eBay to acquire brands4friends for $200 million

December 20, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

eBay has reached a definitive agreement to acquire all of the shares of brands4friends, Germany’s largest online shopping club for fashion and lifestyle, for cash at a transaction value of approximately $200 million (€150 million). The move is designed to strengthen eBay’s position as a leading online fashion destination in Europe. eBay already generates more than $5.4 billion in clothing, shoes and accessories merchandise volume annually.

The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011. 

Germany’s largest online shopping club, brands4friends sells high-quality goods from renowned fashion and lifestyle brands at reduced prices to members through limited special offers on a daily basis. Founded in 2007, brands4friends has approximately 3.5 million members in Germany, and has held a wide variety of campaigns with more than 600 top brands, including international fashion brands such as Buffalo, Calvin Klein and Diesel. The company, which employs approximately 200 people, is headquartered in Berlin.

“We want to give our customers the best possible fashion experience online,” said Doug McCallum, Senior Vice President for eBay in Europe. “With the acquisition of brands4friends, we will enter the online shopping club market with an established and dynamic partner who has the expertise, relationships and passion to match our own ambition. We expect many eBay customers will enjoy great deals on international fashion brands by joining the brands4friends community.”

Online shopping clubs are a fast growing part of the online fashion market, and now account for approximately 20 percent of online fashion sales in Europe, according to eBay’s own research.

“eBay is the perfect partner for us,” said Sergio Dias, Chief Executive Officer of brands4friends. “We are able to bring our retail and brand competence and industry knowledge to eBay, and we can expect to benefit from eBay’s traffic and ecommerce experience to accelerate the growth of our shopping community.”

As part of the deal eBay will assume brands4friends’ equity interests in U.K. shopping club SecretSales.com and in Japan, brands4friends.jp.

USA, San Jose, CA & Germany, Berlin

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Ringier Axel Springer Media AG acquires majority in leading Slovakian internet portal AZET.SK

December 20, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Ringier Axel Springer Media AG, a joint venture founded by Swiss Ringier AG and German Axel Springer AG and  one of the leading media companies in Central and Eastern Europe, has acquired through its Slovakian subsidiary a 70 percent stake in the provider of the Slovakian web portal AZET.SK. The horizontal internet portal AZET.SK operates a number of different websites and online services. Founded in 1997, the company reaches more than 75 percent of Slovakian internet users (approx. 1.9 million unique users) and is the country’s online market leader.

Florian Fels, CEO of Ringier Axel Springer Media AG: “With our stake in AZET.SK, we have instantly acquired a leading position in Slovakia’s online market, which is expected to grow by up to 25 percent over the coming years according to current forecasts. This portal with its wide range of content is an excellent fit with our strong media brands and products, as well as an ideal addition to our current portfolio in Slovakia. I am especially delighted that the existing management team with the four AZET founders will remain with AZET and support the ongoing process of innovation and digitalization launched by Ringier Axel Springer Media AG in Central and Eastern Europe.”

Milan Dubec, founder and CEO of AZET.SK: “In Ringier Axel Springer Media we have found the right partner for AZET with a strong interest in a strategic partnership. Our common goal is to continue expanding our online business and strengthen AZET’s market position. We are looking forward to this promising collaboration.”

In the current Deloitte ranking of the fastest growing technology companies in Central Europe, AZET.SK is in eighth place over all and in first place in Slovakia (Technology Fast 50 Central Europe 2010).

Switzerland, Zurich & Slovakia, Silinia

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Publicis Groupe acquires Healthcare Consulting

December 20, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Publicis Groupe has acquired Healthcare Consulting, a strategic consulting firm focused on the healthcare sector. This new agency will be renamed Publicis Healthcare Consulting, and will continue to be led by the agency’s founders Francois Sarkozy, Chairman, and Yannick Sabatin General Manager. Following the acquisition, Francois Sarkozy will act as a special advisor to Jean-Yves Naouri, Chief Operating Officer of Publicis Groupe. Jean-Yves Naouri also supervises Publicis Healthcare Communications Group, which is led by PHCG CEO Nick Colucci.

