Advantage IQ acquires The Loyalton Group

December 9, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Strategic energy management solutions company Advantage IQ, is to acquire The Loyalton Group.

The Loyalton Group is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, and has additional offices in Washington, DC and Houston, TX. The company provides energy procurement and price risk management solutions. The Loyalton Group is strong in the hospitality industry, with a particular presence in the multi-family, senior living, education and food service sectors.

Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, The Loyalton Group, with revenues in excess of $7.5 million for the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2010, will become part of Advantage IQ. The transaction will be funded entirely by Advantage IQ and is expected to be slightly accretive to earnings in 2011. The transaction is expected to close before Jan. 1, 2011, and is subject to customary closing conditions.

Commenting on the acquisition, Jeff Heggedahl, president and chief executive officer of Advantage IQ, said, “This acquisition shows further progress in our strategy to expand market share, while continuing to provide clients with a deep bench of expertise to help them manage energy consumption and reduce costs.”

He continued, “The Loyalton Group has a roster of world-class clients. Their proven ability to secure aggressive energy pricing and develop unique risk management solutions will augment Advantage IQ’s well-established procurement services for its clients, many of which are Fortune 1000 companies.”

Services offered include utility expense management, energy procurement and price risk management, facility optimization and sustainability consulting. To support its national client base, Advantage IQ plans to maintain The Loyalton Group regional offices in Minneapolis, Minn., and Washington, D.C. Advantage IQ’s Heggedahl will continue to lead the organization, and Loyalton co-founders Michael R. Vaughan and Martin B. Sieh will assume roles on Advantage IQ’s senior leadership team. 

“Advantage IQ is a leader in the energy management space, and we are thrilled to be joining this outstanding group of professionals,” said Michael R. Vaughan, chief executive officer of The Loyalton Group. “The combined strength of both organizations will create opportunities for clients to further reduce expenditures, manage risk and leverage their sustainability initiatives for a competitive advantage.”

With this acquisition, Advantage IQ continues to build upon its already significant position in the industry, growing its valuable electric usage database of more than 25,000 MW of commercial and industrial load.  

Advantage IQ is a subsidiary of Avista Corp. (NYSE: AVA)

USA, Spokane & Minneapolis, MN

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Google acquire Phonetic Arts

December 7, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Google has acquired Bristish speech synthesis company Phonetic Arts. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Mike Cohen, Manager, Speech Technology at Google, said, “There’s a particular focus right now in the U.K. on technology and innovation, and we’re delighted to be deepening our investment in the country with this acquisition. We already have a strong engineering center in London and look forward to welcoming Phonetic Arts to the team. We are excited about their technology, and while we don’t have plans to share yet, we’re confident that together we’ll move a little faster towards that Star Trek future.”

Phoentic Arts was founded Paul Taylor (CEO), Anthony Tomlinson (Vice President, Voice Production) and Ian Hodson (Vice President, Engineering) in 2006. All three were avid gamers and all three believed that games could only get better by the inclusion of dynamic speech. The 14 staff are all based in Cambridge.In 2000, Taylor co-founded Rhetorical Systems and sold to, speech recognition giant Nuance, in 2004.

UK, Cambridge & USA, Mountain View, CA

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Google acquires Widevine

December 7, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Google has acquired digital entertainment content business Widevine.Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Brian Baker, Widevine’s CEO, Widevine said “By working with Google, we are even further committed to the consumer Internet video experience and to the needs of content owners. Widevine will continue to supply the industry with leading video optimization and content protection solutions. We are excited to have access to Google’s vast resources as we continue to improve our products, support our customers, and meet the future needs of consumers, content owners, service providers and device manufacturers everywhere.”

Mario Queiroz, VP of Product Management at Google said, “We’re pleased to announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Widevine. The Widevine team has worked to provide a better video delivery experience for businesses of all kinds: from the studios that create your favorite shows and movies, to the cable systems and channels that broadcast them online and on TV, to the hardware manufacturers that let you watch that content on a variety of devices. By forging partnerships across the entire ecosystem, Widevine has made on demand services more efficient and secure for media companies, and ultimately more available and convenient for users.

We are committed to maintaining Widevine’s agreements and will provide direct, quality support for their existing and future clients—and we plan to build upon Widevine’s technology to enhance both their products and our own. We’re excited to welcome the Widevine team to Google, and together we’ll work to improve access to great video content across the web.”

