Blue Ant acquires Saloon Media

October 11, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Blue Ant MediaCanadian broadcaster, producer and distributor Blue Ant Media has acquired Toronto-based factual production company Saloon Media as part of its ongoing expansion in North America. The move will see Saloon’s CEO Michael Kot, executive producers Steve Gamester and Paul Kilback, and head of production Betty Orr join Blue Ant’s global production unit. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Blue Ant has already brought NHNZ (New Zealand), Beach House Pictures (Singapore), Antenna Pictures (London), Blue Ant Digital Studios (LA), Look Mom! Productions (Toronto) and Northern Pictures (Sydney) under the unit’s control in recent years.

Saloon launched in 2013, and recent credits include the CSA-nominated series Mummies Alive for History (Canada), Smithsonian Channel (US) and Yesterday (UK). It has also worked on Tornado Hunters for CMT, coproduced See No Evil for Investigation Discovery with UK indie Arrow Media, and made Hunting Nazi Treasure for History (Canada), American Heroes Channel (US) and More4 (UK).

Sam Sniderman, Blue Ant’s EVP global production, said, ““Blue Ant Media is committed to growing its content business in both Canada and the United States. The acquisition of Saloon Media is a key step in the execution of this strategy, as their award-winning factual content and notable creative talent fit perfectly within our content growth strategy in North America.”

Canada, Toronto

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ITE acquires Mining Indaba from Euromoney for £30.1M

October 3, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

ITE Group plcITE Group is to acquire Mining Indaba from Euromoney Institutional Investor plc in a deal worth £30.1 million on a cash-free, debt-free basis. The acquisition includes an initial cash consideration of £20 million to be paid on completion, with a deferred cash consideration of £10.1 million to be paid in June 2019. The acquisition will be funded from a combination of ITE’s existing cash resources and bank borrowing.

Mining Indaba is a leading event dedicated to bringing together mining and investment experts involved in Africa. The exhibition, held in Cape Town, South Africa, was founded in 1995 and marked its 24th edition in February 2018. The next edition is scheduled for 4–7 February 2019. In the year to 28 February 2018, which encompasses the 2018 event, ITE says Mining Indaba generated sales of £7.2 million (US$9.36 million) and EBITDA of £3.7 million. As at 28 February 2018, Mining Indaba reported gross assets, excluding cash, of £600,000.

ITE chief executive officer Mark Shashoua said, “We are delighted to be able to add Mining Indaba, another well-regarded must-attend event, to our portfolio. This acquisition is consistent with our stated strategy of making disciplined and value-enhancing acquisitions of market-leading events and Mining Indaba is also highly complementary to our AOW exhibition. We believe the acquisition will deliver value for our shareholders and consolidate our position as an organiser of must-attend international industry events.”

UK, London

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Skift acquires Airline Weekly

September 27, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

SkiftTravel industry intelligence and marketing platform Skift has acquired Airline Weekly, including its subscription-based newsletter and related assets. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Launched in 2004 by Jay Shabat, Seth Kaplan and Jason Cottrell, the publication provides insight and analysis of the commercial passenger airline industry worldwide.

Rafat Ali, founder and CEO of Skift, said, “Now that we are in our sixth year at Skift, we have been exploring various ways to expand our roots in the travel sector and go deeper into our existing focus areas with more expertise. With Airline Weekly, the Airline Innovation Report, and our global forums, Skift now offers the strongest business coverage of commercial aviation in the world”.

USA, New York, NY & Fort Myers, FL

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SiriusXM to acquire music-streaming company Pandora

September 24, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

SiriusXMSatellite radio company SiriusXM will acquire music streaming service Pandora in a transaction valued at $3.5 billion. The proposed deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year, subject to the approval of Pandora stockholders.

The merger offers Sirius a major music-streaming asset as tens of millions of listeners turn to streaming apps in an increasingly crowded market, with Pandora enjoying the largest audio streaming audience in the U.S, according to industry estimates. Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited, have hitherto posed stiff competition.