Headquartered in Paris, with an office in New York, Publicis Healthcare Consulting provides strategic consulting to healthcare and pharmaceutical companies.

Jean-Yves Naouri, Chief Operating Officer of Publicis Groupe, stated “I am delighted to welcome Francois Sarkozy and Yannick Sabatin to our expanding healthcare offering. The duo brings a very compelling yet innovative approach to serving clients and we will benefit immensely from their expertise”.

France, Paris

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Brazil: Publicis Groupe takes majority stake in Brazil’s Andreoli MS&L

December 16, 2010

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ITE Group acquires Russian exhibition organiser, MVK for €33 million

December 20, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

The international trade event organiser, ITE Group plc has completed the acquisition of the Russian exhibition organiser, MVK and its exhibitions.  As a result of the transaction, ITE’s portfolio will now include international trade exhibitions such as PolygraphInter, Rosupak, Euroexpofurniture, Interkomplekt, Holzhaus, Woodex, PCVEXPO, Mashex and others. The total consideration is for €33m (US$44m), payable in cash on completion and funded from existing cash resources and agreed loans.

This deal further strengthens ITE’s business in Russia and extends it into several new industry sectors.

Alexander Shtalenkov, General Director of ITE Moscow said, “The acquisition of MVK’s events creates exciting growth opportunities for ITE. We will be able to use our experience of organising major international trade exhibitions in Russia and the Group’s network of domestic and overseas offices to promote and sell the MVK events. Stability and continuity are important, and I am delighted that the MVK staff and partners who have built up this business, and possess the expertise and knowledge of each event, are joining the company. We will also be applying the well established business and marketing practices of both companies to develop further the events, taking them to new levels”.

Russell Taylor, CEO of ITE, said of the acquisition. “I am excited by the opportunity this presents for ITE to develop events in new industry sectors, and so to strengthen our position in the Russian exhibition industry. Moscow is home to our largest exhibitions and this deal will significantly expand our portfolio of events here. ITE’s business has remained robust despite the challenges of the economic downturn and with many of our Moscow-based events anticipating a return to growth in the near future; this development is well timed to build on the confidence that is currently evident in the Russian economy”.

UK, London & Russia, Moscow

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Matrix Private Equity Partners completes £4 million MBO of Faversham House

December 20, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Matrix Private Equity Partners, the small buyout specialist, has invested in the £4 million management buy-out of Faversham House Group. Faversham publish Europe’s largest environmental website www.edie.net and stages the UK’s no.1 environmental exhibition, Sustainability Live!.  Matrix is investing £1.75m and will take a significant minority stake in the business.  This is Matrix’s 7th investment in the media and publishing sector and comes following the recent investment in recruitment business RDL Corporation.

Faversham, a family owned business founded in 1960, has developed into a leading media business providing websites, exhibitions and print publications to the environmental, visual communications, home improvements and building services sectors.  The business employs over 100 people and is forecasting revenues of £10m in the current year. 

Chris Price, investment manager of Matrix who led the deal comments: “Faversham is uniquely placed to benefit from both the strong growth in the environmental sector as well as the continuing media shift towards online assets.  Management have demonstrated the ability to grow by acquisition and we look forward to supporting their strategy to develop Faversham into an integrated media player in a number of attractive verticals.”

Matrix has introduced Operating Partner and serial entrepreneur, Bob Fairchild who will join as Chairman and Jill Williams who joins as FD having performed the same role for successful Matrix investment Tottel publishing.  Bob, currently Chairman of Matrix investee company ATG Media, is highly experienced in the sector and was previously managing director of Landmark Information Group, which was sold to Daily Mail & General Trust Plc.  

Amanda Barnes, CEO of Faversham comments: “We are thrilled to have partnered with Matrix and were impressed by their track record of growing businesses within the publishing and media sector.   With Matrix’s investment we are now able to take our business up a gear and implement a strong acquisitive growth strategy.”

