WPP invests in virtual reality company SubVRsive in the US

February 3, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet

wppWPP has made an investment in SubVRsive, Inc., a technology company that works with advertisers that want to engage consumers in the emerging virtual reality and augmented reality sector.

SubVRsive’s clients include the American Heart Association, Lionsgate Entertainment, Procter & Gamble and Showtime Networks. It is based in Austin, Texas and was founded in 2015.

SubVRsive works with directors, producers, content creators and developers to develop video, apps and interactive experiences for virtual reality devices and computers. Separately, in November WPP invested alongside IMAX and others to create US$50 million fund focused on developing virtual reality media projects.

UK, London & USA, Austin, TX

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Homeserve acquires 40% of Checkatrade and 70% of Habitissimo for a combined £37M

February 3, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet

homeserveHomeServe plc, the home repair and improvements business, has acquired shareholdings in Checkatrade in the UK and Habitissimo in Spain, two separate businesses that provide access to high quality tradespeople performing home repairs and improvements via online platforms.

Checkatrade, based in Selsey, is a UK online directory of customer recommended tradespeople with nearly 1m unique customer visits a month, resulting in approximately 1.3m jobs per annum.  HomeServe has acquired a 40 per cent interest in the business with an option to increase its position by a further 35 per cent in two years.

Habitissimo is an international online business that provides support for home improvements and repairs, connecting homeowners to trusted local tradespeople.  Based in Mallorca (Spain), Habitissimo receives over 3.6 million unique customer visits a month, resulting in approximately 0.25m jobs per annum across nine countries in Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy and France) and Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Colombia).  HomeServe has acquired a 70 per cent interest in the business with an option to increase its position by a further 30 per cent in either four or five years’ time.

The combined consideration for these two acquisitions was £37 million.

Richard Harpin, Chief Executive, HomeServe plc, commented: “Our investments in Checkatrade and Habitissimo underline HomeServe’s ambition to be at the forefront of the technological revolution as the world’s most trusted provider of home repairs and improvements.  Both of these businesses provide innovative digital platforms, connecting customers to reliable tradespeople.  With leading positions in the home repair and improvements market, these businesses will broaden HomeServe’s reach enabling us to meet the needs of younger, non-insurance minded customers who are looking to find immediate help from a wide range of home trades.

UK, Walsall, West Midlands & UK, Selsey, West Sussex & Spain, Palma De Mallorca, Islas Baleares

 

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WPP’s GTB acquires Zubi Advertising Services in the US

February 2, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet

gtbGTB, WPP’s wholly owned full-service agency dedicated to the Ford Motor Company account, has acquired Zubi Advertising Services, Inc., a full-service advertising agency that focuses on the Hispanic market in the US.

Zubi’s unaudited net revenues were US$18.9 million as of December 31, 2016. Clients include Ford, JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. and Dunkin’ Donuts. Founded in 1976, Zubi employs approximately 120 people and is based in Coral Gables, Florida, with offices in Los Angeles and Detroit.

UK, London & USA, Coral Gables, FL

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Zoopla acquires Hometrack for £12M

February 1, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet


zooplapropertyZoopla Property Group Plc is to acquire Hometrack.co.uk Limited, the UK provider of residential property market insights and analytics, for £120 million.

Established in 1999, Hometrack provides residential property market insights, analytics, valuations and data services to around 400 mortgage lenders, new home developers, investors, housing associations and local authorities. 

The total consideration is £120 million on a cash-free, debt-free basis with £108 million due on completion and £6 million payable on each of the first and second anniversary following completion. Hometrack has a CAGR of c.15% from FhometrackY13-FY16 and generated revenues of £15.5 million and adjusted EBITDA of £7.1 million in the year to 30 June 2016. The consideration represents a 14.7x multiple based on LTM to Dec-16 adjusted EBITDA for Hometrack. The value of Hometrack’s gross assets was £13.1 million as at 30 June 2016.

The acquisition will be financed through a combination of existing cash resources, a new £75 million term loan and an equity placing of up to 5% of Zoopla’s ordinary issued share capital.

Alex Chesterman, Founder & CEO of Zoopla commented, “We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Hometrack, the clear market leader in AVM services in the UK and a leading player in Australia. The deal will allow us to serve our consumers and partners even more effectively and gives us unrivalled data capabilities in the residential property market. Hometrack is a perfect fit to develop our data services business and I look forward to welcoming Charlie and his team to the ZPG (Zoopla) family.”

