UBM to acquire 65% stake in Rotaforte International Trade Fairs & Media

October 14, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

United Business Media Limited today announces that it has agreed to acquire a 65% stake in Rotaforte International Trade Fairs & Media, the owner of Turkey’s largest jewellery exhibitions, from its private owner on behalf of UBM Asia. The transaction is subject to regulatory clearance.

Rotaforte owns the Istanbul Jewelry Show, an international exhibition for jewellery, silver, watches and related equipment. Now in its 25th year, the exhibition is held twice a year in March and in October. In aggregate, the shows attract almost 60,000 visitors and 1,600 exhibitors, occupying net show floor space of more than 28,000 square metres. Covered products include gold, silver and diamond jewellery, precious and semi-precious stones, pearls, mountings, watches and clocks, machinery, tools and equipment, display units and security devices. The business is supported by the Turkish Jewellery Association, a national trade body which represents more than 1,100 jewellery companies, including the major manufacturers. Rotaforte also publishes a supporting magazine (in Turkish and English) and organises Turkish jewellery pavilions at a number of third party events in Dubai, Italy, and India, as well as selling exhibition space at jewellery events in Russia and Ukraine.

Rotaforte was founded by Ms Sermin Cengiz in 1986 and currently employs 21 staff in Istanbul. In 2010 the business is expected to generate revenues in excess of $5 million. The value of the gross assets being acquired is $0.3 million.

Turkey ranks as the world’s second largest gold jewellery exporter, the fifth largest importer and the third largest producer. Its domestic jewellery industry is highly fragmented, making tradeshows an attractive sales and marketing platform. Turkey’s international jewellery market is driven by strong demand from adjacent regions such as Russia and other CIS countries, Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Middle East.

Rotaforte’s exhibitions are highly complementary additions to UBM Asia’s existing portfolio of twelve jewellery tradeshows in China, India, Hong Kong and Japan, including the world’s largest jewellery fair: the September Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair. UBM Asia’s worldwide sales and marketing capabilities in this market will help grow the number of international exhibitors and visitors at the Rotaforte shows, as well as driving Turkish participation at UBM Asia’s existing shows. The Istanbul Jewelry Show is well positioned to become the leading fair in the European and Middle East regions. The acquisition also provides UBM Asia with opportunities to bring its other products and brands to Turkish, Eastern European, Balkan, Russian, CIS and Middle Eastern markets.

Jime Essink, CEO of UBM Asia, said:

“The acquisition of Rotaforte adds a further industry-leading exhibition to our jewellery portfolio and is in line with our strategy to enhance and expand our international presence in geographic regions of significant growth. Rotaforte provides strong synergies and opens up a wide range of new business opportunities both in Turkey and across the adjacent Middle East and CIS regions. I am looking forward to working together with Sermin, who will be Managing Director of the UBM Rotaforte joint venture company, and also her team, who have done a fantastic job in building the successful Istanbul Jewelry Fairs portfolio.”

Turkey, Istanbul

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Trinity Mirror takes full control of Fish4

October 14, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Trinity Mirror has been a shareholder in the Fish4 business for over 10 years and previously held a 50% joint venture interest alongside Newsquest Media Group.  Fish4 will sit alongside the brands in the Trinity Mirror digital classified portfolio including GAAPweb, totallylegal, SecsInTheCity and SmartNewHomes.
 
Launched in 1999, Fish4 operates one of the UK’s best-known websites for jobs, cars and homes.  Fish4jobs was one of the UK’s first mass-market recruitment websites and attracts over 3.3 million jobseekers every month.
 
David Black, Trinity Mirror’s Group Director of Digital Publishing, said: “Fish4 is an excellent addition to our digital portfolio. The acquisition demonstrates continued progress with our strategy of building a growing digital business of scale, and increasing our share of the online recruitment market.”
 
Paul Halliwell, Managing Director, Trinity Mirror Digital Recruitment and Property, said: “We have ambitious plans for the future of the Fish4 business. Fish4 is a strong brand, to which we will add considerable value for advertisers and consumers alike through our digital recruitment and classifieds expertise.”

UK, London

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Facebook’s Russian investor Mail.Ru Group plans an IPO on the London Stock Exchange this year

October 12, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

MAIL.RU GROUP has announced its intention to proceed with an offering of ordinary shares in the form of Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) to be admitted to a Standard Listing on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker “MAIL”.  One GDR will represent an interest in one ordinary share of the Company
 
The Offering is expected to consist of outstanding shares (in the form of GDRs) from existing shareholders and is expected to be completed by the end of 2010, subject to market conditions.  The Company has appointed Goldman Sachs International and J.P. Morgan as Joint Global Co-ordinators and, together with Morgan Stanley and VTB Capital, Joint Bookrunners in connection with the Offering. Pacific Crest Securities has been appointed Co-lead Manager in connection with the Offering.
 
Yuri Milner, Chairman of Mail.ru Group said: “I am very pleased to announce our intention to list on the London Stock Exchange, and we are proud to have reached this important milestone in our Company’s development.”
 
