Social media agency Punktilio acquired by Essence

May 30, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Digital agency Essence has acquired specialist social media agency Punktilio Limited. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Punktilio’s website says, ” Social is already of considerable importance to many brands – and for some is central to their brand strategy. We believe its importance will only grow – and with that the need for social to be wholly integrated with a brand’s overall digital strategy will become fundamental. With that in mind, we wonder if the days of the specialist social media agency are numbered? And perhaps this deal may become seen as a transformative moment for the industry.”

Michael Birch, founder of Bebo and now a shareholder in Essence following the deal, agrees: “In my mind there will be no room for a ‘specialist social media agency’ in two years. The future is all about joined up thinking. I see huge potential for this combined business and my ongoing commitment to the agency will continue.”

Punktilio, an agency co-founded by former Bebo exec Hal Stokes.

UK, London

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France: Match.com announces planned public offer for all outstanding shares of Meetic S.A.

May 30, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Dating website Match.com, an operating business of IAC, is to launch a voluntary public tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of Meetic S.A. at a price of euro 15.00 per share in cash. The offer price represents a premium of approximately 11.6% on the closing price of Meetic shares on May 27, 2011.

Match.com owns approximately 27% of the outstanding shares of Meetic, which it obtained when it combined its European businesses with Meetic in 2009.

“Today we are announcing a big step forward in strengthening our partnership with Meetic and aligning the companies for even greater growth,” said Greg Blatt, CEO of IAC.  “We believe people will increasingly meet online, and increasing our ownership stake allows us to leverage our commitments to product, marketing and technology innovation in the space across Europe.  Meetic has done a fantastic job realizing the synergies from the 2009 merger, and now we believe we can apply the same lessons learned in revitalizing Match.com’s growth trajectory in the U.S. beginning in 2009.”

Marc Simoncini, Meetic’s founder and Chairman, has entered into a binding agreement to tender in the offer approximately 3.7 million shares, representing approximately 16% of the total number of shares outstanding.  Mr. Simoncini will retain the balance of his stake (approximately 1.6 million shares, representing approximately 7% of the total number of shares outstanding) and intends to remain on Meetic’s Board.

Philippe Chainieux, Meetic Group’s Executive Vice President, said, “Meetic’s Executive Committee fully supports this transaction which, considering the globalization of the dating and matchmaking business, will offer Meetic new growth opportunities with the implementation of existing financial and industrial synergies between Match and Meetic.”

Match expects to file the public offer with the French Securities Regulator (Autorite des marches financiers) within two to three weeks.  The offer will not be subject to a minimum tender condition.

Meetic is a French stock corporation, with its registered office in Paris.  It’s online dating business is established in 16 European countries, and is available in 13 languages. In 2010, Meetic posted sales of euro 186.0mand an EBITDA margin of 20.6%.  Meetic is listed in Compartment B of Euronext Paris of the NYSE Euronext.   Match does not intend to de-list the Company following completion of the tender offer.

Match.com has experienced record growth over the last year. Core revenue increased 18% to $93.3 million in first quarter 2011, driven by a 22% increase in subscribers. Through its subsidiary Match Pegasus, Match owns approximately 6.1 million shares of Meetic, representing approximately 27% of Meetic’s outstanding shares.  These shares were obtained in a 2009 transaction merging the European operations of Match.com and Meetic.

USA, New York, NY & France, Paris

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Glam Media has acquired BabyWorld

May 29, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Glam Media has acquired BabyWorld community site, a purchase that’s meant to both spur the company’s growth in the “family/parenting” vertical and solidify its presence in the UK. Details of the deal were not disclosed.

Babyworld, a commercial online magazine for the expectant and new parent community, was started in 1996 by Radcliffe Medical Press. The company describes itself as “an interactive ‘one-stop shop’ resource where our parent community can attend our unique on-line antenatal classes, seek advice, make friends and share experiences, birth stories and information in the discussion forums. They can also read articles, find product information and product reviews as well as shop in our online shop.”

It is being reported that Glam is preparing for an IPO. Glam Media raised its fifth round of venture capital last year – $50 million from aeris CAPITAL. The company did not disclose the valuation of the round, but it was rumoured to be around $750 million.

USA, Brisbane, CA & UK, London

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dunnhumby to acquire social marketing company BzzAgent

May 29, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

dunnhumby Ltd is to acquire Boston-based social marketing company BzzAgent, Inc. Following completion of the deal, BzzAgent will become a subsidiary of dunnhumby and operate as a stand-alone business. Dave Balter, CEO and Founder of BzzAgent, will continue in his current role and will report directly to Simon Hay, CEO of dunnhumby Ltd. Balter will also join the dunnhumby executive team. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The acquisition is a marriage of one of the leaders in shopper marketing with a social marketing pioneer. dunnhumby analyzes shopper data that helps consumer goods companies and retailers better understand the behavior and motivation of their customers. BzzAgent helps marketers reach their customers, encouraging brand advocacy and product recommendations among them. Together, the companies will use the power of peer influence and word-of-mouth to improve customer insights and product sales for consumer goods companies and retailers.

