Blackstone-led consortium agrees partnership with Thomson Reuters for financial & risk business

January 30, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

 

Thomson ReutersFollowing our earlier reporting on talks between Thomson Reuters and private equity firm Blackstone, the transaction has now been agreed on, with Thomson Reuters to sell a 55% majority stake in its F&R business to private equity funds managed by Blackstone. The transaction values the F&R business at approximately $20 billion. Thomson Reuters will receive approximately $17 billion in gross proceeds at closing (subject to purchase price adjustments) funded by $14 billion of debt and preferred equity to be incurred by the partnership and a $3 billion cash equity contribution by Blackstone. Thomson Reuters will retain a 45% interest in the F&R business. Thomson Reuters will also maintain full ownership of its Legal, Tax & Accounting and the Reuters News businesses. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and GIC will invest alongside Blackstone for the transaction.

The F&R business provides a broad range of offerings to financial market professionals. Its global content sets include fundamentals, estimates and primary and secondary research. F&R also provides customers with tools, platforms, venues and services to enable fast, intelligent decision-making. The businesses that will comprise the new F&R partnership had 2017 revenues of approximately $6 billion.

At the closing of the proposed transaction, F&R and Reuters News will sign a 30-year agreement for Reuters to supply news and editorial content to the new partnership. Under the agreement, F&R will pay Reuters a minimum of $325 million annually. For the duration of the news contract, Thomson Reuters will grant F&R a license to permit F&R to brand its information feeds and products/services with the “Reuters” mark, subject to applicable limitations and restrictions set forth in a trademark license agreement.

Jim Smith, president and chief executive officer of Thomson Reuters, said, “This deal strengthens F&R and should accelerate its growth and benefit its customers across the sell-side, buy-side and trading venues. Blackstone’s strong relationships in the financial services industry and long and successful history of corporate partnerships will help F&R provide new and innovative products and services, drive further efficiencies and navigate ongoing industry consolidation.”

Canada, Toronto, Ontario & USA, New York, NY

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Blackstone in advanced discussions to buy stake in key Thomson Reuters unit

January 30, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Thomson ReutersPrivate equity firm Blackstone is in advanced discussions with Thomson Reuters to buy an approximate 55 percent stake in the Financial and Risk (F&R) business of Thomson Reuters Corp. for more than $17 billion. According to reporting by Reuters, Thomson Reuters would receive around $4 billion in cash and $13 billion financed by new debt taken on by the new F&R partnership. It would value the unit at about $20 billion.

The F&R business provides a broad range of offerings to financial markets professionals, with $6.1 billion in revenues in 2016. F&R delivers global content sets, including fundamentals, estimates and primary and secondary research alongside tools, platforms, venues and services to enable fast, intelligent decision-making and trading. F&R also provides regulatory and risk management solutions to help customers anticipate and manage risk and compliance.

In an announcement, Thomson Reuters said, “As part of any proposed partnership, Thomson Reuters would retain a significant interest in the F&R business and would retain full ownership of its Legal, Tax & Accounting and Reuters News businesses”.

Canada, Toronto, Ontario & USA, New York, NY

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RELX Group to acquire ThreatMetrix

January 30, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

RELXRELX Group is to acquire ThreatMetrix, a digital identity company that helps businesses prevent online fraud, for £580m in cash.

ThreatMetrix is headquartered in San Jose, California and founded in 2005. ThreatMetrix’s technology analyses connections among devices, locations, anonymised identity information and threat intelligence, and combines this data with behavioural analytics to identify high-risk digital behaviour and transactions in real time.

ThreatMetrix has client relationships across financial services, e-commerce, and media sectors and offers authentication solutions for account origination, payments, “card not present” transactions and account logins.

ThreatMetrix’s Digital Identity Network analyses over 100 million transactions per day across 35,000 websites from 5,000 customers. It is one of the largest repositories of online digital identities in the world, encompassing 1.4 billion unique online identities from 4.5 billion devices in 185 countries.

ThreatMetrix will become part of Risk & Business Analytics under the LexisNexis Risk Solutions brand. LexisNexis Risk Solutions already has an established commercial partnership with ThreatMetrix, including ThreatMetrix’s device intelligence solutions in its Risk Defense Platform.

Risk & Business Analytics CEO, Mark Kelsey, said: “ThreatMetrix is widely recognised as a leader in the digital identity space. Bringing that together with our own strengths in physical identity attributes will give our clients across all forms of commerce and geographies a more reliable, comprehensive approach to fraud and identity risk management while maintaining the privacy and security principles our customers have come to expect. The acquisition is in line with our organic growth driven strategy, supported by acquisitions of targeted data sets and analytics that are natural additions to our existing business.”

In 2017, RELX Group completed eight acquisitions for a total consideration of £123m, and disposed of 17 assets for a total of £87m.

USA, New York & UK, London & The Netherlands, Amsterdam & USA, San Jose, CA

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Terrapinn acquires Science Media Partners

January 30, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

terrapinnTerrapinn, the global events company, has acquired Science Media Partners, an international events and publishing company based in the UK and focused on next-generation government, citizen and consumer-based identity solutions. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

SMP’s portfolio of products includes the world-leading events – SDW 2018 and connect:ID – as well as the highly-respected news and information web portals – http://www.planetbiometrics.com and www.securitydocumentworld.com .

