Thomson Reuters to sell its healthcare division

June 22, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

According to the Financial Times, Thomson Reuters have appointed Morgan Stanley and Allen & Co to sell its healthcare division. Bernstein Research and BNP Paribas have valued the business at between $850 million and $1.2 billion. The proceeds are expected to be reinvested in professional information and services in faster-growing markets such as Latin America and Asia.

Read the fully story here.

USA, New York, NY

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HubSpot acquires marketing automation company Performable

June 22, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Three months after receiving a $32 million Series D financing round, led by Sequoia Capital, Google Ventures, and Salesforce.com, inbound marketing software company HubSpot has acquired marketing automation company Performable for an undisclosed sum.

“I’ve known David since before he founded Compete.com,” commented Dharmesh Shah, HubSpot’s co-founder and Chief Technology Officer. “He is not only a brilliant product person but also has a reputation for recruiting exceptional talent, and you can see that in the Performable team. This combination creates the best product development team in B2B software.”

“Combining Performable’s innovative product features with HubSpot’s all-in-one inbound marketing platform accelerates our goal of transforming the marketing industry,” said HubSpot Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Brian Halligan, who was recently named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year. “This acquisition is just the first in a series of partnerships, acquisitions and other announcements you can expect to see from us in the coming months.”

Performable’s 18-person team will join HubSpot at the company’s headquarters beginning June 20, growing the team to over 260 staff.

USA, Cambridge, MA

 

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Thomson Reuters acquires CorpSmart from Deloitte

June 22, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Thomson Reuters has acquired CorpSmart from Deloitte. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

A leader in the market, CorpSmart provides multinational corporations (MNCs) in South Africa with intelligent corporate tax compliance software. Using this web-based solution, MNCs are able to prepare monthly, quarterly and annual income tax computations as well as file South African IT14 tax returns.

This highly diverse market, which many MNCs have identified for growth and investment opportunities, is now recognised and referred to as a ‘frontier market’. The purchase of CorpSmart, which will be integrated into the ONESOURCE suite of solutions, will strengthen the expanding Tax & Accounting business and provide its customer base with the tools to develop business in this exciting market.

“South Africa has created an impressive financial and regulatory structure to position itself as the singular hub for the continent and as such, it rightly has the focus of multinational corporations and other major economic entities around the world,” said Brian Peccarelli, president of the Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters.

“The CorpSmart acquisition is strategically and geographically important for the Tax & Accounting business as it marks the inaugural entry to the African market and will form part of our global offering,” concluded Brian Peccarelli.

“As MNCs look to new markets and regions like South Africa for investment, it is important that they have the right information about the local tax system and the best tools to help them achieve compliance,” commented Duane Newman, managing director, Deloitte and Touche Tax Technologies. “As a leader in the corporate and income tax technology sector within this market we have been able to deliver this expertise on a wide scale.”

UK, London & South Africa

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1. Thomson Reuters

2. Deloitte

 


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GamersFirst acquires Fallen Earth

June 22, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

GamersFirst has acquired Fallen Earth from Fallen Earth, LLC. The current 12-person creative team behind Fallen Earth, headed by Lead Game Designer Marie “AroSei” Croall, will join GamersFirst’s development studio Reloaded Productions to lead the transition of Fallen Earth to a hybrid Free2Play game with an ongoing membership system. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Going forward GamersFirst will provide all publishing services, backend development and technical operations while Croall’s team will continue their work on the upcoming Alpha County expansion.

The Fallen Earth team is joined by GamersFirst veterans Tracy Spaight, executive designer, and Joseph Willmon, associate game director, to integrate the award-winning MMO into the broader GamersFirst universe. Spaight and Willmon bring years of Free2Play publishing and development expertise to an already stellar Fallen Earth crew.

Once transitioned to Free2Play, Fallen Earth will give free players completely unrestricted permanent access to every zone and instance in the game. Several types of services, items and conveniences will continue being sold in the Fallen Earth store. Subscriptions will be replaced by a tiered membership system that caters to players of all levels of engagement, and each membership will include reward points that can be used to obtain store items for free on a monthly basis.

Current subscribers who maintain their subscriptions through the estimated five month transition period will collect significant rewards when the game completes the transition, projected for Q4 of this year. “Veteran Rewards” will include lifetime upgrades to a premium tier membership for the price of an existing subscription, as well as unique veteran-only items, the value of which will be determined by the number of months the player subscribed between June 2011 and the completion of the transition.

