WPP leads US$250 million investment round in George Pyne’s Bruin Sports Capital 

January 6, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

wppWPP is leading a syndicate investing $250 million in Bruin Sports Capital, a global sports marketing firm launched by George Pyne, the former President of IMG Worldwide’s global sports and entertainment business.

Bruin Sports Capital will build its portfolio organically, as well as through acquisitions and investments in established sports marketing businesses, sports federations, leagues and franchises. WPP will have a preferred partnership arrangement with Bruin Sports Capital that will allow its operating companies’ clients access to unique media and sponsorship opportunities in sport.

“WPP’s investment in sports and sports content through Bruin Sports Capital is an important part of its strategy, as it impacts new markets, new media, data investment management and the application of technology and horizontality,” said Sir Martin Sorrell, Founder and CEO of WPP.  “George is a major talent in the sports business world and based on his track record, I’m confident that the clients who work with WPP’s operating companies will be given access to many high-value media and sponsorship opportunities. GroupM, our wholly owned media investment management company, manages over US$100 billion in billings (according to RECMA) and there is growing interest on the part of clients to invest some of that portfolio in content and sport.”

UK, London & USA, New York, NY

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ITE Group acquires transportation and logistics exhibition business Breakbulk

December 23, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

ITEITE Enterprises Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of ITE Group Plc, has acquired Breakbulk Holdco UK Ltd and its subsidiary companies from Electra backed, AXIO Data Group for up to $42 million (c.£26.8 million).

Breakbulk consists of a series of exhibitions, serving the transportation and logistics market for large scale project equipment, which are held annually in Houston, Antwerp, Shanghai, Johannesburg, Istanbul and Sao Paulo. In addition, the acquisition brings to ITE a magazine in print and digital format with expanded industry coverage along with its exhibition websites which serve the global breakbulk community.

breakbulkThe transaction is financed out of the Group’s existing cash and bank facilities and is expected to be earnings enhancing in the current financial year. Out of the total consideration of c.$42 million, $40 million was paid on completion with the balance payable once Breakbulk’s results for the period ended 31 December 2015 are available. The value of the gross assets being acquired is around $14m. The total profits generated by the assets acquired in the period ended 31 December 2013 was $2.6m. The Group anticipates that the purchase price equates to circa 8.5x expected FY15 EBITDA.

Breakbulk’s main events take place in Shanghai in March, Antwerp in April and Houston in October. Forward bookings for these 3 events for FY2015 are currently c90% of budget.

The current management team including Breakbulk’s Managing Director, Alli McEntyre will stay with the business.

Commenting on the acquisition, ITE’s Chief Executive Officer, Russell Taylor, said:

“ITE is continuing to build businesses in strategically important industry sectors and the acquisition of Breakbulk increases our presence in the global transportation and logistics sector. This complementary move represents progress in achieving the Group’s ambitions to expand its operations in markets and geographies with further potential for growthas well as continuing to diversify the geo-political risk in our portfolio.

UK, London

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Bloomsbury Publishing acquires Osprey Publishing

December 22, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

BloomsburyBloomsbury Publishing Plc has acquired Osprey Publishing Ltd, the Oxford-based military and natural history publisher, from private equity ownership, principally The Third Alcuin Fund LP, a fund managed by Alcuin Capital Partners LLP. The acquisition values Osprey at £4.6 million: £3.2 million paid in cash on completion plus 869,054 newly issued Bloomsbury Ordinary shares to the value of £1.4 million, which constitute approximately 1.2 per cent. of Bloomsbury’s outstanding share capital. Osprey had approximately £0.3 million of cash at the time of acquisition.

ospreyOsprey generated £7 million of revenue and £0.3 million of adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation in the year ended 31 December 2013. Gross assets at that date were £4.5 million. There are opportunities for profit enhancements following the integration of the business into Bloomsbury. The acquisition is expected to be immediately earnings enhancing contributing approximately £1.0 million of revenue to Bloomsbury in the year ending 28 February 2015.

The Osprey Group consists of Osprey Military, Heritage and Custom Publishing, and British Wildlife Press. Osprey Publishing is the world’s best known military history brand, publishing in trademark series, in both print and e-book formats, titles with international appeal, covering history from ancient times to the modern day. The Military division is the largest part of Osprey with a significant subscriber database. British Wildlife Publishing publishes high quality books and the British Wildlife magazine for lovers of the natural world. Last year Osprey Group published 212 titles in addition to its British Wildlife magazine. Osprey owns the copyright over the majority of its titles. Over 50 per cent. of Osprey’s revenue is generated outside the UK, principally in the US. The business will operate within Bloomsbury’s Special Interest Publishing, a part of the Adult division.

Nigel Newton, Chief Executive of Bloomsbury commented:

“The acquisition of Osprey increases our presence in niche special interest markets. It is complementary to, and will substantially enhance, our existing lists; in particular increasing the division’s expertise in natural history and military history publishing, as well as international sales.”

