Paris based MXP4, a business that develops, publishes and marketa innovative tools and applications for musicians and record has raised €3 million. The round was led by Orkos Capital and included existing investors Sofinnova and Ventech.
Location: France, Paris
Sector: Internet
Ref: F231109-401
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The First American Corporation has exercised its option to purchase Experian Information Solutions, Inc.’s 20 percent ownership in the First American Real Estate Solutions, LLC (FARES) joint venture.
“Experian has been a valued partner in the FARES joint venture and we look forward to furthering our working relationship with them in the coming years,” said Parker S. Kennedy, chairman and chief executive officer of The First American Corporation. “Our exercising of the purchase option, combined with our previously announced transactions for the noncontrolling interests in First Advantage Corporation and First American CoreLogic, provide us with control over substantially all of our assets as well as provide the Information Solutions Group with increased financial and operational flexibility as it prepares to be a stand-alone public company.”
Deal Terms: Under the terms of the option, the exercise price for Experian’s ownership interest is $313.8 million and the transaction will close on Dec. 31, 2010. With the exercise of the purchase option, First American substantially eliminates Experian’s veto rights under the joint venture agreement and significantly enhances the company’s operational and organizational flexibility.
Acquirer: The First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF)
ACQ Web: http://www.firstam.com
Location: USA, Santa Ana, CA
Region: North America
Description: A FORTUNE 500® company that traces its history to 1889. With total revenues of approximately $6.0 billion in 2009, it is America’s largest provider of business information. The company operates within five primary business segments, Title Insurance and Services, Specialty Insurance, Information and Outsourcing Solutions, Data and Analytic Solutions, and Risk Mitigation and Business Solutions.
Category: Property. Market Data
Contact 1: Parker S. Kennedy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer bio
Contact 2: Anthony “Buddy” Piszel, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer bio
Vendor: Experian (LON:EXPN)
Vendor Web: http://www.experianplc.com
Location: UK, Nottingham
Region: Europe
Description: Global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 65 countries. The company helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.
Category: Finance, Market data
Contact 1: John Peace, Chairman bio
Contact 2: Don Robert, Chief Executive Officer bio
Contact 3: Paul Brooks, Chief Financial Officer bio
Contact 4: ChrisCallero, President and Chief Operating Officer bio
Related Fusion DigiNet article: The First American Corporation acquires the noncontrolling ownership of First American CoreLogic Posted on March 31, 2010
FDN Reference: F231109-394
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Another RBI deal.
The specialty publishing group European Professional Publishing Group (EPPG) is acquiring the German specialty publisher Reed Business Information GmbH.
Both of the current managing directors, Hans-Jürgen Kuntze and André Weijde remain with the company. “Reed Business Information GmbH is a successful and well managed firm. We look forward to leading a growth-oriented strategy together with our new owner EPPG”, said Hans-Jürgen Kuntze, Managing Director of Reed Business Information GmbH.
Management Capital Holding, owner of EPPG, list the followings as the investment concept:
The closing of the transaction is subject to the approval of the German Federal Cartel Authority (Bundeskartellamt).
Aprox. Value: Undisclosed
Recent RBI deals reported on Fusion DigiNet
Acquirer: European Professional Publishing Group
ACQ Web: http://www.eppg.de
Location: Germany, Munich
Region: Europe
Description: The European Professional Publishing Group (EPPG) is a publishing group for medium-size publishers in the field of specialty information and specialty interests. Group companies grow and develop organically as well as through additional investment and acquisitions. European Professional Publishing Group is owned by Management Capital Holding.
Category: Media Group
Contact: Ferdinand Freiherr von Wrede, Managing Director
Vendor: Reed Business Information GmbH
Vendor Web: http://www.reedbusiness.de
Location: Germany, Munich
Region: Europe
Description: Reed Business Information is the international business-to-business division of Reed Elsevier. The portfolio encompasses over 400 titles, newsletters, directories, reference works and online services in over 48 market segments and in five continents. Activities in Germany are concentrated in the three areas of architecture, technology and eBusiness. Reed Business Information currently publishes the specialty journals DETAIL, RECYCLING MAGAZIN and DIGITAL PRODUCTION. Since 2007 Reed Business Information has offered the online business-to-business portal LINX as well as the company portal www.Youbizz.de.
Category: Media Group, B2B
Contact 1: Hans-Jürgen Kuntze, Managing Director
Contact 2: André Weijde, Managing Director
Links:
FDN Database Reference: F231109-390
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Wikio, the European communication Group Specialising in the Blogosphere and Social Media, has Acquired Neotia, a Buzz Monitoring and Online Reputation Management Platform.
“Neotia provides us with an essential component of our strategy, as we aim to make Wikio the European leader in Social Media Marketing,” said Pierre Chappaz, CEO of the Wikio Group. “This union will be beneficial to our commercial teams – Ebuzzing and PromoDigital – who will be able to offer a global solution to advertisers and agencies,” he added.
