Deloitte acquires carbon and sustainability consultancy dcarbon8

Deloitte, the business advisory firm, has acquired dcarbon8, a carbon and sustainability consultancy, to help the firm evolve its environmental and sustainability consulting practice.

Guy Battle, a founder of dcarbon8, is joining Deloitte as a partner.

dcarbon8, a ‘grand prix’ award winner at the 2008 Green Business Awards, is at the forefront of carbon management services especially focussing on embodied carbon within products and complex supply chains. This includes the capacity to deliver Carbon Trust and Planet Positive certification of products, businesses and buildings. dcarbon8 also increasingly specialises in developing corporate sustainability and communications strategies to meet the challenges laid out by the UK Government for the low carbon economy.

John Connolly, CEO and senior partner at Deloitte, commented: “dcarbon8 is a leading innovator in carbon and sustainability consulting and already advises a number of blue chip clients. We are delighted to welcome its team to Deloitte, where their expertise in carbon footprint, water and sustainability advisory services will complement and enhance our existing credentials as we seek to establish leadership in this field.

“This deal will bring together pioneering and highly skilled people from both organisations enabling us to offer an increased range and depth of carbon and sustainability advice to a broader number of clients.”

Guy Battle, founder and director of dcarbon8, commented: “The challenges facing business as the world moves towards a low carbon economy are enormous. We see the move to Deloitte as a fantastic opportunity to combine our respective skills adding the necessary depth and resource to allow us to meet the growing demands of our customers in this field.

Location: UK, London

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Fidelity Growth Partners Europe invests in online games business InnoGames

Fidelity Growth Partners Europe a pan-European venture and growth equity investor has used part of its new £100 million European fund to invest in InnoGames, a developer and publisher of free-to-play online games. Fidelity now own a minority stake in the company, but the size and price of the stake was not disclosed. Fidelity will provide advice and access to its partnership network to help InnoGames expand globally. InnoGames currently has almost 50 million registered players across the globe playing successful titles such as Tribal Wars, The West, and Grepolis.

InnoGames’ titles do not require any additional software; all that is needed is an internet connection and a browser. The games are free to play with the players opting to purchase
various in-game advantages and virtual goods. These types of games are growing in popularity over the world. According to DFC Intelligence, an expert video game and entertainment industry research company, this market is estimated at US$1.8 billion in 2010 with a 25% compounded annual growth rate expected over the next five years.

The three co-founders of InnoGames, Eike and Hendrik Klindworth along with Michael Zillmer, will continue to manage the company, along with the recent addition of Sven Ossenbrueggen as chief financial officer, who was formerly CEO of Gamigo. Davor Hebel of FGPE will sit on the supervisory board, providing counsel and access to substantial resources.

InnoGames was advised by the M&A advisory company Corporate Finance Partners on this investment.

Location: UK, London & Germany, Hamburg

Ref: F231109-444

Priceline.com has acquired TravelJigsaw

International online travel services company Priceline.com has acquired online car rental agency TravelJigsaw.  Terms of the deal were not disclosed.  Priceline.com said it intends to retain TravelJigsaw’s current management team, who will maintain a minority ownership stake in the company and continue to manage TravelJigsaw’s operations.

Established in 2004, TravelJigsaw believes that it is the fastest growing online car rental agency in the world.  It offers its car hire services in more than 4,000 locations in 80 countries in North America, South & Central America, Europe, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East. Customers using TravelJigsaw can book online through one of TravelJigsaw’s branded websites, or they can reserve their cars by phone. 

“We believe that TravelJigsaw will be a valuable addition to our group of fast-growing international businesses,” said priceline.com President and Chief Executive Officer Jeffery H. Boyd. “TravelJigsaw has a strong management team with a growth strategy that complements our own, and we look forward to working with Greg Wills and his team.”
Location: UK, Manchester

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Groupon has acquired European competitor Citydeal

Online local deal discounter Groupon has acquired its European competitor, Citydeal.

Citydeal operates in more than 80 markets in 16 countries. The company was founded in November 2009 by a group of European entrepreneurs, including the Samwer Brothers, founders of eBay Europe. The site ran its inaugural deal in Berlin in January 2010, and has since opened offices in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, and other major European countries, currently employing more than 600 people.

“Citydeal’s rapid growth across Europe has proven that the Groupon model is truly global,” said Andrew Mason, Groupon’s founder and CEO. “By coming together, we are establishing Groupon as the company that not only invented, but now universally defines this new model of commerce.”

Citydeal will switch over to the Groupon brand name and site design in the coming months.

Location: Germany

Ref: F231109-438

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Axel Springer gets rid of its wallstreet:online sites

Axel Springer Financial Media, a subsidiary of Axel Springer AG, has sold its 75% interests in wallstreet:online AG and wallstreet:online capital AG, as well as its 33.3% interest in  ZertifikateJournal AG.

The founder and former CEO of wallstreet:online, André Kolbinger, is acquiring Axel Springer’s 75.01 percent interest in the financial community wallstreet:online. Management Board member René Krüger and senior officer Ewald Brunen are acquiring Axel Springer’s 75.1 percent interest in the investment fund broker wallstreet:online capital as part of a management buy-out. The two former Management Board members and founders Christian W. Röhl and Werner H. Heussinger are to purchase Axel Springer’s 33.3 percent investment in ZertifikateJournal, a service provider for certificates and structured financial products.

