Mitre Media acquires MunicipalBonds.com and BondFunds.com

Mitre Media, a publisher of niche financial media assets, has acquired MunicipalBonds.com. MunicipalBonds.com is source of municipal bond market data and pricing information for individual investors and financial advisors. Mitre Media also acquired BondFunds.com as a part of the same transaction. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in February 2012, Mitre Media has acquired flagship properties in other top finance verticals including Dividend.com and ETF Database. Mitre Media was founded by Tom Hendrickson, 29, who served as the former President of Investopedia through that site’s acquisition by Forbes.

Mitre Media founder Tom Hendrickson said, “At Investopedia, we pioneered providing basic financial information and definitions across all financial categories. With Mitre Media, our goal is to go deep within each category and operate the premier site. With MunicipalBonds.com, we saw a leader in a valuable niche with a very valuable demographic to advertisers. We are able to apply our expertise at scale to deliver the best in financial information to the investing public.”

Mitre Media plans on acquiring or launching sites in up to 20 additional financial categories through 2013. The company has raised over $8.5 million from investors including iNovia Capital, a leading venture capital firm.

USA, New York, NY

Penton Media acquires Farm Progress From Fairfax Media for $80M

Penton Media has acquired Farm Progress from Fairfax Media Limited of Sydney, Australia. The acquisition more than doubles Penton’s position in agriculture, which becomes the company’s largest sector group. The purchase price was $79.9 million before certain adjustments.

Farm Progress features four of the industry’s leading farm trade events, including America’s largest outdoor farm show, a broadcast division, and many well-established media brands. They join Penton Agriculture’s portfolio of market-leading franchises.

“Our investment is supported by several inarguable global economic trends including rising demand for nutrition, limited arable land and water, and strong export potential for agriculture products, capital equipment and related production technology into developing countries,” said Penton CEO David Kieselstein.

Farm Progress will become part of the Penton Agricultural Group reporting to Penton Senior Vice President, Dan Bagan. Jeff Lapin, president of Farm Progress, will leave the company at the end of the year. Farm Progress will remain headquartered in St. Charles, IL.

USA, New York, NY, & USA, St Charles, IL & Australia, Sydney

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Nielsen, NM Incite acquires SocialGuide

NM Incite, a joint venture between Nielsen and McKinsey & Company, has acquired SocialGuide, a leading provider of social TV measurement, analytics and audience engagement solutions.  Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

SocialGuide is a real-time social TV capture service covering programming across 232 U.S. TV channels in English and Spanish, and over 30,000 programs.  Built for linear TV, SocialGuide’s intelligent analytics and engagement platform provides insight on the social impact of TV, enabling networks to engage with the social fan base in realtime.

SocialGuide will be integrated immediately into NM Incite, the hub of Nielsen’s social media measurement and analytics efforts.  SocialGuide’s software technology and data streams complement NM Incite’s existing software and data solutions.  Together, Nielsen, NM Incite and SocialGuide will focus on efforts to quantify the relationship between social TV and TV ratings to enable advertisers to maximize the impact of their spend, and provide new research metrics to understand social TV’s impact on consumer behavior and viewing habits.

“The opportunity in social TV is too big to ignore and there is a need for standard metrics and research to uncover the effect of social TV on programming and advertising strategies,” said Andrew Somosi, CEO of NM Incite.  “TV networks are expanding their research, advertising and engagement efforts across social media. The powerful combination of Nielsen, NM Incite and SocialGuide will enable us to deliver unparalleled insights and capabilities to our TV and advertiser clients.”

USA, New York, NY

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Axel Springer sells Gamigo to Samarion S.E

Axel Springer is selling Gamigo AG to Samarion S.E., a strategic investor in online gaming with its headquarters in Düsseldorf. Gamigo, is one of the leading German publishers and operators of online games in the MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Games) segment.

Dr. Jens Müffelmann, Head of the Electronic Media Division at Axel Springer AG: “We would like to thank the management and the employees for the great effort with which they have continuously developed Gamigo’s business in recent years.”

Axel Springer has held a stake in Gamigo since 2000. Since 2009 Axel Springer has held 100 percent of the company, which mainly operates in Germany and France, but also in other international markets.