UK, Croydon, Surrey

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Livewire Mobile acquires FoneStarz Media Group

December 18, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

US mobile music and content company Livewire Mobile, has acquired FoneStarz Media Group, a UK based mobile digital storefront and mobile content supplier.

The combination of the two companies provides a broad content-offering that includes application distribution, ringback, full-track music, video, advertising, ringtones, images and games. Furthermore, the acquisition expands Livewire Mobile’s market reach to more than 400 million subscribers at over 40 mobile operators in nearly 30 countries, providing one of the most comprehensive one-stop digital content solutions for carriers, handset manufacturers and other media companies entering the mobile content market.

Based in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, FoneStarz has a successful track record of retailing mobile entertainment content for mobile network operators. It manages cutting edge digital content services, from its proprietary merchandising and delivery platform for 11 mobile operators in eight countries around the world.

FoneStarz services are currently deployed with premier operators including Vodafone, Hutchison 3 and O2 in countries including the U.K., Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, New Zealand, South Africa and Egypt. It works with a number of other Tier 1 and 2 operators and has content aggregation agreements with handset manufacturers including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and LG, and content licenses with more than 140 media companies, including Disney, Playboy, Turner, American Greetings and Manchester United.

Livewire Mobile plans to incorporate the FoneStarz platform into its InfuseTM integrated storefront solution for mobile operators, as well as its recently launched MediadromeTM direct-to-consumer music service.

Together, the companies bring extensive global experience and market-leading technical infrastructures, providing a platform for rapid strategic growth in new and existing territories and positioning them alongside firms such as Motricity, RealNetworks and Zed in the fast-growing mobile content market. The management team is headed up by Matthew Stecker, CEO, Livewire Mobile and Dave Moreau, CEO and founder of FoneStarz, who will become COO of the combined company. They intend to grow the combined business by exploiting its product set and extending services across six continents. 

“As we stated earlier this year, we refocused our company resources toward providing our global partners and customers with an innovative suite of products and end-to-end services,” said Mr. Stecker. “Now, with this combination of two complementary companies, we are creating an even stronger organization with a broadened product suite, improved service and support worldwide and increased cross-selling opportunities to an expanded customer base.”

Mr. Moreau added: “We spent some time looking for a partner that offered a strategic fit in terms of product roadmap and territorial expansion. Scale is vital in this fast moving, global market and we believe Livewire Mobile and FoneStarz together will be able to provide a preeminent digital solution for mobile network operators, handset manufacturers and media businesses.”

USA, Littleton, MA & UK, Cambridgeshire

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Brazil: Publicis Groupe takes majority stake in Brazil’s Andreoli MS&L

December 16, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Publicis Groupe has taken a majority stake in Andreoli MS&L, one of Brazil’s top 5 full-service PR agencies. Part-owned by Publicis Groupe since 2001, the agency will be renamed Andreoli MSL Brasil, and will continue to align under MSLGROUP, Publicis Groupe’s leading specialty communications, PR and events network.

Founded in 1993 by Paulo Andreoli, Andreoli MSL Brasil employs 45 communications specialists. The agency provides consumer PR, corporate communications strategy, public affairs and crisis management for major clients including Sodexo, Hydro, OHL, BlackRock, Danone, Royal Bank of Scotland and Louis Dreyfus. As well as being a leading player in Brazil’s dynamic communications market, Sao Paulo-based Andreoli MSL Brasil will now also be a flagship hub agency for MSLGROUP’s network of 14 affiliated agencies across Latin America and Central America, with Paulo Andreoli at the helm of those businesses. Following the increase to majority ownership, Paulo Andreoli will report to Jim Tsokanos, President of MSLGROUP Americas.

In its global adspend forecast, ZenithOptimedia earlier this month predicted Latin America would be the world’s best-performing region in 2010, with ZenithOptimedia expecting growth of nearly 14 percent this year, with projections of up to 25.5 percent growth in the Brazilian market alone.

