Thomson Reuters sells its Healthcare business to Veritas for $1.25bn

April 23, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Thomson Reuters is to sell its Healthcare business to an affiliate of Veritas Capital for $1.25 billion in cash. The sale is expected to close in the next few months. The sale is not subject to any financing condition. Veritas has obtained debt financing commitments for the transaction.

The Healthcare business provides data, analytics and performance benchmarking solutions and services to hospitals, health systems, employers, health plans, government agencies and healthcare professionals. With leading assets and solutions such as MarketScan, Advantage Suite, Micromedex, CareDiscovery and ActionOI, coupled with expert services and analysis, the Healthcare business provides its customers with solutions to identify savings, improve outcomes, fight fraud and abuse and more efficiently manage their healthcare operations.

“We are proud of our colleagues who built a very strong Healthcare business,” said James C. Smith, chief executive officer of Thomson Reuters. “I know they will continue to serve their customers with the same high standards under new ownership. With the completion of the divestiture, Thomson Reuters will be even more focused on our core global businesses.”

“The Healthcare business of Thomson Reuters is the preeminent healthcare analytics company in the industry today,” said Robert McKeon, chairman of Veritas Capital. “The acquisition will provide us with a unique and exciting opportunity to add a truly outstanding business and world-class management team to our portfolio and we look forward to building upon our experience in the healthcare analytics market. We look forward to welcoming the business and its talented employees, including its talented management team led by Mike Boswood, into the Veritas family.”

“We are excited to become part of Veritas Capital. Veritas is committed to helping us continue to grow and expand our business and our customers should expect the same level of high quality services after the transaction closes,” said Mike Boswood, president of the Healthcare business.

Morgan Stanley and Allen & Company are acting as financial advisors to Thomson Reuters for the proposed divestiture. Covington & Burling LLP is acting as legal counsel for Thomson Reuters.

USA, New York, NY

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Facebook may IPO on May 17th and be valued at $100 billion

April 19, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Facebook is looking to IPO on May 17th according to a report in TechCrunch today. TechCrunch cites “multiple sources close to the company”. The sources say that Facebook will be valued at around $100 billion.

However, the date might change depending on how much time federal regulators need to review Facebook’s recent acquisition of Instagram for $1 billion.

The latest version of the Facebook prospectus, as filed with the SEC is available here.

USA, Menlo Park, CA

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Hitachi Consulting acquires sustainability consultancy PRIZIM

April 19, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Hitachi Consulting, a provider of IT consulting and management consulting solutions and services, has acquired PRIZIM Inc., a management consulting firm dedicated to sustainability audit, consulting, training and managed service solutions.

‘This acquisition is an important building block in our quest to strengthen our management consulting business with high value solutions and services,’ said Phil Parr, President and CEO of Hitachi Consulting. ‘PRIZIM’s industry-leading services and high level of sustainability expertise is a great complement to our existing Environmental Sustainability Solutions. As we combine these attributes with our deep industry knowledge and strong enterprise application technology capabilities, we can look forward to expanding and deepening our client engagements.’

Headquartered in Maryland, PRIZIM is a professional services firm specialising in sustainability with approximately 45 employees. The company helps organisations seeking superior sustainability performance with a wide range of services including environmental assessment and auditing; strategy, scientific, and technical consulting services; training and facilitation; and outsourced support. PRIZIM’s clients include companies in the private sector; federal, state, and local government agencies; hospitals and universities; nonprofit organizations; and foreign governments and businesses.

Japan, Tokyo & USA, Gaithersburg, MD

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WPP’s Penn Schoen Berland acquires First Movies International

April 19, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

WPP’s wholly-owned global strategic communications consultancy firm Penn Schoen Berland has acquired First Movies International which has operations in London and Los Angeles.

Founded in 2000, First Movies is a research-based strategic consultancy that serves film companies on a global basis. Clients include many of the major film studios, independent distributors, production companies and industry affiliates. The business employs research consultants in the US and UK and key partners include Disney, Paramount, Sony Pictures and 20th Century Fox.

First Movies’ capabilities will complement Penn Schoen Berland’s existing media and entertainment practice by giving it a bigger footprint and an increased capability to service its clients’ global research needs.

UK, London and USA, Los Angeles, CA

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Groupon acquires Ditto.me.

April 17, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Groupon has acquired Ditto.me.

Ditto.me is a mobile app to help users get quick recommendations about restaurants and movies. the business is just one year old. The acquisition was announced on the Ditto.me blog. Terms of the deal were not announced.

The company said, “We can’t reveal what we’ll be working on at Groupon but we are excited to give it 100% – to enable this, we’ll be winding down Ditto. On April 30th we’ll switch off the service and remove the app from Apple’s and Nokia’s stores*. We think you’ll love what we and Groupon dream up next.”

USA, Mountain View, CA & Chicago, IL

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Decision Resources Group Acquires Pinsonault

April 17, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Decision Resources Group, a research and advisory firms focusing on healthcare insights and analysis, has acquired Pinsonault, a provider of markets-specific business and training solutions to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. The acquisition will result in a significant expansion of Decision Resources Group’s Market Access Business Unit which currently includes Fingertip Formulary, HealthLeaders-InterStudy and PharmaStrat.