Dmitry Grishin, Chief Executive Officer added: “Russia is a very exciting and fast-paced Internet market and we are proud to be at the forefront of developments here.  With a highly engaged and fast growing Internet user community, our leading communications and entertainment platform targets significant growth opportunities that may arise from the more than 250 million Russian speakers worldwide. We believe we are well positioned to benefit from the expected growth of the Russian Internet advertising market and the increase in Internet Value Added Services.”

Mail.ru Group holds 2.38% shares of Facebook, 5.13% shares of Groupon and 1.47% shares of Zynga.

UK, London & Russia, Moscow

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DeNA to acquire mobile games developer ngmoco

October 12, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

DeNA today is acquiring ngmoco for up to US$400 million in cash and securities, creating the world’s largest mobile social games platform company.

ngmoco’s shareholders and employees will receive US$300 million in cash and securities and are entitled to additional consideration, up to a maximum of US$100 million, contingent upon the achievement of certain performance milestones through Dec. 31, 2011.

“In ngmoco and its team we see a lot of the same talent and dynamic traction that we have in the Japanese market, making the merger a perfect fit for us,” said Tomoko Namba, founder and CEO, DeNA. “This acquisition cements DeNA’s leadership position in the U.S. We’re building the largest mobile social gaming platform in the world and populating it with incredible games and services.”

Headquartered in San Francisco, and with studios in New York and Portland, ngmoco was founded in 2008 by games industry veterans Neil Young, Bob Stevenson, Alan Yu and Joe Keene. ngmoco’s games are played more than 50 million minutes a day and have been downloaded more than 60 million times on Apple’s iOS devices, resulting in 20 top 10 applications. The company’s Plus+ social network has over 13.5 million registered users, with more than 50 million friend connections and has been installed more than 86 million times. In September, ngmoco announced its commitment to the Android platform with games and services arriving in the fourth quarter.

“We are delighted to be joining forces with DeNA, a company that we have admired and aspired to,” said Neil Young, founder and CEO, ngmoco. “The opportunity to be a part of creating the number one social mobile game platform company and to benefit from the unique learning and knowledge that DeNA possesses is an amazing way to accelerate our vision for gaming.”

As a wholly owned subsidiary, ngmoco will be responsible for bringing DeNA’s “X-Device X-Border” strategy to Western markets by making DeNA’s Mobage a global service and platform for games. A key focus for the company is the creation of a unified open developer platform that combines ngmoco’s state of the art smartphone technology framework with DeNA’s pioneering Mobage Open SDK. The unified Mobage Smartphone Platform will allow developers to target both iOS & Android and access both Western and Japanese customers.

USA, San Francisco, CA

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Palamon Capital Partners acquires Eneas Energy AS for NOK 375 million

October 11, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Private Equity firm Palamon Capital Partners, has acquired a majority stake in Eneas Energy AS in a transaction valued at NOK 375 million.

Eneas is the leading supplier of corporate energy services in the Nordic region, generating revenue approaching NOK 700 million during 2010. It provides a range of services aimed at reducing energy costs for the SME sector as well as large corporate and public authorities. The Company employs 350 staff in its operations based in Norway, Sweden and Germany and serves approximately 10,000 customers. Eneas has achieved a 60% compound annual growth rate since 2000. The Company is now targeting further growth by broadening its reach both through developing a wider product range and expanding geographically, which will be facilitated through the strategic support of Palamon.

The business was co-founded in 1995 by CEO, Thomas Hakavik, and sold to Statoil in 2001. In 2005, Mr Hakavik led a group of private investors to buy the company back from Statoil. In the current transaction, Palamon will replace the private investors and the Company’s existing debt facilities will be rolled over. Mr Hakavik and his team will continue to lead the Company through its next phase of growth and remain significant shareholders.

Commenting on the transaction, Erik Ferm, Partner at Palamon Capital Partners, said: “Eneas has shown phenomenal growth over the last ten years and is now established as a leading player in Scandinavia. We have considerable experience in helping companies to grow internationally and in Eneas we see a company with the right credentials to achieve this.”

Dan Mytnik, Principal at Palamon Capital Partners, commented: “We are delighted to be partnering a company with such a strong management team and a business with clear potential for growth. We look forward to working with Thomas and his team to take the business to the next level.“

Thomas Hakavik, CEO and founder of Eneas said: “We continue to see exciting opportunities and therefore it was important to us to partner with a firm that could share our vision of expansion and has the capital to back further expansion. We look forward to our partnership with Palamon, which is an experienced pan-European player, and we are confident that it is the perfect partner for this next stage in our development.”

UK, London & Norway, Lier

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Philadelphia Newspapers and Philly.com Successfully Emerge From Bankruptcy

October 11, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

The Philadelphia Media Network has completed its acquisition of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com, enabling the newspapers and web site to formally emerge from federal bankruptcy.

