owned the Show, which has been co-managed by Springboard and The Guild.

In their announcement The Guild of Fine Foods say the reason for the sale is “they are keen to commit more time and resources to their many other interests within the UK speciality food and drink market.”

Scotland’s Speciality Food Show is co-located with Scotland’s Trade Fair and the two fairs attract 4800 key buyers and retailers from the gift and food sectors in Scotland.

Springboard Events, as well as organising Scotland’s Trade Fair, have been very involved in the marketing and operations of the Food Show in the past and are planning the transition from the current management.

Springboard Director Mark Saunders said: “This new arrangement will allow Clarion and Springboard to channel more resources in terms of management, sales and marketing into this Show. The show will remain co-located with Scotland’s Trade Fair as this is popular with both sets of buyers. We will maintain separate identities and marketing campaigns for both shows and we will be looking to grow both the exhibitors and visitors to increase the appeal of the show.”

UK, London & Glasgow

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Clarion Events Boosts Telecoms Portfolio with Acquisition of Avren Events

June 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Here is one we missed in May.

Clarion Events has purchased expert network telecommunications event organisers Avren Events. The acquisition supplements Clarion Events’ existing telecoms applications and services confexs.

Clarion Events CEO Simon Kimble commented: “We are delighted to welcome the Avren team and portfolio of network telecommunications events to the Clarion family, and look forward to fulfilling the potential of the fast growing markets they serve. Clarion’s investment boosts the existing Avren team’s capacity to scale existing events and launch into new markets. Clarion Events has a reputation for allowing its partners and brands across many market sectors and localities to have maximum control, keeping them responsive to market needs.”

UK, London

 

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Geneology website MyHeritage.com has acquired Bliscy.pl from Wirtualna Polska S.A.

June 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Geneology website MyHeritage.com has acquired Bliscy.pl from Wirtualna Polska S.A.

The move follows the company’s acquisition of several other leading family networks in 2010, including Polish site MoiKrewni.pl and its parent network OSN GmbH. Merging Bliscy.pl with MyHeritage.pl, the Polish website of MyHeritage.com, unites Poland’s competing family history sites.

The merger adds more than half a million Bliscy.pl users to the global MyHeritage.com network, resulting in a user base of more than 2.6 million Polish users.

“Having established ourselves as the leading international destination for families to connect to their past and to one another – acquiring Bliscy.pl is a natural step that enriches our global family network” said Gilad Japhet, founder and CEO of MyHeritage.com. “Our service and flagship Smart Matching™ technology enjoy a network effect, providing more value as more people use them. For this reason, this acquisition delivers great value both to the Bliscy.pl users and to the users of MyHeritage.com. Our international network of users consists of millions of families with roots in Poland, who will now find it even easier to connect to long-lost relatives and discover more about their unique family histories”.

The acquisition of Bliscy.pl marks the third major acquisition by MyHeritage.com within the last 18 months, following the acquisition of European family network OSN GmbH and its network of 10 family sites including verwandt.de, moikrewni.pl and verwant.nl, and Dutch Family Network ZOOOF. By merging the family networks into one international platform, MyHeritage.com is building a worldwide Family Graph that has grown to more than 18 million family trees and 760 million profiles.

Poland, Warsaw & UK, London & Israel, Tel Aviv

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Dentsu acquires Steak Group

June 6, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Beringea portfolio company, Steak Group, has been sold to media agency network Dentsu. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Steak will operate under the supervision of Dentsu Network West, reporting to its London office.

Steak is a digital media company, with offices in London, New York and Melbourne. Its reputation for consumer engagement and delivering measurable results is reflected in its diverse client roster, which includes such innovative brands as Virgin Holidays, AXA, Swiftcover, Debenhams and Comparethemarket.com.

Steak currently has 94 employees and is led by Oliver Bishop, Co-founder and CEO, and Duncan Parry, Co-founder and Head of Paid Search. Seb Bishop is non-executive Chairman.

Steak was Interactive Media Awards Agency of the Year after only three years trading in 2008, and has since maintained top fifteen status in Marketing and New Media Age league tables for digital search agencies in the UK.

Jim Kelly, CEO of Dentsu Europe said, “I have followed Steak’s progress since it started in 2005, and admire enormously what Ollie and his partners have achieved. Digital media is a cornerstone of Dentsu Network West’s growth strategy. This acquisition is a great step in offering class leading digital solutions to our clients in Europe”.

The partnership enables Steak to both work with Dentsu’s European offices, and to offer to its clients Dentsu’s media expertise throughout Asia. Steak is currently exploring opportunities for its clients in South East Asia.

The acquisition also doubles Dentsu’s size in the UK (alongside Dentsu London and Dentsu Sports), and follows on Dentsu’s acquisition in January of the Düsseldorf based digital creative agency, Social Thinkers, further substantiating Dentsu’s commitment to digital growth and success in Europe. Jim Kelly will join the Steak board of directors along with Tim Andree, CEO of Dentsu Network West, and Executive Officer, Dentsu Inc. Seb Bishop will remain as non-executive Chairman.

Steak’s operations will continue to be run from its headquarters in Shorts Gardens, Covent Garden, London.

As part of the transaction, Beringea the private equity investor, which invested in Steak in 2007 will fully exit the business and Trevor Hope, Beringea’s Chief Investment officer will step down from Steak’s Board.

Dentsu was advised by Clarity Capital Partners and Steak by Green Square Partners.

USA, New York, NY & UK, London

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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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