Hellman & Friedman takes controlling stake in Wood Mac

July 4, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Private equity group Hellman & Friedman is to take a majority stake in energy analysis group Wood Mackenzie in a deal that values the company at £1.1 billion pounds ($1.7 billion). Wood Mac produces research on the oil, gas, metals and power markets

Vendor Charterhouse will retain a 13 percent interest. The sale means Charterhouse has seen its initial investment double in value, having repaid nearly £150m of the £420m debt it used to acquire Wood Mackenzie from Candover for £553m in 2009.

Hellman & Friedman will take a 63 percent stake in the business, while Wood Mackenzie’s management and staff will hold a 24 percent interest in the company.

Wood Mac’s management and staff led by Chief Executive Stephen Halliday will hold a 24 percent equity stake in the company, valued at 132 million pounds under the Hellman deal.

Wood Mac is projected to make EBITDA of 88 million pounds in 2012, rising to 100 million in 2013.

UK, Edinburgh, Scotland

 

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Bloomsbury acquires Applied Visual Arts Publishing

July 3, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Bloomsbury announces has acquired Applied Visual Arts Publishing (“AVA”), publishers for the applied digital arts, from Applied Visual Arts Publishing SA and AVA Publishing (UK) Limited for a total consideration of CHF 2,578,930 (approximately £1,730,000). The consideration will be paid in cash in three equal annual instalments, commencing on the date of completion.

AVA, established in 2001 in Switzerland, with its English language editorial support office in Worthing, publishes between 20 and 30 books per annum for students and professionals in the applied visual arts and had a turnover of £1,820,000 for the year ended 31 December 2011. The books are written by leading academic authorities, and have been adopted by many hundreds of universities, colleges and higher education bodies around the world. AVA has a strong following within the design community.

Following the acquisition, the business will be managed by Kathryn Earle, Bloomsbury’s Head of Visual Arts, as part of Bloomsbury’s Academic & Professional division. Synergies with the recently acquired Fairchild Books list, the Fashion Photography Archive due to be launched in 2013, and the existing Berg and Visual Arts lists are significant.

Nigel Newton, Chief Executive of Bloomsbury commented, “As part of Bloomsbury’s ongoing strategy to build our Academic & Professional division, we are delighted to have acquired the AVA list and the timing could not be better. We already have a very strong presence in visual arts, which has been considerably enhanced by the recent acquisition of Fairchild Books. We are pleased to be able to follow on from the Fairchild Books acquisition so quickly with this acquisition, and to consolidate our textbook publishing in the visual arts. An added bonus is that we will be able to take advantage of new co-edition opportunities.”
Caroline Walmsley, Managing Director of AVA UK, added,

“Bloomsbury is the perfect home for the AVA list. The publishing synergies are significant – from subject matter, to marketing and the sharing of mailing lists, to distribution and representation. We are very excited to be in such a strong position to move the AVA business and to become part of Bloomsbury.”

UK, London & Worthin & Switzerland, Lausanne

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Bloomsbury Publishing acquires Fairchild Books Posted on April 16, 2012

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GroupM, WPP’s global media investment management arm, to acquire Alchemedia

July 2, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

GroupM, WPP’s global media investment management arm, is to acquire Alchemedia, a media planning & buying agency in South Korea.

Founded in 2004 and based in Seoul, Alchemedia is an independent media planning & buying agency. Alchemedia will be merged into GroupM Korea, and the combined company’s client roster will include Audi, GSK, Hicos Fragrances, IBM, LG Electronics, Lock & Lock, Procter & Gamble, Sejung Fashion, Red Bull, Rolex and VW.

Alchemedia’s audited revenues for the year ended 31 December 2011 were KRW 1.4 billion, with gross assets of KRW 10.0 billion.