Jim Lang, who was appointed President of the Market Access Business Unit at Decision Resources Group in January of 2012, will head up the integration of the Pinsonault brand.

Regarding the purchase, Mr. Lang said, “This acquisition is another example of how Decision Resources Group is bringing together the best-in-class brands in a way that allows our clients to leverage these premier offerings to suit their unique business needs. Pinsonault’s renowned reputation for quality and customer service makes it a brand we are excited to see added to our portfolio.”

Pinsonault will remain headquartered in Mt. Olive, NJ.

USA, Burlington, MA. & Mt. Olive, NJ

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Bloomsbury Publishing acquires Fairchild Books

April 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Bloomsbury Publishing’s US subsidiary, Bloomsbury Publishing Inc, has acquired Fairchild Books from Fairchild Fashion Media, a unit of Conde Nast, for $6,500,000. The consideration will be paid in cash from existing cash balances in three equal annual installments, commencing at completion.

For the year-ended 31 December 2011, Fairchild Books generated net profit before tax of $706,000 and as at 31 December 2011 had gross assets of $7,567,000.

Fairchild Books, based in New York, is a market-leading publisher of textbooks and educational resources for students of fashion, merchandising, retailing and interior design. It has a strong history dating back to the nineteenth century and a world-class reputation for producing student materials for the fashion and design industries.

The Fairchild Books list is highly complementary to Bloomsbury’s existing academic list in the Visual Arts, which was bolstered by the acquisition of Berg Publishers in 2008, the launch of the award-winning Berg Fashion Library www.bergfashionlibrary.com in 2010 and the acquisition of a fashion photography archive in 2011.

Following the acquisition, the business will be managed by Kathryn Earle, Bloomsbury’s Head of Visual Arts, and will report in to Bloomsbury’s Academic & Professional division.

Bloomsbury’s successful integration of the Continuum business, purchased in July 2011, was the cornerstone acquisition of the Academic & Professional division, providing it with critical mass and excellent opportunities for organic growth and digital exploitation.

Nigel Newton, Chief Executive of Bloomsbury commented, “The acquisition of Fairchild Books is part of Bloomsbury’s long term strategy to increase its Academic Publishing turnover in the USA, the largest market for English language textbooks.  There is an excellent fit between Fairchild Book’s list and Bloomsbury’s visual arts lists.

UK, London & USA, New York, NY

 

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WPP acquires EffectiveUI

April 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

WPP has acquired all the assets of EffectiveUI, Inc., a leading user experience agency that designs and develops custom web, mobile, desktop and touch-enabled applications.

Founded in 2005, EffectiveUI is based in Denver, Colorado with an additional office in Rochester, New York and employs 100 people. Specializing in customer insight and user-centered design and development, EffectiveUI has helped companies such as AAA, American Greetings, Boeing, National Geographic, Navy Federal Credit Union, CenturyLink and TIAA-CREF improve digital interactions with customers. Inc. magazine has named EffectiveUI to its annual list of America’s fastest growing private companies – the Inc. 500/5000 – for three consecutive years.

EffectiveUI’s unaudited revenues for the year ended 31 December 2011 were $20.8 million, with gross assets at the same date of $6 million.

USA, Denver, CO

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WPP acquires Crowdverb, an advocacy firm in the US

April 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

WPP’s wholly owned subsidiary Burson-Marsteller has acquired the assets of Crowdverb. It will be aligned with Direct Impact, grassroots advocacy firm that is also part of Burson-Marsteller. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Crowdverb is a start-up company based in Seattle, Washington, with an office in Austin, Texas. Crowdverb specializes in using an intensely data-driven approach to provide cost-effective, highly scalable activist mobilization around issues and legislation, to manage brand reputations and promote products. Founding partners Cyrus Krohn, Todd Herman and Sally Poliak have all worked in the technology sector, bringing a range of experience from companies including Microsoft and Yahoo, and Krohn and Herman served successive terms leading digital strategy for the Republican National Committee. Poliak is a 2010 recipient of the Stevie Award for Women in Business.

Crowdverb will complement the fundamentals of traditional grassroots advocacy with technical counterparts. The new offerings will include proprietary technologies, data and tools with advanced micro-messaging tactics that target the beliefs and attitudes of voters, consumers and activists.

USA, Seattle, WA

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Facebook is acquiring Instagram for around $1 billion

April 9, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Facebook is acquiring Instagram, a fun, popular photo-sharing app for mobile devices.

The total consideration for San Francisco-based Instagram is approximately $1 billion in a combination of cash and shares of Facebook. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close later this quarter.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, posted about the transaction on his Timeline:

I’m excited to share the news that we’ve agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook.

For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family. Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.

We believe these are different experiences that complement each other. But in order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.

That’s why we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.

We think the fact that Instagram is connected to other services beyond Facebook is an important part of the experience. We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, the ability to not share your Instagrams on Facebook if you want, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook.

These and many other features are important parts of the Instagram experience and we understand that. We will try to learn from Instagram’s experience to build similar features into our other products. At the same time, we will try to help Instagram continue to grow by using Facebook’s strong engineering team and infrastructure.

This is an important milestone for Facebook because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users. We don’t plan on doing many more of these, if any at all. But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together.

We’re looking forward to working with the Instagram team and to all of the great new experiences we’re going to be able to build together.

USA, Menlo Park, CA

 

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