“The customer today is as influential as the marketing gurus were a decade ago. Customers’ choices are influenced in many places and social media and word-of-mouth are playing a key role for brands and retailers,” said Simon Hay, CEO of dunnhumby Ltd. “Not only does BzzAgent leverage a base of 800,000 influential customers in the word-of-mouth space, it is focused on measuring return on investment and the role of social media. Our focus has always been on building loyalty. With BzzAgent, we believe we can now help our clients understand advocacy and use this knowledge to earn more loyal customers for retailers and brands,” Hay continued.

“dunnhumby has built a stellar reputation in the retail and CPG space by focusing on customer attitudes and behaviors,” said Balter. “BzzAgent shares that focus and we are excited to leverage dunnhumby’s unmatched targeting and analytic capabilities to provide our programs greater scale and proof of impact. Together we think we have a huge opportunity to connect the dots between shopper marketing and social media.”

BzzAgent, founded in 2001, a pioneer in the word-of-mouth marketing space, enlists “agents” to generate awareness for consumer goods and services among their peers. The company’s network of 800,000 consumers helps its clients create word-of-mouth endorsements of its products. Clients include some of the world’s largest marketers, including Procter & Gamble, Unilever, L’Oreal and Michelin. BzzAgent has completed more than 2,000 programs for 500-plus companies since it was founded.

Cowen and Company is acting as exclusive financial advisor to BzzAgent, Inc. in connection with the transaction.

UK, London & USA, Boston, MA

 

 

 

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Landis+Gyr to be acquired by Toshiba for US$2.3 Billion

May 28, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Toshiba Corporation is to acquire Swiss smart meter company Landis+Gyr for US$2.3 billion in cash.

With over 8,000 utility customers globally, Landis+Gyr has been a pioneer in creating smart metering, networking and service products to meet the needs of the utility industry for more than 100 years. Toshiba is acquiring this capability and know-how, and intends to build the business as a stand-alone platform.

“We welcome Landis+Gyr, the world leader in smart metering products and services, to the Toshiba family,” said Hideo Kitamura, Toshiba’s Corporate Executive Vice President. “Our intent is to become a global leader in the Smart Community business by 2020. Together with Landis+Gyr, we will accelerate the development of our combined product and service portfolio to empower utilities and their end customers and to provide sophisticated Smart Community solutions in the global market.”

There are no plans for job reduction or restructuring as a result of this transaction. As of today, Andreas Umbach has assumed the title of Landis+Gyr’s Chief Executive Officer and Cameron O’Reilly will become the Executive Deputy Chairman until the closing of the transaction.

“Over the past 10 years we have built the world leader in smart metering,” said Landis+Gyr CEO Andreas Umbach. “As a growth platform for Toshiba, Landis+Gyr will have the resources and power to complement, and indeed accelerate, our product offering to utilities. With this transaction, Toshiba will now share our vision of helping the world manage energy better.”

Credit Suisse and Lazard led the sale process of Landis+Gyr to Toshiba. Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs co-advised Landis+Gyr shareholders on various liquidity alternatives.

Switzerland, Zug

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TweetDeck acquired By Twitter

May 24, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Tweetdeck has been acquired by Twitter for a reported $40 million mix of cash and stock.

Iain Dodsworth, CEO of Tweetdeck, announced the acquisition on the official Tweet blob.

“I am extremely happy and proud to let you know that TweetDeck has been acquired by Twitter. We completed the deal on Tuesday and are now in the process of “joining the flock”.

The past three years have been an epic journey, with many highs and lows, accompanied by the constant thrill of never really knowing what to expect next. We’ve grown from one team member and a single user, to a team of fifteen and a user-base of millions. The reason for this growth is simple – our unwavering focus on providing high-quality tools and services for the Twitter-centric power-user. This has always been our core audience – the most active, influential and valuable users of Twitter and social media in general. Quality over quantity.

It is precisely for this reason that Twitter has acquired TweetDeck. The mainstream Twitter user-base is well catered for by twitter.com and the official mobile clients. And by becoming part of the official platform, TweetDeck will now fill that role for brands, influencers, the highly active and anyone that just needs “more power”.

Change may well be inevitable, but we remain the same team, staying in London, with the same focus and products, and now with the support and resources to allow us to grow and take on even bigger challenges.

I’d like to finish with a big thank-you to all our investors for their support and guidance over the past few years, especially Betaworks, TAG, SV Angel and PROfounders. And of course a huge congratulations to the whole TweetDeck team – I’m extremely proud of you and this is a huge win for us all.”

USA, San Francisco, CA & & UK, London

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Sanoma Media Netherlands acquires Hemels Publishers

May 20, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Sanoma Media Netherlands is acquiring Hemels Publishers, one of the leading custom media companies in The Netherlands. Terms f the deal were not disclosed.

Hemels Publishers will remain based in Hilversum, with its full staff. Jeroen Hemels, General Director of Hemels Publishers, will start reporting to the COO Print of Sanoma Media Netherlands, Henk Scheenstra.