“Anyone who played Fallen Earth knows just how rich and engaging its game world is, and we feel extremely lucky to bring this game into our family of free MMO games,” said Joe Rush, vice president of game operations for GamersFirst. “This acquisition gives Fallen Earth instant economies of scale as part of the GamersFirst family, and by sharing our many years of revenue generation strategies and publishing expertise we expect the Fallen Earth franchise to continue growing for years to come.”

“Fallen Earth has a number of unique and innovative game features, and we felt it was important to incorporate this outstanding creative team into Reloaded Productions’ staff,” said Bjorn Book-Larsson, COO of GamersFirst and head of Reloaded Productions. “It was important to retain what made Fallen Earth popular and unique, and we are therefore thrilled to have this particular band of passionate game creators joining our growing global studio team.”

USA, Irvine, CA & Cary, NC

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Euromoney Institutional Investor to acquire Ned Davis Research Group for £69M

June 21, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC (“Euromoney”), the international publishing, events and electronic information group, has agreed terms to acquire Ned Davis Research Group (“NDRG”), the US-based provider of independent financial research to institutional investors.

On completion, Euromoney expects to pay approximately US$112 million (£69 million) for an initial 87% interest in NDRG. The consideration will be funded from Euromoney’s existing committed borrowing facility. The remaining interest in NDRG will be acquired under an earn-out agreement, in two equal instalments, based on the profits of NDRG for the years to December 31 2012 and 2013. The maximum amount payable for a 100% interest in NDRG is $173 million. NDRG’s pre-tax profit for the year to December 31 2010 was US$11.8 million and the value of its gross assets at May 31 2011 was US$11.2 million.

UK, London & USA, Venice, FL

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UBM acquires 70% of US catering tradeshow business Catersource for $5 million

June 21, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

United Business Media has acquired a 70% equity stake in the Catersource catering conference and exhibition and its sister show Event Solutions, which serves the event planning industry. UBM has acquired the majority stake from Catersource’s private owners for a total cash consideration of $5 million, on behalf of UBM Live.

Founded in 1982 and based in Minneapolis, Catersource hosts an annual conference and exhibition for the USA catering and event planning industry, as well as awards events and supporting print and digital marketing platforms. The events take place annually during February and March in Las Vegas. This year’s Catersource and Event Solutions shows attracted over 10,000 delegates and more than 4,500 sponsor and exhibitor companies.

USA catering industry revenues grew at 9% in 2010 – exceeding $14 billion – with similar rates of growth forecast for this year. The USA catering industry is highly fragmented, comprising approximately 80,000 catering operations nationwide. Catersource serves both the institutional and private segments of the catering industry.

Catersource will become part of UBM Live, adding to UBM Live’s portfolio of events serving the Food & Leisure industries both in the USA and internationally. The portfolio includes brands such as Cruise Shipping, Food Ingredients, Health Ingredients, Leisure Industry Week and Confex.

Founder Michael Roman and his partner Kelvin Lee, together with Catersource’s 13 employees, will remain with the business following completion of the acquisition. In 2010 Catersource generated approximately $4 million of revenue.

The acquisition is expected to meet UBM’s cost of capital hurdle rate in its first full year of ownership.

Simon Foster, Chief Executive of UBM Live said:

“Catersource is the leading events business in the fast-growing US catering industry. We see strong opportunities to grow the brand by leveraging our US and worldwide events infrastructure, as well as driving synergies with other UBM events. We are delighted that Kelvin Lee, Mike Roman and their team will be joining UBM Live and look forward to working with them to develop the business going forward.”

UK, London & USA, Minneapolis, MN

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YuMe acquires Appealing Media

June 16, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

YuMe, a video advertising technology company has acquired London based Appealing Media, the premium mobile video advertising company serving customers such as ESPN, IPC Media, Bauer Media, and Universal McCann. Appealing Media will become YuMe’s London UK headquarters and will be used as the base for further expansion across Europe.

“As smartphone and tablet adoption takes off, the mobile video market will grow considerably both in complexity and reach. And the advertising on these platforms needs to be relevant and smart, especially for premium brands,” said Michael Mathieu, CEO of YuMe. “We are excited to open our first office in the UK and welcome the executive team of Appealing Media to YuMe.”

Appealing Media’s founder and CEO, Owen Hanks, and senior management team brings over 30 years of experience in the European advertising space to YuMe. Appealing Media has worked with major brands and premium publishers to execute successful complex campaigns across native apps, touch web and mobile web properties and were honored with the Grand Prix award at MobiTech Europe in 2010 for its innovative “Interactive Video Player” ad format.

“Mobile video is clearly a growth market and by joining YuMe we are increasing our offering for the UK market considerably – both to other publishers but also to other platforms such as online and TV,” said Owen Hanks, founder and CEO of Appealing Media. “We are committed to simplifying these complex cross platform campaigns for brands across Europe.”