UK, London & Oxford

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WPP acquires digital agency Clarus in Mexico

December 18, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

wppWPP is to acquire the assets of Maka Marketing Digital S.A. de C.V. and Clarus Digital S.A. de C.V. (“Clarus”), a digital marketing agency in Mexico.

Clarus’ 2014 revenues should reach MXN$ 108 million. Clients include Telcel, Citi-Banamex, Aeromexico, and Sigma Alimentos. The agency, which now employs 112 people, was founded in 2009 and provides full-service digital marketing and media buying capabilities to its clients. It is based in Mexico City.

UK, London & Mexico, Mexico City

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Euromoney Institutional Investor completes Dealogic transaction

December 18, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

dealogic_logoEuromoney Institutional Investor PLC, the online information and events group, has completed the acquisition of a 15.5% equity stake in New Dealogic for £59.2 million. For the year to December 31, 2013, Dealogic achieved adjusted earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation of $66.7 million on $152.3 million of revenues, and at that date had gross assets of $127.7 million. The transaction takes effect from December 18.

See also: Euromoney to acquire a strategic shareholding in Dealogic: Sells Capital DATA and Capital NET posted on November 5, 2014

New Dealogic is a new company incorporated by The Carlyle Group to acquire Dealogic Holdings plc alongside Carlyle and Dealogic’s founders.  Euromoney’s investment in New Dealogic has been funded through the sale to New Dealogic of its interests in two businesses, Capital DATA and Capital NET, which Dealogic and Euromoney had operated jointly since the 1980s. The transaction values Euromoney’s participation in these two businesses at $85 million.

Dealogic provides data and analytics, market intelligence and capital markets software solutions to investment banks to help them manage their workflows, assist with deal origination and execution, and optimise productivity across their equity capital markets, fixed income, investment banking and research, sales and trading businesses.

UK, London

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POLITICO and Axel Springer acquire EUROPEAN VOICE

December 17, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

POLITICO, the Washington-based political news organisation, and Axel Springer, the owners of the POLITICO joint venture in Europe, have acquired EUROPEAN VOICE and will rebrand the Brussels publication as POLITICO in the spring of 2015.

The owner and publisher of the EUROPEAN VOICE, Shéhérazade Semsar-de Boisséson, will become managing director of POLITICO’s European operation, in charge of business operations. POLITICO’s European news operation will be led by Executive Editor Matthew Kaminski, a senior journalist and commentator on international affairs with The Wall Street Journal.

POLITICO’s European editorial operations will launch in spring 2015 with a website, POLITICO.EU; a weekly newspaper with circulation in Brussels; conferences and events in Brussels, Paris and Berlin; and a European edition of POLITICO Pro, a subscription-based news service covering major European policy coverage areas, such as financial services, technology, health care and energy.

Kaminski will report to POLITICO co-founder and Editor-in-Chief John F. Harris, who will be overseeing the vision and execution of POLITICO’s European newsroom in his position as chairman of the joint venture’s editorial committee. As editor in chief, Harris will be a regular presence in Brussels as the joint venture takes one of the most influential brands in American journalism to the European arena. Bill Nichols, POLITICO’s editor-at-large, will serve as the joint venture’s founding editor-at-large. Florian Eder, EU correspondent for DIE WELT, will become a managing editor. Carrie Budoff Brown, senior White House reporter for POLITICO, will become associate editor and senior reporter. POLITICO’s Gabe Brotman will oversee strategy and business development.

The EUROPEAN VOICE website, newspaper and events will all be integrated with POLITICO at the time of the spring launch. The joint venture will also take ownership of Paris-based Development Institute International (DII), France’s event promoter in the public affairs space, a business Semsar-de Boisséson co-founded in 1993. DII will continue to operate as a standalone business led by its Managing Director and co-founder Stephane Baudoin.

Semsar-de Boisséson will report to a management committee in which Axel Springer and POLITICO are equally represented.

“We see EUROPEAN VOICE, a familiar and well-respected platform in Brussels, as giving our joint venture an invaluable head start in establishing POLITICO as the new media agenda-setter at this historic moment in European politics,” said Ralph Büchi, President of Axel Springer International. “From the moment we met Shéhérazade, it was clear that her strong personality, energy and experience made her exactly the right person to lead this business.”

Germany, Berlin & Belgium, Brussels

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Social media monitoring business Brandwatch acquires PeerIndex

December 17, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

Social media monitoring business Brandwatch, which raised $22 million in May this year, has acquired PeerIndex, a London-based company providing social media analytics based on footprints from use of major social media services. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to TechCrunch, it was done mostly for shares in Brandwatch, with some cash.

PeerIndex was founded in 2010 by Azeem Azhar. The company has raised a total of £5 million.

Writing in the Brandwatch blog, Giles Palmer, CEO of Brandwatch said:

“Until now, however, it has not been a very deep tool for understanding audiences – the people who create, read and share content. As we thought about this and started to piece together our ideas for how we could develop data and systems that would bring this fascinating information to light, I happened to be speaking at an event with Azeem Azhar.