Hometrack provides its products to 15 of the top 20 mortgage lenders in the UK as well as all 4 leading Aushometracktralian mortgage lenders and its UK automated valuation model is recognised by all the major ratings agencies. Over 70% of Hometrack’s revenues are subscription-based and underpinned by long-term relationships.

Hometrack has 55 staff operating out of offices in London and Sydney. Following completion, Hometrack will continue to operate as a standalone brand and platform with the team forming the cornerstone of Zoopla’s data services business, which will be headed up by Charlie Bryant, CEO of Hometrack.

UK, London

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GroupM to acquire controlling interest in MediaCom India

January 25, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet

wppWPP‘s global media investment arm GroupM has agreed to increase its holding in MediaCom India to become a majority stakeholder. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

MediaCom India was founded in 2007. It employs around 170 people in India, with offices in Gurgaon, Bangalore and Mumbai as well as a representative office in Chennai. As a Content + Connection agency, MediaCom India specialises in media buying and planning across channels. Key clients including Dell, Edelweiss, Future Group, Makemytrip.com, Mars, Pedigree, Piaggio, P&G, Royal Enfield, SAB Miller, Tata Docomo, Urban Ladder, Wellspun and Wrigley’s. MediaCom India’s revenues were around INR 700 million in 2016 with assets of INR 90 million as of the same date.

UK, London & India, Mumbai

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Wilmington acquire Health Service Journal from Ascential for £19M

January 20, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet

hsjWilmington plc has acquired the Health Service Journal, a health information, insight and networking business, from Ascential plc for £19m with an adjustment for working capital, payable on completion.

The acquisition is expected to complete on 31 January 2017. HSJ will sit within Wilmington’s Insight division, aligned with Wilmington Healthcare.

HSJ revenue for the 12 months ended 31 December 2016 was £10m with pro-forma contribution before Group overheads of £4.4m. Recurring revenue from subscriptions and annual events represents around 70% of total revenue. HSJ’s gross assets at 30 June 2016 were £12.8m including intangible assets. 

The management team, led by Andy Baker and Alastair McLellan, will remain with the business and are included within the circa 60 employees transferring across to Wilmington. 

HSJ’s key products are:

  • HSJ.co.uk: A UK source of proprietary content, insight, comment and analysis on the UK healthcare sector. HSJ Online has approximately 17,000 users and is sold on an individual and corporate subscription basis. 
  • HSJ Intelligence: a digital data subscription product with approximately 20,000 data points, which was launched in 2014. It has 115 enterprise customers from across the healthcare industry.  
  • HSJ Events: 11 annual networking events including awards, large scale conferences and summits and the Health Service Journal Awards event. 
  • HSJ Marketing Services: targeted marketing solutions for the healthcare industry and a legacy digital recruitment offering.

Commenting on the acquisition Pedro Ros, Chief Executive of Wilmington plc, said: 

“I am pleased to be announcing this acquisition of Health Service Journal, which represents an exciting opportunity for Wilmington to acquire a brand of exceptional status in the UK Healthcare market, a primary source of critical information and insight to senior management and decision-makers in the NHS and wider healthcare sector.

UK, London

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Bowmark and Five Arrows sell Autodata

January 5, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet

autodata1Bowmark Capital, the mid-market private equity firm, and Five Arrows Principal Investments, the private equity business of Rothschild Merchant Banking, have sold Autodata, the provider of technical information to the automotive aftermarket, to Solera Holdings, Inc. for of £340 million. Solera is a provider of risk and asset management software and services to the automotive and property marketplace. The transaction is expected to complete in February 2017.

Established in 1975, Autodata publishes technical information on approximately 40,000 vehicle models from 136 manufacturers. Its products provide over 90,000 professional workshops with access to a comprehensive suite of up-to-date technical data and guidance on cars, light commercial vehicles and motorcycles, enabling them to carry out service, repair and diagnostic work.

Since Bowmark and Five Arrows Principal Investments acquired the company in May 2014, Autodata has significantly enhanced its content and technology platform, and expanded its customer base in Europe and Australia. It has also made three strategic acquisitions in France, Sweden and Finland. Its latest online product, which attracts over 840,000 page views per day, provides an essential workflow tool to over 120,000 automotive technicians, enabling them to conduct their day-to-day activities efficiently and effectively.

Rod Williams, Autodata’s chief executive, commented: “With the support of Bowmark and Five Arrows, we have achieved significant growth over the past two and a half years, driven by new product innovation, investment in people and expanding our footprint in our core markets. Our products and services represent an excellent fit with those of Solera, and we are excited at the new opportunities which being part of the Solera group will bring – to Autodata, its customers and its employees.”