Hemels differentiates itself from other custom media companies through its ability to create regional translations of the magazines developed for their customers. The added value for Sanoma Media Netherlands comes from synergies created by complementing Hemels’ custom media knowledge with Sanoma’s digital media expertise. This combination creates an even more appealing business offering, opening up opportunities to grow market share in custom media more quickly.

“Hemels is a strong company with a beautiful and broad portfolio,” comments Henk Scheenstra, COO Print Sanoma Media Netherlands. “Hemels has proven to be able to develop long-lasting relationships with its customers. They are also very skilled at creating loyalty magazines for brands like Mercedes-Benz and KLM. Together with their ability to segment editorial content to regional areas Hemels has unique competencies. We are adding our custom media activation expertise and digital knowledge to the mix. Hemels and Sanoma are combining forces optimally, enabling us to offer cross media custom media activities.”

The Netherlands, Hoofddorp

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24MAS acquires mobile applications and service provider Selatra

May 20, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Mobile advertising and applications business 24MAS has acquired Irish mobile service provider Selatra. From its headquarters in Cork, Selatra operates in 55 countries and has over 9 years of experience delivering mobile content and fully managed operator services.

“We are thrilled by this new partnership between the Selatra team and the 24MAS group. We are now able to offer our partners the full solution of advertising and premium content solutions, whilst allowing app developers to deal simply with one company and earn additional revenues through our networks – submit once and deliver to all, ads or apps. We feel that we are in a unique position to exploit the booming mobile markets in the coming years with distributions rights, unmatched global reach, application hosting and managed service solutions covering everything from monitoring, reporting and billing. By adding on great titles to our app portfolio we will soon also have a collection of some of the best mobile apps on the market,” says Tero Turunen, CEO 24MAS.

Sweden, Stockholm & Ireland, Cork

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Publicis Groupe to acquire digital marketing agencies Rosetta

May 19, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Publicis Groupe is to acquire Rosetta Marketing Group. Rosetta is one of the largest and fastest-growing independent digital agencies in North America. Rosetta employs around 1,100 interactive marketing professionals throughout the United States and Canada. The transaction is expected to close during the second or third quarter of 2011.

Rosetta will operate as an autonomous, stand-alone brand within Publicis Groupe under the leadership of Rosetta’s founder & CEO Chris Kuenne, who will remain at the head of the agency, reporting to Jean-Yves Naouri, Chief Operating Officer of Publicis Groupe. The addition of Rosetta to its other digital businesses – which include Digitas, Razorfish and Publicis Modem – will bring Publicis Groupe’s annual revenue derived from digital activity to more than 30%.

Maurice Levy, Chairman & CEO of Publicis Groupe, commented, “The acquisition of Rosetta is a key next step in our strategy to become the ‘human, all digital agency group.’

France, Paris & USA, Princeton, NJ

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Thomson Reuters acquires World-Check

May 19, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Thomson Reuters has acquired London-based World-Check, a leading global provider of financial crime and corruption prevention information. World-Check has around 500 employees based in 11 locations around the world. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Financial crime and corruption prevention is one of the fastest-growing areas of regulatory risk. Businesses are facing more risks – and scrutiny – than ever, and governments and regulators around the world are increasing the level of compliance and inspection, particularly around fraud, bribery and sanctions. World-Check provides information that profiles entities and individuals and is used in the due diligence processes of the international business community. More than 5,400 clients in over 150 countries, including 49 of the world’s top 50 banks, 200 enforcement and regulatory agencies, and 45 of the world’s top 100 corporations, rely on the World-Check database.

World-Check will be part of the Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) business of Thomson Reuters, which provides global financial institutions, corporations and law firms with the information and tools necessary to navigate today’s heightened regulatory landscape. Chief Executive Officer Dan Peak will continue to lead the World-Check executive team, and will report to David Craig, president, GRC.

“Growing our presence in the GRC sector is a key strategic priority for Thomson Reuters, and the addition of World-Check will extend our presence in the important and fast-growing financial crime and corruption prevention segment,” said Craig. Earlier this year, the company introduced Thomson Reuters Accelus – a comprehensive suite of information, software and services for professionals in compliance, audit, legal, mergers and acquisitions, and risk functions in an organization.

“Managing risk across the enterprise is a key concern for our customers,” said Thomas H. Glocer, chief executive officer of Thomson Reuters. “I’m pleased we have secured this excellent opportunity to reinvest some of the proceeds of our recently announced dispositions as we pursue our global growth strategy.”

“World-Check affirms and accelerates our commitment to deliver the information, software and services that help legal, compliance and risk professionals navigate an increasingly complex global risk and regulatory landscape,” said Jim Smith, chief executive officer, Thomson Reuters Professional Division. “World-Check is a leader in this sector, and we’re delighted that they are now part of the Thomson Reuters team.”

“I am really excited about the new opportunities presented by the combination of Thomson Reuters and World-Check, which will enhance our ability to deliver world-class information services to help prevent financial crime and corruption,” said Peak.

USA, New York, NY & UK, London

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