Pierre Chappaz, Wikio Group CEO, founded Kelkoo, the leading European shopping search engine, which was sold to Yahoo! in 2004 for EUR475 million. He then became President of Yahoo! Europe, until he left to set up Wikio.
Wikio acquired Ebuzzing in December 2009 and PromoDigital in March 2010.
Aprox. Value: Undisclosed
Acquirer: Wikio Group
ACQ Web: http://www.wikio.fr
Location: France, Paris
Region: Europe
Description: Wikio Group focuses on the blogosphere and social networks, Wikio is a communications group operating in Europe and the USA. Wikio boasts sites in six countries, indexing over one million blogs and media websites; it is also a large European news portal with over 20 million unique visitors each month. Ebuzzing (PromoDigital in Italy), the advertising arm of the group, is a platform allowing advertisers to take part in the conversations taking place at the heart of the blogosphere and social networks via the diffusion of quality content and videos. Ebuzzing currently counts over 600 advertisers as clients.
Category: Blog, Social Network, Advertising
Contact: Pierre Chappaz, CEO
Vendor: Neotia
Vendor Web: http://www.neotia.com
Location: France, Cherbourg-Octeville
Region: Europe
Description: Buzz monitoring and decision analysis for marketing agencies, consultancies and big industry groups, and information systems for managing online reputation. Neotia also offers buzz monitoring solutions, providing advertisers with in-depth studies of their desired sector, as well as reports on advertising and buzz campaigns, carried out in partnership with communications agencies.
Category: Social Media Monitoring
Contact: Jean-Pierre Colomb, Managing Director and founder
Links:
Neotia and Wikio were advised by Etienne Mouthon of Mirabaud Financial Planning S.A.
FDN Database Reference: F231109-389
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Durrants, the provider of media monitoring and analysis services has signed an agreement to acquire Gorkana, the provider of media intelligence and industry news to the PR industry and journalist community.
Alex Northcott, Gorkana Chief Executive, said: “This is an exciting leap forward for Gorkana and will provide scope to accelerate our growth internationally and in terms of the products we can offer. The synergies created by this deal will dramatically increase the level of journalist intelligence and insight we can provide to our core markets.”
Gorkana‘s founders Alex Northcott and Michael Webster will remain with the business and retain a small stake in the company.
August Equity sold Durrants, to rival firm Exponent Private Equity for the £82m sale of. August Equity backed Durrants‘ in a £14m management buy-in at the company in 2000.
In October 2009, Durrants acquired global media analysis and evaluation company Metrica. This latest acquisition will create a combined business with a turnover of more than £40M.”
Aprox. Value: Just under £25,000,000
Acquirer: Durrants
ACQ Web: http://www.durrants.co.uk
Location: UK, London
Region: Europe
Description: William Durrant and Henry Romeike founded The Press Cuttings Agency, the forerunner of Durrants, in 1880.Today Durrants offers monitoring and evaluation services to organisations which need to follow the coverage of their organisation in the media. The company monitors over 6,000 print, broadcast and online sources to provide relevant briefs to over 2,300 clients on a daily basis.
Category: Media Monitoring
Contact 1: John Moore, Chairman
Contact 2: Jeremy Thompson, Managing Director
Contact 3: Kerry Jenkins, Finance Director
Vendor: Gorkana
Vendor Web: http://www.gorkana.com
Location: UK, London
Region: Europe
Description: Gorkana is a provider of media intelligence and industry news to the PR/communications industry and journalist community. It was set up by two ex-PRs, Alex Northcott and Michael Webster, “who were frustrated by the lack of a quality service in the market to support them in targeting and building up positive and mutually beneficial working relationships with the media.” The company was named after Sergeant Gorkana, the man who saved the life of founder Alex Northcott when he became entangled in a swamp with a 120lb rucksack and a rifle on his back while in the Royal Gurkha Rifles.
Category: Media Monitoring, PR
Contact 1: Alexander Northcott, CEO / Founder
Contact 2: Michael Webster, Director / Founder
Links:
FDN Database Reference: F231109-387
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Launched just four months ago, visual search engine company Plink has been acquired by Google. Their first product, PlinkArt, which enables you to identify paintings and artworks with a snap from your phone’s camera, will continue to be available for download and work as it currently does today. However, Plink will not be updating the app and will instead focus their development efforts on Google Goggles; Googles visual search engine. Plink founders Mark Cummins and James Philbin will join Google.
Aprox. Value: Undisclosed
Acquirer: Google
ACQ Web: http://www.google.com
Location: USA, California
Region: North Amerca
Description: Internet search, e-mail, online mapping, office productivity, social networking, video sharing
Category: Search
Contact: Eric E. Schmidt, Chairman & CEO
Vendor: Plink
Vendor Web: http://www.plinkart.com
Other Web Links: Twitter
Location: UK, Oxford
Region: Europe
Description: Plink makes visual search engines that let you find out more about something just by taking a photo of it. Our first product, PlinkArt, enables you to identify paintings and artworks with just a snap from your phone’s camera.