The transaction would combine SiriusXM’s 36 million subscribers in North America with Pandora’s more than 70 million monthly active users. The two companies are expected to have combined revenue of about $7 billion this year. Pandora’s stock rose more than 3 percent in afternoon trading when the deal was announced.

Sirius XM’s chief executive Jim Meyer said of the two companies, “Together, we will deliver even more of the best content on radio to our passionate and loyal listeners, and attract new listeners, across our two platforms.” He also said his goal is to create value through subscriptions, “No matter who comes into one of our trial tunnels, no matter where they come in, our goal ought to be that as they exit that trial, somewhere somehow, they are in a funnel which we’re monetizing.”

USA, New York, NY & Oakland, CA

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Comcast outbids Fox to acquire Sky in £30BN deal

September 22, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Comcast CorporationThe Comcast Corporation is to acquire Sky after an unusual blind bidding auction moderated by the UK Takeover Panel saw their offer of £17.28 per share overshadow Fox’s £15.67 rival offer, for a total of £30.6 billion in cash for the entire issued and to be issued Sky share capital. The bid has already been accepted by Sky’s independent directors and shareholders now have until 11 October to decide whether to accept the recommended offer.

The acquisition ends a two-year bidding war and follows Comcast’s unsuccessful attempt to take over Fox in June, when it lost out to Disney. Sky has 26 million customers across Europe, and has backed the production of shows for Amazon, HBO and Showtime. It’s also well known for its sports broadcasting, such as its Premier League channel. Comcast will soon have a much larger international presence in these fields.

Jeremy Darroch, Sky’s group chief executive, said: “As part of a broader Comcast we believe we will be able to continue to grow and strengthen our position as Europe’s leading direct to consumer media company. Today’s outcome is down to the hard work of tens of thousands of people who have built and developed this business together over the last 30 years. Sky has never stood still, and with Comcast our momentum will only increase.”

USA, Philadelphia, PA & UK, London

 

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DC Thomson Media acquires Aceville Publications

September 21, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

DC Thomson MediaDC Thomson Media has announced the acquisition of independent magazine publisher Aceville Publications. Headquartered in Dundee, DC Thomson Media has been publishing for over 100 years and has a portfolio of more than 20 magazines, including the much loved brands The People’s Friend and Beano. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Aceville Publications is one of the fastest-growing publishing houses in the UK and home to over 40 in-house brands including the leading UK-based craft titles to gardening, health and food publications. This is complemented by a growing B2B portfolio.

Chief executive officer at DC Thomson Media, Mike Watson, said,“We’re excited to have acquired Aceville and are looking forward to working together. The team at Aceville, and their portfolio, are a great fit for our business and this collaboration opens up a host of opportunities for both businesses. This is a hugely exciting time for everyone at DC Thomson Media and Aceville. This acquisition will materially change our landscape and is a key step in our Protect, Launch, Diversify strategy.”

UK, Dundee & Colchester

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Keywords Studios acquires The TrailerFarm

September 18, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

keywordsKeywords Studios, a services provider to the video games industry, has acquired Brighton, UK based The TrailerFarm Ltd. 

Founded in 2011 by brothers Tony and Dan Porter, TrailerFarm’s team of 12 creative produce trailers for both mobile and console/PC games for use in game launches and ongoing promotional events. In 2018 Keywords acquired Fire Without Smoke which also provides marketing services and produces trailers. 

 In the year ending 30 June 2018, TrailerFarm posted revenues of £1 million and adjusted EBITDA of £165K.  Keywords is paying a total consideration of up to £2 million. The initial consideration of £1 million is made up of £790k in cash and 11,070 new ordinary shares in Keywords, which are to be issued to the sellers on the first anniversary of the acquisition. The remaining consideration of up to £1m is payable in cash, subject to the increase in profit before tax of TrailerFarm over the 12 month period post acquisition.