USA, Redwood, CA & UK, London

 

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Mondadori reaches agreements on JVs with Rodale and Hearst

June 16, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

As part of efforts to optimise its Italian magazine portfolio, the Mondadori Group has reached agreements on its joint ventures with Rodale Inc. and The Hearst Group.

The Mondadori-Rodale joint venture was established in 2000 for the publication of Starbene and Men’s Health. Mondadori will buy the 50% of the share capital held by the American publisher Rodale Inc.

This will allow Mondadori to manage autonomously the monthly magazine Starbene, the leading women’s title in the health/wellbeing sector, while at the same time continuing the publication of the Italian edition of Men’s Health, thanks to a multi-year licensing contract.

The Hearst-Mondadori Editoriale partnership was set up in 1999. A year later they began publishing the Italian edition of Cosmopolitan under licence from the Hearst Group. HMI International is to acquire the 50% stake currently held by Mondadori.

“Both of these operations are part of efforts to optimise our portfolio,” declared Stefano De Alessandri, general manager of Magazines Italy, “and are in line with the aim of redefining, reinforcing and expanding Mondadori’s presence in women’s magazines.”

Italy, Segrate

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Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services to acquire NRAI

June 16, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services (CLS) has signed an agreement to purchase National Registered Agents, (NRAI). The acquisition will add NRAI to CLS’s portfolio of industry-leading business compliance and corporate governance solutions, which includes CT Corporation and BizFilings. The terms of the deal are not being disclosed, and closing of the acquisition is subject to regulatory approval.

NRAI has been providing registered agent services since 1995, specialising in compliance and governance services for small and mid-sized businesses and the legal community that supports them. Its suite of services spans U.S. and international registered agents, corporate compliance and entity management. Headquartered in Princeton, NJ, NRAI has approximately 160 employees in offices across the U.S.

Combining NRAI’s offerings with those of CT Corporation, a leading provider of corporate business compliance solutions, and BizFilings, a leading online incorporation service provider for small-business owners, will position CLS to offer a comprehensive spectrum of solutions to the market. Whether it’s entrepreneurs, small- and medium-sized businesses, enterprise-level companies, or the law firms who serve them, Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services is the provider of choice for legal compliance and corporate governance solutions.

“For nearly 120 years, our market-leading brand, CT Corporation, has set the standard for service excellence to the legal community,” said Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services President and CEO Richard Flynn. “NRAI has built a unique and highly valued distribution model to serve small and mid-sized companies. We see this acquisition as the perfect complement to our portfolio, enabling us to provide an even broader set of services and solutions for this important customer segment.”

“NRAI was founded by industry veterans with a commitment to provide exceptional customer service and innovative technology,” said Dennis Howarth, President and CEO of NRAI. “We’ve experienced 15 years of unprecedented growth, and we wanted to position the company for continued growth, taking it to the next level. After considering a number of options, we selected Wolters Kluwer as the most logical buyer and the best strategic partner to help us achieve our goals.”

USA, New York, NY & Princeton, NJ

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Admeld to be acquired By Google for $400M

June 16, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Admeld, an on-line advertising optimisation firm, is to be acquired by Google for a reported $400 million The transaction is likely to undergo regulatory review. If the deal goes ahead it will give Google a stronger foothold in te display advertsising market.

Admeld was founed in 2007 by Ben Barokas and Brian Adams. Current Admeld customers include Answers.com, FOX News, IDG TechNetwork, Hearst Television, Discovery, The Weather Channel, ITV, Mail Online, Dennis and Future Publishing and more than 500 others worldwide. Founded in 2007, the company is headquartered in New York City with offices in San Francisco, London, Berlin, and Toronto.

Neal Mohan, Vice President of Display Advertising at Google said, “By combining Admeld’s services, expertise and technology with Google’s offerings, we’re investing in what we hope will be an improved era of flexible ad management tools for major publishers. Together with Admeld, we hope to make display advertising simpler, more efficient and more valuable, provide improved support and services, and enable publishers to make more informed decisions across all their ad space. These are all things our publisher partners have been asking us to further invest in. Of course, Admeld will continue to support other ad networks, demand side platforms, exchanges and ad servers, to yield the best possible results for publishers.”

Michael Barrett, CEO at Admeld said, “What’s driving this relationship is a shared belief that managing display advertising is still far too complicated for publishers, and together Admeld and Google can help address some of the underlying inefficiencies. Though we have no specific integration plans yet, we imagine our combined offerings can help publishers make more informed, efficient, and profitable decisions across all tiers of their inventory.”

Google Announcement

Admeld announcement

USA, Mountain View, CA & New York, NY

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