Providence exhibits £300m bid for London Vet Show owner

November 30, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Providence EquityProvidence Equity Partners , the private equity firm behind Ambassador Theatre Group, is in talks to buy exhibitions group CloserStill Media for about £300m, according to a report by Sky News.

CloserStill is being sold by Inflexion, another buyout firm, which backed the company in 2015. A significant proportion of CloserStill’s revenues come from outside the UK, with exhibitions such as Dentiste Expo in Paris and Cloud Expo Asia in Singapore among its events. The deal with Providence, which could be signed within weeks, follows the investor’s £600m sale of Clarion to Blackstone last year.

 

USA, Providence, RI & UK, London

Posted in Conference/Exhibitions/Events, Content Media, ~Europe, ~North America. Tags: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

A Fusion Deal: Reorg acquires a controlling stake in Debt Explained

November 19, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Debt ExplainedDebt Explained Limited, the provider of data and analysis on the European high-yield and leverage loan markets has sold a controlling stake to Reorg, a financial media and technology company. Fusion Corporate Partners acted as corporate advisor for Debt Explained. The Fusion team was led by Paul Slight, Director at Fusion. The terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Founded in 2009, Debt Explained creates and curates data and analysis on bond and loan deals through its proprietary data bases and unique scoring and bench-marking products. These allow for detailed trend analysis in the European high yield and leverage loan markets. The combination of Reorg and Debt Explained will make these tools available on a global basis, driving a new and unique subscriber experience in Europe, the United States and beyond.

“Reorg’s partnership with Debt Explained will create the industry-leading product in the global non-investment grade credit markets”, said Kent Collier, founder and chief executive officer of Reorg. “This fits in perfectly with our strategic vision, and we look forward to building our business together and providing more and even better information to our subscribers.”
Â
Stephen Mostyn-Williams, founder and chairman of Debt Explained, will continue as part of the combined business. Mostyn-Williams said, “All the Debt Explained team are very pleased to partner with Kent and his team in taking our combined offering onto a global stage. This transaction gives us a tremendous opportunity to enhance the strengths of two market leading firms for the benefit of our mutual global client base. Combining our research, data and scoring products with Reorg’s editorial content and proprietary technology will provide world class, industry leading products across Europe, Asia and North America.”

USA, New York, NY & UK, London

Other Fusion Deals:

More Fusion Deals

Posted in Content Media, Fusion Deal, Internet Media, Market Data & Information, Publishers, ~Europe, ~North America. Tags: , , . Leave a Comment »

Touch Medical Media acquires Heart International and forms strategic partnership with Interventional Academy

November 16, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

TouchMedical MediaTouch Medical Media has acquired leading cardiology journal Heart International for an undisclosed sum, and formed a strategic partnership with Interventional Academy, owner of the Complex Cardiovascular Catheter Therapeutics (C3) Global Summit.

Heart International is an open access, peer reviewed journal dedicated to the publication of original research and reviews on cardiovascular disease in its broadest terms. Heart International is indexed in a number of different databases including the Emerging Sources Citation Index, Scopus and has its full archives listed on PubMed Central.

C3 is a leading global annual cardiology conference that is rapidly growing. It has been designed for physicians who specialise in interventional cardiology, vascular surgery, interventional radiology, podiatry, as well as fellows, residents, and other healthcare professionals interested in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Heart International is led by Editor-in-Chief, Dr Magdi El-Omar and Co-Editor-in-Chief, Dr Rajesh Davé. Dr Magdi El-Omar is Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at the Manchester Heart Centre, and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester, Manchester, UK, whilst Dr Rajesh Davé is Chief Medical Executive, Holy Spirit Cardiovascular Institute, Chairman, Department of Cardiology and Director, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories, the Ortenzio Heart Center at Holy Spirit Hospital, Camp Hill, PA, USA. Dr Davé is Chairman of C3, whilst Dr El-Omar is a co-director of the course.