 Andrew Day, CEO of Keywords Studios commented, “I’m delighted to welcome Scott and his team into the Keywords family. As games become ever more immersive, sound design quality is getting ever closer to that of movies. Our new Sound Lab studio, created around Scott and his team, will be integrated within the Keywords Audio Services Line and will benefit accordingly from our global network of studios and our extensive video game client base around the world.  

Ireland, Dublin & UK, Brighton

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Salesforce founder Marc Benioff to acquire Time Magazine for $190M

September 17, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Time MagazineBillionaire and co-founder of Salesforce.com, Marc Benioff – along with his wife, Lynne Benioff – are to buy Time Magazine for an estimated $190 million in cash, just eight months after it was sold to Meredith Corporation. The deal could close within one month, but it must first get regulatory approval.

The Benioffs, who are purchasing the magazine personally in a the deal unrelated to Salesforce, will not be involved in the day-to-day operations or journalistic decisions, which will continue to be led by TIME’s current executive leadership team.

Meredith completed its purchase of Time at the end of January 2018. Soon after its completion, Meredith said it was selling Time’s news and sports brands to focus on other brands that served its core target audience: American women.

Benioff recently tweeted, “The power of Time has always been in its unique storytelling of the people & issues that affect us all & connect us all. A treasure trove of our history & culture. We have deep respect for their organization & honored to be stewards of this iconic brand”.

Time Editor-in-Chief Edward Felsenthal said, “On behalf of the entire TIME team, we are very excited to begin this next chapter in our history. We can’t imagine better stewards for TIME than Marc and Lynne Benioff.”

USA, New York, NY & Des Moines, Iowa

 

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Inspired Energy acquires Professional Cost Management Group

September 12, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

inspired-logo3Inspired Energy, an energy procurement consultant to UK and Irish businesses, has acquired Professional Cost Management Group Limited (“PCMG”), a national cost recovery specialist, for up to £700,000. Inspired Energy is making an initial cash payment of £150,000, with a potential further £550,000 subject to the achievement of targets based on future EBITDA performance. 

For the financial year ended 31 December 2017, PCMG had revenues of £2.84 million, EBITDA of £(0.17) million, and a net loss of £(0.19) million. Net assets as at 31 December 2017 stood at £0.7 million.

PCMG provides a forensic auditing service to identify and recover overpayments of utilities and telecoms bills on behalf of its clients and provides optimisation analysis to enable customers to improve their tariff and billing structure. The company was founded in 1993 and was acquired by Alma Consulting Group SAS (a subsidiary of the French Ayming Group) in March 2008.

The Managing Director of PCMG will remain with the enlarged Group after completion and Inspired Energy intends to incentivise the Managing Director and other key employees of PCMG by granting share options in the Group following completion. PCMG is based in Blackpool. The business will be relocated to Inspired Energy’s Kirkham head office on expiry of the current lease that runs to November 2018.

Commenting on the acquisition, Mark Dickinson, CEO of Inspired said: “We are delighted to conclude the acquisition of PCMG, which is a highly complementary addition to Inspired’s core Corporate Division. The PCMG team and brand are well respected within the sector.”

UK, Kirkham, Lancashire and Blackpool, Lancashire

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Wunderman acquires Amazon-focused content and campaign agency 2Sales

September 12, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

WundermanWPP‘s wholly owned global digital agency Wunderman, has acquired 2Sales International S.A., an ecommerce consulting agency.

2Sales supports global brands in building their business on Amazon, and will become part of Wunderman’s global commerce offering, Wunderman Commerce. 

2Sales employs 66 people in Luxembourg and is a one-stop Amazon solution that utilises automated processes to optimise content generation, sales and promotions across eight international Amazon platforms. Clients include Acco, Columbia, Fiskars and SC Johnson.

UK, London & USA, New York, NY & Luxembourg

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