Bowmark partner, Julian Masters, said: “Since 2014, Bowmark and Five Arrows have worked closely with Autodata to enhance its product offering and accelerate its growth. The company is well-positioned to continue its success under its new owner.”

UK, London & Maidenhead, Kent

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Wunderman acquires majority stake in Pmweb in Brazil 

January 3, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet

WPP’s wholly-owned operating company Wunderman, a global digital agency, has acquired a majority stake of Pmweb Comunicação Ltda., a digital marketing specialist in Brazil.

Pmweb’s gross revenues were over R$32 million for the year ended December 31, 2015 with net assets of R$3 million as of the same date. Clients include Avon, B2W Digital, LATAM Airlines, Lojas Renner, Mercado Livre, ViajaNet, Walmart and Whirlpool Corporation. Founded in 1997, the company employs 140 people and is based in Porto Alegre with an office in São Paulo. The company will operate as Pmweb as part of Wunderman.

Pmweb monitors digital campaigns across multiple screens and devices on behalf of its clients, allowing them to tweak messages in real time to optimize their effectiveness. Managing a database of 200 million consumers, it is Brazil’s leading cross-channel campaign management and optimization company.

UK, London & Brazil, Porto Alegre

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Pageant Media acquires Hedge Fund Intelligence from Euromoney

January 3, 2017 — Fusion DigiNet

pageant-mediaPageant Media, the business information specialist has acquired Hedge Fund Intelligence from Euromoney Institutional Investor. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Hedge Fund Intelligence provides a series of business information, data and workflow products – including EuroHedge and AsiaHedge – and global events, which provide a 360-degree view of the hedge fund world.

Pageant Media is one of the financial sector’s fastest growing providers of intelligence and insight. The company, founded in 1998, provides membership services offering senior professionals – across a range of industries, including hedge funds, mutual funds and real estate – exposure to market leading news and analysis, data and events.

This acquisition provides Pageant Media with a series of synergies and brand extension opportunities for its existing market-leading hedge fund brand, HFM, and will increase the company’s scale and reach in the global hedge fund space.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Charlie Kerr, Chief Executive of Pageant Media, said: “This latest deal will enable to Pageant Media significantly to enhance its business information offering to the hedge fund industry. As with the recent acquisition of II Searches, we look forward to integrating these brands into our business and evolving their digital offering. These products will also benefit from Pageant’s belief in strong content, user engagement and creating a membership model that delivers real value.”

Staff from both the UK and US will join Pageant Media’s London and New York offices.

UK, London & USA, New York

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Conditional acquisition of majority shareholding in Martis Consulting

December 22, 2016 — Fusion DigiNet

SEC, the largest independent advocacy, public relations and integrated communications agency in the Italian market, has signed a binding agreement for the acquisition of a majority shareholding in a Polish company, Martis Consulting SP z o.o, in line with its stated acquisition strategy.

SEC are acquiring 60% of Martis Consulting and will pay EUR 1,046,718 on completion.  The final price to be paid will depend on Martis Consulting’s 2016 EBITDA. 

Martis Consulting has a strong track record in public and corporate affairs at national and European level. Its specialist consultants work in a range of sectors including oil and gas, energy and environment, financial services, health, housing, justice and legal, as well as property development and transport.   

 In the year ended December 2015, Martis Consulting had total assets of EUR 2,206,497 (of which EUR 1,935,798 represents non-current assets that included Land, Buildings and Securities and EUR 270,699 of current assets primarily represented by trade receivables; an equity of EUR 1,795,921, loans for a total amount of EUR 320,523, the remaining EUR 90,052 was represented by trade payables and other current liabilities, unaudited),  turnover of EUR 1,688,881 (unaudited) and Martis Consulting made profit before tax of EUR 285,620 (unaudited).

The acquisition of Martis Consulting is conditional on the spin-off of real estate, securities and bank loans previously held by Martis Consulting to a newco, and SEC will be only acquiring the remainder of the assets and liabilities.

Ewa Baldwiga and Dariusz Jarosz, directors of Martis Consulting, will retain their roles leading Martis Consulting, and at the same time Ewa Baldwiga and Dariusz Jarosz will be part of the management committee of the SEC, the committee whose members are all the managing directors of the SEC subsidiary companies. 

Belgium, Brussels & Poland, Warsaw

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