The Andreoli MSL Brasil transaction comes two months after Publicis Groupe took a stake in Brazilian advertising agency Talent. Publicis Groupe also recently acquired leading PR companies Eastwei in China, as well as both 20:20 MEDIA and 2020SOCIAL in India in the last eight weeks, all three of which joined MSLGROUP. These moves are in line with the Groupe’s stated expansion plans for the high-growth BRIC markets.

MSLGROUP CEO Olivier Fleurot commented, “Increasing our foothold in the Brazilian market means our global clients now have seamless access to one of Brazil’s star speciality communications agencies. It also positions MSLGROUP well for expansion in the South America region as a whole – this is a deal we’re naturally very excited about.”

France, Paris & Brazil, Sao Paulo

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Hi-Media Group is considering a sale of its micropayment platform

December 15, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

The on-line media group Hi-Media has announced that “given the tremendous opportunities offered by the e-payment market dynamism, it has asked the investment bank NIBC Bank to study different possible industrial and financial partnerships with respect to its leading micropayment platform Allopass and its e-wallet Hipay.”
 
Hi-media, is an online media group with more than 50 million unique visitors per month on its proprietary websites. Hi-media is a large leading European player in online advertising and electronic payment. Its business model relies thus on two different sources of revenues: online advertising via its dedicated ad network Hi-media Advertising and online content monetization via its micropayment platform Allopass. The group which operates in 9 European countries, USA and Brazil employs more than 500 people. In 2009 Hi-Media achieved €206 million in sales.

France, Paris

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Schneider Electric acquires two software technologies for building management companies

December 15, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Global specialist in energy management, Schneider Electric, has acquired two French-based software technologies for building management companies: Vizelia, a software provider of real time energy monitoring of buildings, and D5X, a specialist in solutions to optimize commercial space utilization.

Vizelia employs 12 people and is expected to generate revenues in excess of €4 million for the current year. The innovative software of Vizelia allows customers to obtain real time data monitoring of energy consumption, maintenance planning and property management for both new and existing buildings, in particular for education, public and commercial building segments.

With 27 employees, D5X offers comprehensive solutions in 3 main areas: real time tracking of movement and building occupancy, room control systems (including lighting, blinds and ventilation) and data network management. The company is expected to generate revenues in excess of €4 million for the current year.

With these acquisitions Schneider Electric complements its solution offers for fully integrated building management and further reinforces its value proposition for end users and property owners.

Chris Curtis, Executive Vice-President, Buildings business, commented: “By acquiring Vizelia and D5X, Schneider Electric enhances its capability to offer complete solutions to improve buildings performance.  We will also be able to leverage our market position in some targeted countries and propose these technologies to our customers outside of France.”

“We continue to make innovative investments in France in order to offer unparalleled solutions to our customers. They clearly want to bring their installations under control”, said Frédéric Abbal, France Country President, “from an energy monitoring point of view but also from a performance optimization point of view”

These two acquisitions are expected to meet Schneider Electric’s Return on Capital Employed criteria.

Schneider Electric has around 100,000 employees and achieved sales of 15.8 billion euros in 2009

France, Rueil-Malmaison

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Undertone acquires European Digital Representation Firm WWN

December 14, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Undertone today announced it has acquired WWN, a European digital representation firm that helps global brands connect with audiences on the world’s best websites. The acquisition unifies two organizations that are known for providing advertisers with premium reach on quality sites and gives publishers a unique opportunity to monetize both locally and globally.

WWN’s relationships include hundreds of the world’s leading professional news and information publishers in more than 40 countries, including The Economist, The Times of India, Der Spiegel, Reuters and El Mundo. 

“Undertone is aggressively scaling its business through rapid organic growth as well as domestic and international acquisition,” said Mike Cassidy, CEO, Undertone. “We are becoming a much more dominant player in digital advertising.”

Undertone also announced today that Steve Goldberg, one of the founders and an original board member of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), has joined the company as Senior Vice President and General Manager of International to lead the firm’s expanding global initiatives. Goldberg brings executive experience from media technology and mobility companies such as Intellisync (acquired by Nokia), Go2Net (acquired by Infospace), and Microsoft, where he was group manager of the initial advertising team.

USA, New York, NY & France, Paris

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