The sale brings a successful close to the arduous 20-month long bankruptcy proceeding, overseen by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stephen Raslavich, which began when former owners Philadelphia Newspapers LLC filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in February 2009 after defaulting on its debt of more than $400 million.

“We are pleased to finally begin operating the newspapers and Philly.com, and we believe that the company has tremendous potential as we build out our brands in the great city of Philadelphia, the fourth largest media market in the nation,” said Publisher and CEO Gregory Osberg.  “We are committed to the long-term growth of the newspapers and the web site, and can’t wait to get started.

“We have some of the finest journalists in the world working in Philadelphia, and we will dedicate ourselves to creating compelling content across a variety of platforms that will make it easy, informative and fun for our customers to get relevant regional news and information for their business and personal lives.”

Osberg, who grew up in the Philadelphia area and graduated from Conestoga High School in 1975, takes over as Publisher and CEO after a 30-year news career as President and Worldwide Publisher of Newsweek and Newsweek.com, as well as various leadership positions at CNET and U.S. News and World Report.  He has been a pioneer at integrating various platforms of content and business operations.

USA, Philadelphia, PA

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ITV plc sells Screenvision assets to Shamrock Capital for US $80m

October 11, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

ITV plc has reached agreement with Shamrock Capital Growth Fund II, a leading, US-based private equity fund focused on media, entertainment and communications investing, to sell its 50% stake in Screenvision for a cash consideration of US $80m. Completion of the transaction is subject to US Hart Scott Rodino anti-trust clearance.

Commenting on the transaction Adam Crozier, Chief Executive of ITV plc, said:

“This is another important step for ITV as we progress our transformation plan to focus the business on its core objectives of UK multi-platform broadcasting and global content. The proceeds of this sale will positively impact our net debt which decreased by £175m in the six months to 30th June 2010.”

UK, London & USA, New York, NY

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A Fusion Deal: IPC sells Model Collector and Stamp Magazine to MyHobbyStore.com

October 11, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

IPC Media has confirmed the sale of two further niche and specialist titles, Model Collector and Stamp Magazine to MyHobbyStore.com

Model Collector, the UK’s best-selling die-cast title, offers the avid collector all the essential knowledge to get the most out of their hobby. Accessible, informative and entertaining, Stamp Magazine offers essential information on all aspects of stamp collecting. It features news from the world of philately, auctions and exhibitions and the latest issues and valuable errors as well as readers showcasing their collections.

The deal sees MyHobbyStore acquire the brands – currently published within the IPC Inspire portfolio – with immediate effect. There will be no interruption to the publishing schedule of either title.

MyHobbyStore publishes some of the best known specialist hobby magazines in the UK, including popular titles such as RCM&E, Model Engineer, Model Boats and Good Woodworking.

IPC Inspire managing director Paul Williams says: “MyHobbyStore is a publisher which is passionate about hobbies: the perfect new home for Model Collector and Stamp Magazine. My personal thanks go to both teams for all of their hard work, particularly over the course of the strategic review and acquisition negotiations. They have done a fantastic job and I wish them all the very best for the future.”

MyHobbyStore CEO Owen Davies adds: “Stamp and Model Collector are wonderful additions to our growing portfolio of special interest hobby magazines. Our plan is to grow these sectors by developing online communities and e-commerce opportunities on our leading edge technology platform.

Fusion provided general advice to the owners of MHS.  The Partners responsible for the project were Mark Eisenstadt and Paul Slight.

UK, London & Kent

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A Fusion Deal: eLitigation business Legal Inc is acquired by Grant Thornton

October 11, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Legal Inc Ltd has been acquired by Grant Thorton as a key addition to its Forensic Team.   Established in 2005 and based in London, Legal Inc is the leading independent UK specialist in eLitigation, eDisclosure and eCourt services.

Legal Inc is able to handle and decipher huge complicated files for its accounting and legal and government clients.  As the company says: ” Our aim is always to be an ally in the fast-changing world of information management, where our know-how and, experience and market awareness can assist you in you in meeting today’s challenges.  The exponential growth of edata, the impact of disruptive technologies and a changing rulebook make for a ‘shifting sands’ environment. Add in operational pressures that revolve around efficiency, risk, cost control and client satisfaction and you can understand why so many organisations look to leverage Legal Inc to improve legal delivery and enhance business returns.”

 

Paul Slight was the Partner responsible for the transaction.  Fusion acted exclusively for the shareholder vendors.

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Amazon acquires BuyVIP

October 7, 2010 — Fusion DigiNet

Amazon is to acquire Madrid based BuyVIP.com, a fashion and lifestyle online buying community with more than 6M members in Spain, Germany and Italy.  BuyVIP offers members time-limited campaigns from top fashion and lifestyle brands at low prices, generally 30 to 70% below the retail price..

BuyVIP was founded in 2006 with the launch of its German and Spanish websites at the same time.  It is rumoured the price paid is somewhere between $60M and $80M.   The transaction is expected to close in Q4.

Source: Press Release

USA, San Francisco, CA

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