Barney Kent, Group Managing Director at Touch Medical Media said, “We are really excited about the recent acquisition of Heart International, which has been in circulation since 2006, and also our partnership with Interventional Academy. The addition of Heart International to the touchCARDIO journal portfolio will give our website more depth of content, and since the Journal is indexed on all major databases, it will encourage authors to publish with us and ultimately increase the flow of high-quality open access content for our users. The acquisition has significantly strengthened our rapidly growing database of physicians who sign up to receive regular updates and in addition, our strategic partnership with Interventional Academy will be very beneficial to both organisations on a number of levels. Myself and the team here at touchCARDIO very much look forward to working with Dr El-Omar and Dr Davé to develop the Journal and our partnership over the coming years.”

UK, Reading & USA, Harrisburg, PA

Posted in Conference/Exhibitions/Events, Content Media, Internet Media, Publishers, ~Europe, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

Penske Media acquires ARTnews & Art in America

November 13, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Penske Media CorporationPenske Media Corporation has acquired leading art publications ARTnews and Art in America as part of the overall acquisition of Art Media Holdings LLC, the largest independent art publishing group that also includes The Magazine ANTIQUES and MODERN Magazine. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

ARTnews, founded in 1902 and winner of over 40 major journalism awards, is the most highly circulated contemporary art magazine in the world. ARTnews is a resource for leaders of the international art world, with digitally led news coverage from its global correspondents, investigative reports, reviews of exhibitions, and profiles of artists and collectors.

Since its founding in 1913, Art in America provides artists, curators, and collectors in the US and around the world with informed analysis of the world’s most important art movements.

PMC Chairman and CEO Jay Penske said, “For more than a century ARTnews and Art in America have been leaders in breaking news and commentary on the art world. To welcome these fine publications, whose editorial heritage I have long admired, is not only a remarkable opportunity but also a great honor. This purchase continues PMC’s strategy of investing in businesses with great vertical depth, and we plan to rapidly build upon their editorial foundation while extending their presence across the web, video, and international markets.”

USA, New York, NY

Related articles:

Posted in Content Media, Internet Media, Publishers, ~North America. Tags: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Meredith sells Fortune magazine to Thai billionaire for $150M

November 9, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

MEREDITH CORPORATION LOGOU.S. media company Meredith Corp is selling Fortune magazine for $150 million in cash to Thai businessman Chatchaval Jiaravanon, the second time the influential business magazine has changed hands this year. Best known for the “Fortune 500” list, the magazine was acquired by Meredith as part of its acquisition of Time Inc in January for $1.84 billion.

Jiaravanon is best known for his affiliation with Charoen Pokphand Group, or C.P. Group, a business conglomerate with stakes in the Thai telecommunications, food, retail and automotive industries.

The Fortune sale is expected to close before the end of the year and it will be a personal holding of Jiaravanon. In a statement, Jiaravanon said he wants to make Fortune “the world’s leading business media brand. The demand for high-quality business information is growing and with further committed investment in technology and brilliant journalism, we believe the outlook for further profitable growth is excellent both for the publication and the events business”.

Alan Murray, who has been editor of Fortune since 2014 and previously served as chief content officer of Time Inc., is becoming president and CEO of Fortune. He wrote on Twitter that he’s “delighted to have found a buyer for Fortune that shares our mission, our independence and will invest to make Fortune grow.”

USA, New York, NY

Related articles:

Posted in Internet Media, Publishers, ~Asia, ~North America. Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Ascential acquires Flywheel Digital for $60M

November 1, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Ascential plcGlobal specialist information and events company Ascential plc is to acquire Flywheel Digital, a leading US-based provider of managed services to consumer product companies trading on Amazon, for an initial cash consideration of $60 million plus earn out payments payable over three years.

Founded in 2014, Flywheel offers customers Amazon-specific software, tools and expertise to drive sales and brand performance across Amazon platforms by directly actioning solutions for clients. Flywheel’s proprietary platforms and processes optimise brands’ online operations, including merchandising, supply logistics and media management. Flywheel primarily serves large-scale US consumer product companies, with more than 70 customers and more than 90 staff based in Baltimore and Seattle.