UK, London & South Korea, Seoul

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The Reader’s Digest Association sells Its Lifestyle and Entertainment Direct Business to Mosaic Media Investment Partners

July 2, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

The Reader’s Digest Association has sold substantially all of its Lifestyle and Entertainment Direct business to Mosaic Media Investment Partners LLC.

The sale includes Direct Holdings Americas, Saguaro Road Records and many of the assets of Direct Entertainment Media Group. Reader’s Digest said, “The sale proceeds were not material.”

USA, New York, NY

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Perform acquires Turkish digital sports media company Mackolit

June 30, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Perform Group plc a company that distributes and commercialises sports content across connected digital platforms, has acquired a majority stake in Mackolik Internet Hizmetleri Ticaret A.S. which owns and operates a number of Turkey’s sports websites including mackolik.com and sahadan.com.

Perform is acquiring an initial 51% stake in the business for cash consideration of 40.8 million Turkish Lira (TRY) (£14.6 million) based on an agreed ten times multiple calculation of the full year audited EBITDA results of the business for the year ending 31 December 2012.  This initial payment will be made out of the Group’s existing cash resources and will be adjusted if reported EBITDA for 2012 is higher or lower than the current forecast of TRY 8 million.  In addition, Perform will acquire the remaining 49% for cash, based on an agreed ten times multiple calculation of the average full year audited EBITDA results of the business for the years ending 31 December 2014 and 2015 weighted 25% and 75% respectively, with maximum additional consideration payable in March 2016 of up to £60.4 million.

Oliver Slipper, joint CEO of Perform commented: “We continue to execute our strategy of augmenting our strong organic growth with selective acquisitions and are delighted to have announced the acquisition of Mackolik. Turkey is a hugely exciting opportunity for Perform, given the rapid growth in online advertising and internet usage and its young and growing population.  Within this important geography, Mackolik is the clear market leader with a fantastic portfolio of websites and content.  We are delighted to be able to welcome Mackolik to the Perform Group.”

Perform will report first half results on 30th August 2012.

UK, London & Turkey

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DiMi Telematics International acquires Green Genie

June 28, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

DiMi Telematics International, a cloud-based, M2M communications solutions provider, has acquired mobile app provider Green Genie.

Available for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, Green Genie is an app that provides its users with a collection of green projects and resources, making it a comprehensive guide to sustainable living. It provides a breakdown of certified green products and technologies, glossary of green terms, collection of essential reading, links to the best green web sites and organisations, and links to various carbon footprint calculators. Users can also submit their own ideas, projects and resources. As of June 1, 2012, Green Genie had nearly 14,000 active app subscribers.

“In addition to providing DiMi with a new high margin revenue stream, Green Genie provides us with a powerful marketing platform that we can now leverage to aid our Company in achieving our underpinning mission: to reduce the collective carbon footprints of consumers, commercial businesses, government agencies and industrial enterprises on a worldwide basis,” stated Barry Tenzer, President and CEO of DiMi. “More specifically, Green Genie will allow us to take an innovative, fresh and responsible approach to building awareness of the DiMi brand and to ultimately promote our cloud-based M2M solution to prospective customers around the world.”

USA, New York, NY

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ApartmentRatings.com owner Internet Brands acquires SatisFacts Research

June 28, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Internet Brands has acquired SatisFacts Research, the resident feedback, performance monitoring, and retention enhancement service provider in the multifamily industry. SatisFacts will be combined with ApartmentRatings.com, an Internet Brands property that is the largest source of online renter reviews and a key source of information for prospective residents.

Founded in 2000 by property management industry veteran Doug Miller, SatisFacts provides resident feedback and performance enhancement programs, servicing hundreds of management companies that oversee more than 1 million units nationwide. SatisFacts’ programs provide year-round performance monitoring and client support programs that help enhance resident satisfaction, loyalty, retention and online reputations.