Germany, Berlin

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Axel Springer Digital Classifieds acquires majority of property portal Immoweb in Belgium

Axel Springer Digital Classifieds, the company founded by Axel Springer and global growth investor General Atlantic as part of a strategic partnership in Spring 2012, has acquired 80 % of the shares of the Belgian property portal Immoweb from members of the Rousseaux family and Produpress S.C.A. The purchase price comes to €127.5 million. Christophe Rousseaux, who will continue to manage Immoweb as CEO, and two other family members retain a 20 % share in the company.

IMMOWEB S.A. was founded in 1996 and operates the leading Belgian property portal. Every month more than 2.4 million unique visitors use Immoweb’s platform.

Axel Springer’s online classifieds business is bundled into Axel Springer Digital Classifieds GmbH, with Axel Springer holding a 70 % share and General Atlantic holding a 30 % share in this company. Along with the European job portal StepStone Group and UK-based job portal Totaljobs, the French property portal SeLoger, the German property portal Immonet and the German city portal meinestadt.de also form part of Axel Springer Digital Classifieds.

Germany, Berlin & Belgium, Brussels

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Euromoney Institutional Investor Plc announces annual results

Euromoney Institutional Investor Plc has announced annual results to September 2012

Highlights

Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC, the international online information and events group, achieved a record adjusted profit before tax of £106.8m for the year to September 30 2012, against £92.7m in 2011.  Adjusted diluted earnings a share were 65.9p (2011: 56.1p).  The directors recommend an 18% increase in the final dividend to 14.75p, giving a total for the year of 21.75p (2011: 18.75p), to be paid to shareholders on February 14 2013.

Total revenues for the year increased by 9% to £394.1m.  Underlying revenues, excluding acquisitions, increased by 3%.  The acquisition of Ned Davis Research (NDR) in August 2011 has helped increase the proportion of revenues generated from subscriptions to more than 50% for the first time.  Headline subscription revenues increased by 17% to £199.7m and underlying subscriptions, excluding NDR, by 5%.

The adjusted operating margin was unchanged at 30%.  Costs, particularly headcount, have remained tightly controlled throughout the year.  At the same time, the group has increased its investment in technology and new products as part of its online growth strategy.

Net debt at September 30 was £30.8m compared with £88.5m at March 31 and £119.2m at September 30 2011.  In the absence of any significant acquisitions, net debt has fallen by £88.4m since the start of the year, reflecting the group’s strong cash flows and an operating cash conversion rate* in excess of 100%.  The group’s net debt is now at its lowest level for more than a decade and its robust balance sheet provides plenty of headroom for the group to pursue its acquisition strategy.

As highlighted in previous trading updates, market conditions became noticeably tougher from June.  The uncertainty over Europe remains, as does a solution to the pending US fiscal cliff.  Meanwhile global financial institutions face the combined challenges of difficult markets, increased capital requirements and a tougher regulatory environment.  Inevitably they have responded by cutting costs, particularly people, and exiting some parts of their business.  However, the outlook for emerging markets, which account for more than a third of the group’s revenues, is more positive. The board expects this challenging trading background to continue at least into the early part of 2013.

Commenting on the results, chairman Richard Ensor said: “The record results for the year reflect the challenging market conditions as well as the successful implementation of our strategy.  Investment in online information businesses and emerging markets has created a global portfolio with a resilient business model.  Subscription revenues now account for more than 50% of group revenues, and more than a third of our revenues is derived from emerging markets. In 2013, we will continue to invest in our products to ensure that we are well placed to benefit from any improvement in the global economy.”

Read the full announcement here

UK, London

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Permira acquires Ancestry.com for $1.6 billion

According to the Wall Streert Journal, European private-equity firm Permira is buying genealogy website Ancestry.com for $1.6 billion.

Ancestry.com has more than two million subscribers who pay at least $12.95 a month for its content and online tools. The purchase price is $32 a share and it includes vesting of outstanding options. The price is a 40 percent premium from the price when word of the company being offered for sale surfaced in June. As a result of the deal, Ancestry.com will carry  ”just under $1 billion” in debt.

The buyout group includes the private-equity firm’s co-investors; members of Ancestry.com’s management, including Chief Executive Tim Sullivan and Chief Financial Officer Howard Hochhauser; and Spectrum Equity, which owns about 30 percent of Ancestry.com.