USA, Mountain View, CA & Seattle, WA

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Publishers Clearing House acquires Candystand.com

December 7, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Publishers Clearing House has acquired Funtank and its casual and branded gaming property Candystand.com. Funtank will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Publishers Clearing House and maintain its current offices in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City. Funtank will continue to be led by co-founders, James Baker and Scott Tannen. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Candystand and the Funtank team will be key in driving Publishers Clearing House’s social, mobile and web game development capabilities and provide our advertisers with more scale and reach across the online gaming audience,” said Josh Glantz, vice president and general manager of PCH Online. “We look forward to combining our unique media offerings as well as promotional and sweepstakes expertise with their creativity to reach new audiences, deliver new experiences and develop new businesses. Integrating Candystand into our offerings will also enhance our ability to deliver a wider range of opportunities for consumers to play and win in addition to our traditional sweepstakes.”

Candystand.com was acquired by Funtank from Wrigley in 2008. Since its launch by Nabisco’s Life Savers Company in 1997, the site has built a substantial audience by delivering online games of the highest quality. In most cases, these games are branded and sponsored by some of the world’s top brands. By adding the Funtank team to its fold, Publishers Clearing House strengthens its emerging casual gaming business, enhances its unique advertising offerings and will help to attract, retain and build even bigger audiences across the web as well as social and mobile platforms.

“Joining forces with Publishers Clearing House will be outstanding for our Company, our clients and most importantly, our users,” said Funtank president and co-founder Scott Tannen. “We look forward to working with them to not only extend the reach and visibility of our integrated marketing programs, but to also bring our loyal audiences loads of new content and ways to win. In concert with the PCH team, the Candystand and Funtank brands will aggressively expand into the mobile and social media spaces, creating unparalleled branding entertainment opportunities for our clients.”

USA, New York, NY

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AOL exploring a breakup of the company and merger with Yahoo

December 7, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Reuters is reporting that AOL is actively exploring a breakup involving a complicated series of transactions that may lead to a merger with Yahoo.

AOL has not made a formal proposal to Yahoo. Reuters sources have requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Read the full story

USA, New York, NY

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SC Business Publications buys South Carolina business publications from Ohio Community Media

November 30, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

SC Business Publications LLC, a newly formed company led by regional private equity firm Virginia Capital Partners LLC has acquired a group of South Carolina business publications based in Charleston.  The group includes Charleston Regional Business Journal, GSA Business serving the Greenville-Spartanburg area, the Columbia Regional Business Report, SCBIZ Magazine and other business related publications, events and websites. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Existing management will remain in their current roles. Grady Johnson was named president and will continue as group publisher.

“We are anxious to turn our focus to growth and serving the needs of the state’s business community. With the assistance of Virginia Capital, we look forward to continuing our mission as South Carolina’s media engine for economic growth,” Johnson said.

Founded in 1996, Virginia Capital Partners is focused in the south Atlantic region. Virginia Capital also is an investor in Virginia Business, a statewide monthly business publication.

Ohio Community Media took ownership of these and other publishing assets through a court-ordered Section 363 bankruptcy sale of the Brown Publishing Company’s assets earlier this year. OCM has been divesting former Brown Publishing business publications since taking ownership. OCM continues to own and operate a large portfolio of daily and weekly newspapers in western Ohio.

Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, a newspaper merger and acquisition firm in Santa Fe, New Mexico, represented the seller, Ohio Community Media, LLC, in the transaction.

USA, Charleston, SC

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Travel Ad Network acquires TravelMuse

November 30, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Travel Ad Network (TAN) has purchased the assets of TravelMuse, a comprehensive travel planning website that reaches travelers early in the consumer travel lifecycle. This is a significant addition to Travel Ad Network’s owned and operated properties and continues the transformation of TAN from a vertical ad network into an integrated digital media company. Financial details of the acquisition will not be disclosed.

Following the October 19th close of a $15 million Series C round of financing, Brian Silver, CEO of Travel Ad Network, indicated that the proceeds of the round would go towards acquiring travel sites, content, and tools, as well as towards increasing TAN’s technology infrastructure.

“Travel Ad Network’s goal remains to build, organize and serve the largest online travel audience in the world,” says Mr. Silver. “We are excited to add TravelMuse to our portfolio. We will also leverage TravelMuse tools across our exclusive sites to enhance the user experience.”