Axel Springer says it will focus its online business media activities on the high-reach financial portal finanzen.net.

Location: Germany, Berlin

Ref: F231109-437

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Morningstar France Holding is to acquire Seeds Group

Morningstar France Holding, a subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc., a provider of independent investment research, is to acquire Seeds Group, a provider of investment consulting services and fund research in France. The companies expect to complete the transaction within the next few months. Terms were not disclosed.

Seeds Group was founded in 2002 and, through its subsidiary Seeds Finance, provides investment consulting services to pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers, banks, and brokerage firms. With more than 30 clients, the company and its affiliates specialize in asset liability management (ALM), manager selection, plan construction, risk, and portfolio management in alternative investments and active strategies.

“Our acquisition of Seeds Group will expand our investment consulting services in France, which has the largest asset management market in Europe,” said Joe Mansueto, chairman and chief executive officer of Morningstar. “Seeds Group has a well-known and well-regarded brand in the French institutional market along with a talented management team, whose expertise in alternative investments will enhance our fund-of-funds investment management capabilities.”

Seeds Group and its affiliates have 12 employees based in Paris. After the acquisition is completed, Jean-Francois Bay and Vianney Dubois, co-founder and managing director, will continue to lead the business and the company will become a subsidiary of Morningstar France.

Location: France, Paris

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BT takes a stake in OnLive Inc., the cloud computing video gaming business

UK telecoms giant BT has taken a 2.6 per cent shareholding in OnLive Inc., a Silicon Valley based, cloud computing video gaming business. The value of the stake is thought to be $500,000. The deal gives BT exclusive rights to bundle the OnLive® Game Service with broadband in the UK. The move by BT into cloud gaming is designed to enhance what the company already offers in the entertainment area with BT Vision its on-demand digital TV service.
 
Onlive will deliver the latest games from many of the world’s leading publishers direct to a customer’s TV, PC or Mac. OnLive works over a wired broadband connection and customers do not need high specification computers to use the service as the complex processing work is done at remote data centres. The service will compete directly with video game consoles.

Gavin Patterson, CEO of BT Retail, said: “Entertainment is going to be at the heart of what we offer customers in the future. The partnership with OnLive complements our existing BT Vision service. It’s great for our customers – they’ll have access to a huge catalogue of games, available instantly on their TV or PC without expensive hardware. And it’s great for BT – it will enhance our premium broadband position and we’ll be entering into a market that’s worth more than £2billion.”
    
Steve Perlman, CEO of OnLive, said: “The UK market is extremely important to OnLive and our videogame publishing partners as we expand into Europe. We view BT as the ideal UK partner. As gamers are moving increasingly to online game distribution, OnLive delivers video games as a pure form of online media, playable instantly on almost any video-capable device attached to the internet. The implications are nothing short of transformative to video games and in time, all interactive media. OnLive is delighted to be pioneering this revolutionary technology in the UK together with BT”.

Neither company has revealed a UK launch date for the service. Onlive launches in the US on June 17th.

Location: UK, London

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GfK invests in research for digital media – SirValUse Consulting and nurago

GfK Group is further expanding its digital strategy With an investment in SirValUse Con-sulting, the user experience consultancy and nurago suppliers of technology for digital brand, media and usability research worldwide,

SirValUse Consulting was founded in May 2000 and specialises in the area of user experience and usability. SirValUse investigates and optimizes the user friendliness, utility value and design of websites, software, consumer electronics, mobile applications, mobile devices and industrial manufacturing technology.

GfK saus it now has a share of 40% in SirValUse Consulting and nurago, effective as of May 4. Together, SirValUse Consulting and nurago employ around 120 members of staff in Hamburg, Hanover, Berlin, Munich, London and Beijing. In 2009, the total sales of the two companies amounted to approximately EUR 6.5 million. Clients include numerous international companies from the service, retail and industrial sectors, including Google, Deutsche Telekom, OTTO, eBay, LG and Samsung.

Announcing the deal Wilhelm R. Wessels, Member of the Management Board of GfK SE, said “The clear strategic direction of GfK in the area of digital media is further cemented through our cooperation with nurago and SirValUse. We are working on new joint projects in order to link our comprehensive data on consumer behavior even more strongly with findings from online research.”

Location: Germany, Nuremberg
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Kayak acquires German flight search engine Swoodo

US flight search engine Kayak is acquiring German flight search engine Swoodoo.  Christian Saller, CEO of Swoodoo, will become Managing Director of Kayak’s German operations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The story was first reported on TechCrunch.

Locations: Germany, Munich
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Google acquires Labpixies

Google has acquired LabPixies, a developer of personalized web gadgets “widgets” including iGoogle, Android and the iPhone. The team will be based in Google’s Tel Aviv office.

Over the years, Google has worked closely with LabPixies on a variety of projects, including the launch of a number of global OpenSocial based gadgets.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it’s believed to be between $15 to $25 million, according to TechCrunch.

Location: Israel, Tel Aviv
Sector: Internet
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