As we talked, I became acutely aware that PeerIndex were years ahead of us in their understanding and technology for influencer analytics and mapping.

I thought that if we could add their technology and know-how into Brandwatch, we’d be able to create something that doesn’t exist in the market today.”

brandwatch

UK, London

 

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WPP increases its stake in IBOPE, Latin America’s data investment management group

December 17, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

wppWPP’s wholly-owned media research and analytics business, Kantar Media, is to acquire the entire issued quota capital of IBOPE Participações Ltda, which holds a majority of the capital of IBOPE Pesquisa de Midia e Participações Ltda, IBOPE Latinoamericana SA and IMI.com (collectively the “IBOPE Media Group”).  WPP has been a minority shareowner in the IBOPE Media Group since 1997.

In addition, WPP will acquire the remaining 45% stake that it does not already own in Millward Brown do Brasil Ltda,  a market research agency,  already part of Kantar.  The Group will also acquire a 49% stake in IBOPE Inteligȇncia Pesquisa e Consultoria Ltda, the best-known political and social polling brand in Latin America.

Founded in 1942 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as The Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion and Statistics, IBOPE is a provider of insight, information and data in the Brazilian and Latin American markets.  The IBOPE Media Group employs over 2,200 people in offices in 16 countries,  throughout Latin America and the United States. 

For the year ending 30 September 2013, IBOPE Media’s gross revenues were R$392 million, with gross assets of R$225 million as at the same date. Clients include media owners, investors and marketing communications agencies.  

Commenting on the deal, Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP said:  “I’m very pleased to welcome our long-standing partners at IBOPE fully into the WPP group. This acquisition further strengthens our capabilities in data investment management and at the same time in an important fast growth region. We intend to accelerate and deepen IBOPE’s investment plans in Latin America, enabling us to offer regional clients the critical data they need, both in stand-alone media research and also in ways that combine media and purchase data to even more powerful effect. “

UK, London & Brazil, Rio de Janeiro

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Porta Communications acquires Publicasity for £2.8M

December 16, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

porta-logoPorta Communications PLC, the marketing and communications group, has acquired ICAS Holdings Limited and its 100% owned subsidiary which trades as Publicasity for £2.8 million.  Run by Zoe Ward-Waring and Tom Hargreaves, Publicasity, is a consumer public relations company specialising in the food & drink, travel & tourism, retail, home and fashion sectors.

publicasityThe agency’s 28 staff will relocate to Porta’s head office in Basinghall Street following the completion of the acquisition, and will work alongside Porta’s existing consumer PR company, Thirteen Communications.

In 2013 Publicasity produced profit before tax of £527,567 on a gross profit (fee income) of £3,073,712. Total assets less current liabilities were £2,165,714, including cash of £382,986.

Details of the acquisition

The consideration of £2,808,000 will be paid as £702,000 in cash, £702,000 in loan notes, with the balance of £1,404,000 in the form of 14,040,000 Porta ordinary 10p shares at 10p each.  The loan notes carry a coupon of 6 per cent and are redeemable for cash 12 months from the date of issue.  

The share consideration is subject to a 24 month lock-in period with a further 12 month orderly market period.  A further 2,457,000 Ordinary Shares may be issued as additional consideration should certain conditions be satisfied. However, both parties do not expect additional consideration shares to be issued at this time.

Commenting on the acquisition, Porta Chief Executive David Wright said:

“Publicasity will work alongside Thirteen Communications to create a far bigger and more diversified consumer PR offering within Porta.  This acquisition along with the previous acquisitions of WSM Print & Design and Digital, Redleaf Polhill and PPS made in 2014, mean that Porta is successfully progressing its acquisition strategy to supplement the strong organic growth in our existing dynamic businesses.  The acquisition of Publicasity should greatly enhance our ability to build a successful leading international brand given the quality of both teams and is expected to be earnings enhancing in 2015.”

UK, London

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Yonder acquires Sovetnik from Runa Capital

December 9, 2014 — Fusion DigiNet

YandexYandex, “the Google of Russia”, has bought Sovetnik by Metabar from Runa Capital, a Russian venture capital fund.The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

sovetnikSovetnik, which means “advisor” in Russian, is a browser extension that helps users find the best offer for online shopping. Sovetnik notifications appear when a person chooses an item in an online store. The application analyses the content of the page that the user is viewing, and shows multiple choice of on-line marketplaces where one can buy the same product with the best options – by quality of additional services and price. Sovetnik is used by more than two million people in Russia.

“Sovetnik provides a hint instantly, in the right place, and at the right time. People do not have to figure out where to make a purchase”, says Alexander Feoktistov, Head of Yandex.

Runa Capital fund invested $1 million in Metabar in 2011. Metabar team invented Sovetnik in 2013 and decided to pivot and focus on this project and the business around it. Runa Capital reports that the Yandex acquisition deal provided a multiple return on investment.

Russia, Moscow

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