The initial consideration of US$60m (subject to normal working capital adjustments) is being paid out of Ascential’s existing cash reserves using capital released from the sale of the Exhibitions business. Earn out consideration is payable in cash based on the revenue of the business for the next three years to 2021 and is expected to total between approximately US$47m and US$196m. A portion of the earn out is subject to the founders remaining in employment with the company. The total potential consideration, including both initial consideration and earn out payments, is capped at US$400m in the event that extremely stretching revenue levels are reached.

In the year ended December 2017, Flywheel grew its revenue by more than 150% and delivered unaudited profit before tax of $4.8m. It had gross assets of $23.9m at December 2017. The transaction is expected to be earnings accretive in Ascential’s current financial year.

Flywheel will report to Duncan Painter, CEO of Ascential. The business will be reported as part of Ascential’s Sales segment alongside the newly integrated Edge business (comprising One Click Retail, Clavis, Planet Retail RNG and Brand View) which offers a range of insight and advisory solutions to improve performance across Amazon and other eCommerce platforms.

Duncan Painter, CEO of Ascential, commented, ‘We have a clear focus on providing information and capabilities that enable our customers to succeed in the digital economy. The acquisition of Flywheel is in line with this strategy, further strengthening our offerings in eCommerce for brands navigating the digital market places, particularly Amazon.’

UK, London & USA, Seattle, WA

Related articles:

 

Posted in Content Media, e-Commerce, Internet Media, Technology, ~Europe, ~North America. Tags: , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

IBM to acquire Red Hat for $34bn

October 28, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

IBMIBM and Red Hat, the world’s leading provider of open source cloud software, have reached a definitive agreement under which IBM will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Red Hat for $190.00 per share in cash, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $34 billion.

Red Hat is a leading provider of enterprise open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to deliver reliable and high-performing Linux, hybridRed Hat cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies. Red Hat helps customers integrate new and existing IT applications, develop cloud-native applications, standardize on our industry-leading operating system, and automate, secure, and manage complex environments.

Ginni Rometty, IBM Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “The acquisition of Red Hat is a game-changer. It changes everything about the cloud market. IBM will become the world’s #1 hybrid cloud provider, offering companies the only open cloud solution that will unlock the full value of the cloud for their businesses. Most companies today are only 20 percent along their cloud journey, renting compute power to cut costs. The next 80 percent is about unlocking real business value and driving growth. This is the next chapter of the cloud. It requires shifting business applications to hybrid cloud, extracting more data and optimizing every part of the business, from supply chains to sales.”

Upon closing of the acquisition, Red Hat will join IBM’s Hybrid Cloud team as a distinct unit, preserving the independence and neutrality of Red Hat’s open source development heritage and commitment, current product portfolio and go-to-market strategy, and unique development culture. Red Hat will continue to be led by Jim Whitehurst and Red Hat’s current management team. Jim Whitehurst also will join IBM’s senior management team and report to Ginni Rometty. IBM intends to maintain Red Hat’s headquarters, facilities, brands and practices.

USA, Armonk, NY and Raleigh, NC

Related articles:

Posted in Information Management, Technology, ~North America. Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Access Intelligence acquires P3C Media

October 15, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Access IntelligenceMedia and information company Access Intelligence has acquired P3C Media, owner of The Public-Private Partnership (P3) Conference and Expo, the leading education and networking event for P3 leaders from government and industry to discuss infrastructure challenges and innovations in project delivery, procurement, life cycle asset management and solutions. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2012 by P3C Media President Eric Iravani, the company’s premier events attract senior representatives from government, higher education institutions, and leading firms in the global construction and financial markets. Today, P3C Media has several vertical events that surround their flagship Public-Private Partnership Conference, including: The P3 Water Summit, The P3 Airport Summit, The P3 Higher Education Summit and The P3 Federal Conference.