Category: Search
Contact 1: Mark Cummins, founder
Contact 2: James Philbin, founder
Link: Announcement on Plink’s Blog
Related DigiNet articles
FDN Database Reference: F231109-386
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Morningstar UK Ltd., a subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, has acquired Old Broad Street Research Ltd. (OBSR), a premier provider of fund research, ratings, and investment consulting services in the United Kingdom, for 11.95 million pounds sterling, or approximately U.S. $18.3 million, subject to post-closing adjustments. This is the fourth Morningstar acquisition reported on Fusion DigiNet since February.
Managing directors Richard Downs, Richard Romer-Lee, and Nigel Whittingham will continue to lead the business. The subsidiary will be called, “OBSR, a Morningstar company.”
“Morningstar is a good cultural fit for OBSR. Our research team is renowned in the industry for its quality and experience. Becoming part of a global company with greater resources will enable the team to continue to take the business forward,” said Richard Downs, managing director of OBSR. “The investment and advice world is changing, particularly with the introduction of the Financial Services Authority’s Retail Distribution Review (RDR). As part of Morningstar, we will be able to leverage its core skills in research, design, technology, and data to develop a best-in-class solution that builds on our experience in this area.”
Aprox. Value: £11.95 million / $18.3 million
Acquirer: Morningstar UK
ACQ Web: http://www.morningstar.co.uk
Location: UK, London
Region: Europe
Description: Morningstar, Inc. is a provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of Internet, software, and print-based products and services for individuals, financial advisors, and institutions. Morningstar provides data on approximately 350,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 4 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. The company has operations in 20 countries and minority ownership positions in companies based in two other countries.
Category: Publisher, Media, Finance, Research
Contact1: Joe Mansueto, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer
Contact 2: Scott Cooley, Chief Financial Officer
Contact 3: Don Phillips, president of fund research
Vendor: Old Broad Street Research
Vendor Web: http://www.obsr.co.uk
Location: UK, London
Region: Europe
Description: OBSR is a UK based research and consulting firms. OBSR offers an array of customised consulting services including model portfolios, advice on fund construction, and corporate governance services, which are used by many of the leading financial advisers, life offices, and fund platforms. OBSR was established in 1999 after co-founders Richard Downs and Richard Romer-Lee purchased the research business of Buck Investment Consultants Ltd., which was created in 1994. The company has 30 employees.
Category: Market research, Consultancy
Contact 1: Richard Downs, Managing Director
Contact 2: Nigel Whittingham, Development Director
Contact 3: Richard Romer-Lee, Research Director
Links:
Related DigiNet Articles
FDN Database Reference: F231109-385
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The BBC is reported to be reviewing options for the magazine division of BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC. These might include selling off the Radio Times and entering into a partnership with a rival publisher for the rest of its magazine business.
BBC Magazines publishes over 50 consumer titles including Top Gear, Radio Times, BBC Good Food and Gardeners’ World. It is the UK’s fourth largest consumer magazine publisher and sold around 85 million copies in the past year. In 2008-09 it made an operating profit of £11.5m, down 31 per cent on the previous year, although sales rose 2.4 per cent to £182.2: Subscriptions are up 16% year on year, at 762,750 (ABC Jan-Jun 09): sales were up 2.4 per cent to £182.2m
BBC Magazines also has growing audiences round the world, with 43 licensed editions of its titles in over 55 territories. In addition, BBC Magazines has joint venture publishing partnerships in India (with the Times of India), and in Australia (with ACP).
A BBC Worldwide spokesman said: “We confirmed to BBC Worldwide staff on Friday that following a review of our magazines business we are seeking a partnership with another company to enable our portfolio of profitable market-leading titles to meet its potential, while still protecting the BBC’s editorial standards and brands.
BBC Worldwide has appointed KPMG to help it find a partner for the magazine business.
Links:
According to News Agency AFP, Better Capital Limited’s BECAP fund has backed a management buy-out to acquire Reader’s Digest UK. The UK business had gone into administration on February 17, six months after its US parent group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Managing director Chris Spratling will continue to run the company.
Aprox. Value: £13,000,000
Acquirer: Better Capital
ACQ Web: http://www.bettercapital.co.uk/
Location: UK, London
Region: Europe
Category: Investment Company
Contact 1: Jon Moulton, Chairman
Contact 2: Mark Aldridge, CEO
Administrators: On 17 February 2010, Phillip Sykes, Jeremy Willmont and Bill Beach of Moore Stephens were appointed joint administrators to The Reader’s Digest Association Limited, a UK subsidiary of The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.
Description: The Reader’s Digest magazine was founded in 1922 by Lila Bell Wallace and DeWitt Wallace, and based in Chappaqua, New York, United States. The UK version was launched in 1938. It employs 117 people and has a circulation of around 465,000.”
Link: AFP news story
FDN Database Reference: F231109-383
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1. Gadget review site gdgt has raised $3.165
2. Quora closes a Series A round
3. Stitcher raises $6 million
4. Tencent Invests $300m in Digital Sky Technologies
5. UMJ Russia Fund invests $3 million in Game Network
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