“SatisFacts has led the way in helping property managers understand their reputations and the drivers of satisfaction amongst their residents,” said Wade Hewitt, VP of Internet Brands and general manager of ApartmentRatings.com. “Combining this knowledge and service with the existing property manager-related services of ApartmentRatings enables us to provide property managers with an unparalleled end-to-end view of the customer.”

The Satisfacts team will remain in place post-acquisition.

USA, Los Angeles, CA

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Mecom completes the sale of its media business in Norway to A-pressen AS

June 28, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Mecom Group plc has completed the sale of Mecom Europe AS, which is the holding company for Edda Media AS, Mecom’s media business in Norway to A-pressen AS. This follows the earlier announcement that the Norwegian Competition Authority had cleared the sale. Edda operates 33 newspaper and websites.

Fusion DigiNet reported the sale agreement in December. the business was sold for an enterprise value of NOK1,725 million (€222 million).

The enterprise value of NOK1,725 million (€222 million) represents 7.9 times Edda Media’s FY 2010 EBITDA and 7.2 times Edda Media’s FY 2011 consensus EBITDA.

After adjusting for certain minority interest, net debt and working capital items, the effective proceeds to Mecom for the Mecom Europe shares are expected to be approximately NOK1,800 million (€231 million) of which approximately NOK300 million (€39 million) will be represented by cash in Edda Media.

In addition, Mecom’s sale and purchase agreement with A-pressen includes a conventional price adjustment mechanism such that, subject to the preparation and agreement of completion accounts, Mecom will receive an additional cash payment from A-Pressen for the free cash flow generated by Edda Media between 31st December 2011 and completion. Mecom anticipates that these incremental proceeds will be received within 3 months of completion.

Tom Toumazis, Chief Executive Officer of Mecom, commented, “We are delighted by the Norwegian Competition Authority’s announcement today which will allow us to complete the sale of Edda Media, resulting in a further significant improvement in the Group’s financial position. We are grateful to A-pressen for their co-operation throughout the past months and wish all our people at Edda Media well for the future.”

Norway, Oslo & UK, London

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Microsoft to Acquire Yammer

June 27, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Microsoft Corp. is to acquire Yammer, a provider of enterprise social networks, for $1.2 billion in cash. Yammer will join the Microsoft Office Division, led by division President Kurt DelBene, and the team will continue to report to current CEO David Sacks.

“The acquisition of Yammer underscores our commitment to deliver technology that businesses need and people love,” said Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft. “Yammer adds a best-in-class enterprise social networking service to Microsoft’s growing portfolio of complementary cloud services.”

Launched in 2008, Yammer now has more than 5 million corporate users, including employees at 85 percent of the Fortune 500. The service allows employees to join a secure, private social network for free and then makes it easy for companies to convert a grassroots movement into companywide strategic initiative.

Yammer will continue to develop its standalone service and maintain its commitment to simplicity, innovation and cross-platform experiences. Moving forward, Microsoft plans to accelerate Yammer’s adoption alongside complementary offerings from Microsoft SharePoint, Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics and Skype.

“When we started Yammer four years ago, we set out to do something big,” Sacks said. “We had a vision for how social networking could change the way we work. Joining Microsoft will accelerate that vision and give us access to the technologies, expertise and resources we’ll need to scale and innovate.”

USA, Redmond, WA & San Francisco, CA

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Penton Media acquires Highline

June 27, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

B2B media company Penton Media has acquired Highline LP.  Formed in 1992, HighLine provides airport, ground handling, fuel and services information to the aviation industry. Since 1998, HighLine has collaborated with Penton’s AC-U-KWIK, the FBO directory serving the business aviation market as well as other new products. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“The Highline/AC-U-KWIK relationship goes back many years and we are pleased to be able to integrate the two businesses and develop even more robust digital products,” said David Kieselstein, CEO of Penton Media.  “We welcome Gillian and Alain George, the founders of Highline, and their team to Penton.”

Gillian and Alain George, will become directors of the group.

USA, New York, NY & UK, Ascot, Berkshire

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