USA, Utah & UK, London

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WPP’s GroupM acquires a majority stake in Netbooster Asia

WPP’s wholly owned operating company, GroupM, WPP’s global media investment management arm, is to acquire a majority stake in NB Agency Asia Holding Limited (“Netbooster Asia”), the Hong Kong holding company of digital marketing agencies in the Philippines and Indonesia, subject to regulatory approval.

Founded in 2007 and based in Manila and Jakarta, Netbooster Asia is a digital marketing agency offering media, production and creative services. The agency employs around 110 people and clients include Unilever, L’Oreal, Del Monte, Globe, BDO, Wyeth and Intel. This acquisition will see Netbooster rebrand in the Philippines as Movent. In Indonesia, the agency will be consolidated into GroupM’s digital offering.

Netbooster Asia’s unaudited revenues for the year ended 31 December 2011 were approximately US$2.4 million, with gross assets at the same date of approximately US$2.4 million.

London, UK & the Philippines & Indonesia

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j2 Global Acquires Ziff Davis, Inc.

j2 Global, Inc., the provider of business cloud services, has acquired Ziff Davis, Inc. Ziff Davis sites include PCMag.com, ComputerShopper, ExtremeTech, Geek.com, Toolbox.com and LogicBUY.com.

The purchase price was approximately $167 million, net of certain post-closing adjustments, and was funded out of j2’s cash on hand. The transaction is anticipated to be immediately accretive and to contribute approximately $60 million to 2013 revenues. After giving effect to this transaction, j2 has over $300 million in cash and investments.

“We have years of experience and significant interest in the digital media and online marketing space, both as a large scale consumer of advertising (~$50M per year) and as a seller of advertising on our ad supported properties (e.g. eFax Free) and a provider of marketing and advertising services through Campaigner®,” said Hemi Zucker, j2’s chief executive officer. “This acquisition brings scale to this effort with a top leadership team deeply committed to building the business through organic growth, which we expect to continue. This is our 40th acquisition and we plan to grow the business in the same way we have our others – through a combination of internal growth and acquisitions.”

As a result of this transaction, j2 anticipates that its revenues for 2012 will exceed the top end of its previous estimate of between $345 million and $365 million. In addition, j2 reaffirms that its 2012 non-GAAP earnings per diluted share will exceed that of 2011.

USA, Los Angeles, CA

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A Fusion Deal: Platts completes the acquisition of Kingsman,

Fusion Corporate Partners are pleased to announce the completion of the acquisition of Kingsman SA by Platts. Fusion acted exclusively for the shareholders of Kingsman SA. The team responsible for this transaction was Paul Slight and Paul Kelly.

The acquisition, whose purchase price was not disclosed, was originally announced on Fusion DigiNet on October 16.

Platts, a leading global provider of energy, petrochemical and metals information and a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. has completed its acquisition of Kingsman SA, a privately-held, Switzerland-based provider of price information and analytics for the global sugar and biofuels markets.

“The acquisition of Kingsman broadens Platts’ capabilities in biofuels, provides an entry to the agriculture markets, and adds widely respected skills in fundamental market analysis,” said Harold McGraw III, chairman, president and chief executive officer for The McGraw-Hill Companies.

A leading information provider for the sugar markets, Kingsman offers a range of daily, weekly and monthly reports covering ethanol and biodiesel as well as sugar. As a unit of Platts’ new agricultural group, Kingsman will continue to offer its existing product portfolio under the Kingsman brand and under the day-to-day leadership of its founder Jonathan Kingsman

Founded in 1990 and based in Lausanne, Kingsman employs analysts, researchers and report writers in key markets including Bangkok, London, Montreal, New Delhi and Sao Paulo. It serves a global clientele of producers, traders, refiners, financial institutions and end-users, offering a variety of subscription publications covering sugar, ethanol and biodiesel.

“Kingsman’s prime focus on market analysis, supply and demand fundamentals and trade flows complements Platts’ long-standing expertise in reporting news, assessing prices and explaining the factors driving those prices,” said Larry Neal, president of Platts.

USA, New York, NY & Switzerland, Lusanne

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OTHER FUSION DEALS:

Media and Information

Business Services
Events, Broadcast and Other deals