“I am delighted that TravelMuse has become part of Travel Ad Network. It is exciting to contribute to TAN’s success in building the leading travel digital media company,” says TravelMuse CEO Russ Lemelin.

Founded by Kevin Fliess and launched in 2008, TravelMuse (www.travelmuse.com) is an online destination for finding inspiration and planning trips with friends and family. Visitors can save any page from the Web using the TravelMuse Bookmarker; easily create Trips; organize, schedule and share travel information with the TravelMuse Planner; get travel recommendations; and use the industry’s first Inspiration Finder to discover destinations. It attracts about 100,000 unique visitors each month. The company raised more than $6 million in funding primarily from Azure Capital Partners and California Technology Ventures.

USA, New York, NY & Palo Alto, CA

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Has Google bought Groupon?

November 30, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

The Press, Bloggers and Tweeters are spreading rumours today that Google has just paid $2.5 billion for social-shopping site Groupon. As far as Fusion DigiNet can tell none of the rumours have been confirmed yet. TechCrunch is reporting that the price is likely to be between $5 and $6 billion.

Watch this space.

Click on a headline below to read just some of the speculation:

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Apax Funds to acquire majority interest in Advantage Sales & Marketing LLC

November 27, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Apax Partners are to acquire a majority interest in Advantage Sales & Marketing LLC (ASM) from J.W. Childs Associates, L.P. and BAML Capital Partners (Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity).  Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

ASM, which provides outsourced sales, marketing and merchandising services to manufacturers, suppliers and producers of consumer packaged goods, has 2010 revenues of approximately $1 billion.  Upon completion of the transaction, ASM’s senior leadership team will continue to manage the Company’s day-to-day operations.

“ASM has established an impressive track record of generating value for its clients and customers through its operational excellence in both Sales and Marketing,” said John Megrue, Chief Executive Officer of Apax Partners U.S., and co-head of the Apax Retail & Consumer team.  “We look forward to partnering with the Company’s outstanding management team led by Sonny King and Tanya Domier.”

Alex Pellegrini, Partner in the Retail & Consumer Group at Apax Partners, commented: “We believe that ASM operates in a favorable industry that features strong secular growth trends, including more outsourcing by CPGs and a greater focus on in-store marketing.  Advantage is well positioned to further build brand value for its clients and customers through its industry-leading sales and marketing capabilities.”

“I am very excited to embark on our new partnership with Apax Partners. Their global reach and large network of relationships will not only drive value for ASM but also create opportunities for further growth,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sonny King. “Apax is an ideal partner for our company given their deep expertise in Retail & Consumer Products.”

“This transaction marks a new chapter in the growth of our business,” said Tanya Domier, President and Chief Operating Officer. “We look forward to pursuing our growth strategy with the support of Apax.”

The transaction, which is subject to customary approvals, is expected to close prior to the end of 2010.

Sawaya Segalas & Co., LLC acted as exclusive financial adviser to the Company in connection with the transaction.

USA, New York, NY & Irvine, CA

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OpTerra Energy Group Acquires Aircon Energy

November 23, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

OpTerra Energy Group, a newly formed, energy service company, has acquired Aircon Energy, a comprehensive energy services company serving the California market. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Aircon Energy is a 36-year-old company based in Sacramento, CA that designs and constructs energy efficiency and renewable energy projects for large facilities of public and private sector customers.  Aircon has significant experience implementing energy conservation and generation solutions for cities, counties and school districts in California and surrounding states.  Aircon also assists clients in securing utility rebates, grants, and third-party project financing to further enhance the value of its projects.

OpTerra was established to become a leading national ESCO offering a comprehensive array of energy conservation services and technologies to public and private sector customers.  OpTerra is backed by the GFI Energy Group of Oaktree Capital Management. 

“We are pleased to join OpTerra’s growing portfolio of regional ESCOs,” said Don Rasberry, Aircon Energy president.   “Access to OpTerra’s operating platform will help us accelerate our growth and expand our service offerings.  The financial backing of Oaktree-managed funds will allow us to implement the larger projects our customers are increasingly demanding.”

“The Aircon team is an excellent fit for the OpTerra platform, and this transaction will enable them to expand their high quality coverage of California’s growing market for energy services,” said Raouf Abdel, OpTerra CEO. “OpTerra is rolling out a comprehensive set of service capabilities over a national footprint to provide energy efficiency and clean energy solutions to public and private sector customers.”

USA, Denver, CO & Sacramento, CA

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