Don Pazour, CEO of Access Intelligence, said, “P3C Media has been at the forefront of the burgeoning private-public partnership space for many years and has firmly established itself as the market leader for bringing together top government, industry and financial leaders across several verticals in the P3 marketplace. We are delighted to add the P3C Media brand to our company’s portfolio, to welcome an extremely talented team into our family, and to fast-track our leadership position in the P3 marketplace.”

Upcoming P3C Media events include The P3 Federal Conference Nov. 27-28 in Washington, DC and The Public-Private Conference & Expo, March 4-6 in Dallas, TX. The Public-Private Partnership Conference & Expo is one of the largest gatherings of government and construction professionals in the United States.

USA, Rockville, MD & New York, NY

Related articles:

Posted in Conference/Exhibitions/Events, Content Media, ~North America. Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Blackstone acquires the NEC Group

October 15, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

BlackstonePrivate equity funds managed by Blackstone have acquired the National Exhibition Centre Group, a leading live events venue operator in the UK, from LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group.

Founded in 1976, the NEC has grown into the UK’s live events business of choice for organisers, exhibitors and visitors, playing host to over seven million guests and 750 events every year. The NEC includes Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre, the International Convention Centre, the Genting Arena and Arena Birmingham among its assets as well as caterer Amadeus and national ticketing agency The Ticket Factory.

The National Exhibition Centre hosts many of the largest exhibitions in the UK, including Crufts, the internationally acclaimed dog show, Spring Fair, the UK’s largest exhibition, and Grand Designs Live. The NEC is also due to host nine sports as part of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

LDC originally backed a management buyout of the Group in January 2015. Since then, it has supported a four-year transformation programme to enhance sites, facilities and customer experience and broaden the range of events across the Group’s portfolio, supported by significant capital investment.

Paul Thandi, Chief Executive of the NEC Group, said: “Blackstone’s track record in scaling companies, sector knowledge and unrivalled real estate capabilities, make them the ideal new partner for NEC Group to realise the next phase of our ambitious growth strategy. All of our teams and partners look forward to working closely with the world class team as we embark on becoming the definitive name in events and exhibitions, while continuing to focus on innovations and new customer experience offerings for all our customer groups.”

Lionel Assant, European Head of Private Equity at Blackstone, added: “Under the leadership of Paul Thandi, a best in class management team and the support of LDC, the NEC has transformed its main site into a leading leisure, entertainment and business destination, which continues to benefit from a diverse customer base. We have tremendous respect for what has been achieved; NEC Group is iconic and we are excited about our new partnership as we look to leverage our firm’s capabilities in support of the team.”

USA, New York, NY & UK, London

Related articles:

 

Posted in Conference/Exhibitions/Events, Content Media, ~Europe, ~North America. Tags: , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

CloserStill Media acquires a majority stake in The eLearning Guild in the US

October 15, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

CloserStillCloserStill Media has acquired a majority stake in FocusZone Media, Inc., operating as The eLearning Guild, for an undisclosed sum. The eLearning Guild has a 40,000+ membership community of learning and development professionals in the United States and across the world. The Guild operates major conferences and exhibitions including DevLearn (Las Vegas, NV), Learning Solutions (Orlando, FL) and Realities 360 (San Jose, CL) and has a number of digital publications as well as research and online events.

CloserStill runs the world’s leading workplace learning event brand, Learning Technologies, with three market leading annual events in London, Berlin (with Online Educa) and Paris, a global digital community and the industry’s leading awards programme for corporate learning and development professionals. The London event in February is Europe’s largest annual exhibition and conference for the workplace learning sector attracting more than 8,000 attendees and over 200 exhibitors.

CloserStill’s Learning Group Managing Director, Mark Penton, said, “We are delighted to welcome The eLearning Guild and their impressive event portfolio to our growing global network and are incredibly excited by the huge opportunities this will create. And most importantly, we look forward to enhancing the collaboration between our family of learning brands and their learning communities around the world.”

USA, Santa Rosa, CL & UK, London

Related articles:

Posted in Conference/Exhibitions/Events, Content Media, Publishers, Technology, ~Europe, ~North America. Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »
« Older posts
Newer posts »