Terrapinn’s CEO, Greg Hitchen, said: “Science Media Partners fits really well with our enterprise technology portfolio and our style of event. There is also a strong cultural and entrepreneurial fit. And the events are world-class.”

UK, London

 

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Hawke Media acquires Execute.LA

January 30, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Hawke MediaThe digital marketing agency Hawke Media has acquired Execute.LA, a growth marketing shop that specializes in funnel optimization and growth hacking for early stage consumer products and startups. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Execute.LA was co-founded by Hank Leber and Wesley Clock and has employees located in the US and in Europe. Notable Execute.LA clients coming to Hawke Media include Bruno Mars’s SelvaRey Rum, and DrumChannel, the learning platform created by DW Drums Founder, Don Lombardi.

Erik Huberman, Founder & CEO of Hawke Media, said,”Execute.LA has done some incredible work for a number of really impressive brands and we are excited to be bringing both the team and their clients into the Hawke Media family”.

USA, Santa Monica & Venice, CA

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KHL Group acquires Diesel & Gas Turbine Publications

January 29, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

KHL GroupGlobal construction information publisher KHL Group is acquiring the USA-based publisher Diesel & Gas Turbine Publication Group. USA-based D&GTP, founded in 1935 and located in Wisconsin, is a leading publisher of information for the on-highway, off-highway, stationary and marine engine-powered equipment markets. It focuses on the construction and agriculture, power generation and commercial vehicle equipment sectors through its North American magazine Diesel Progress and globally through Diesel Progress International. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

D&GTP directors Mike Osenga and Mike Brezonick have built an international reputation for their magazines, directories and websites. They will continue to lead the company while working closely with Trevor Pease, KHL Americas’ President and James King, Managing Director of KHL Group.

James King explained, “This is a fantastic opportunity for KHL to grow by acquiring three market leading publications, digital media and directories. Diesel Progress has a great brand, great heritage and is run by great people. We will build upon the company’s clear strengths and make it even stronger. Massive technological and environmental changes are underway in the design of engine powered equipment. A trusted source of global information is needed now more than at any time in the past.”

UK, Wadhurst & USA, Waukesha, WI

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Microsoft acquires live game operations startup PlayFab

January 29, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Microsoft with nameMicrosoft has acquired PlayFab, a startup which helps game developers launch their titles online more quickly with simplified back-end services. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The Seattle-based startup had previously raised around $13 million in funding from investors.

PlayFab runs its services for 1,200 cloud-connected games with more than 700 million players, and now Microsoft will integrate PlayFab’s tools into its Azure cloud service.

Kareem Choudhry, corporate vice president of gaming at Microsoft, said, “PlayFab’s tools are designed to be used by game developers across all platforms (mobile, PC and console). This acquisition extends the investments and work we’ve done on Microsoft Azure to provide a world-class cloud platform for the gaming industry.”

USA, Redmond & Seattle, WA

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Nextmedia acquires The Women’s Game website

January 23, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

NextmediaThe Australian publishing company Nextmedia, part of the Forum Media Group, has acquired the female sports coverage website The Women’s Game. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Originally, the site was largely focused on football, but after its relaunch on 1 February 2018, will cover Australian women’s sport across multiple disciplines including football, netball, cricket, AFL and rugby. The target market for The Women’s Game is active players and young athletes who are looking to participate in the professional leagues of women’s sports. It was started by legal professional and football fan Ann Odong in 2008, when she found there was lack of coverage in mainstream media about the W-League and Matildas.

Kevin Airs, digital head of sports at Nextmedia, said, “There has been a huge rise in the professionalisation of women’s team sport, which has corresponded with an equal increase in the standard played, generating far more interest among fans and inspiring more people to get involved themselves. We want to be a part of that and be part of raising the profile of women’s sport, as well as the standard of reporting it.”

Australia, St Leonard’s, NSW & Brisbane, QL

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dmg events Middle East, Asia & Africa acquires exhibitions and publication from Hypenica

January 18, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

dmg MEAAdmg events Middle East, Asia & Africa has acquired five exhibitions, and an associated publication, focused on the construction and transport infrastructure sectors from South African media company Hypenica. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The events, African Construction Expo, Cape Construction Expo and KZN Construction Expo are a natural fit within dmg events’ existing construction portfolio. African Ports Evolution Forum and African Ports Evolution Forum – West Africa add a complementary transport element to the company’s existing customer base across industries such as construction, mining, power and logistics. Finally, Concrete Trends and its digital platform http://www.concrete.tv gives dmg events an established channel through which to support the events as well as deliver content and up to date business information all year round.

Matt Denton, President of dmg events Middle East, Asia & Africa, said, “We know Africa is a key geography for the future growth of our business, as well as those of our exhibitors and visitors. Adding these five events and the accompanying respected trade media to our portfolio is an excellent way to expand our regional reach, enabling us to leverage our sector expertise in new markets”.

KZN Construction Expo will be the first event to take place under new ownership, with the exhibition set to kick off in Durban, South Africa, on February 7 2018, followed by the African Construction Expo in Johannesburg in May.

UAE, Dubai & South Africa, Cape Town

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Will Packer Media acquires women’s lifestyle site xoNecole

January 18, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Will PackerWill Packer Media has acquired xoNecole, a lifestyle site created by, and for, urban millennial women. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded by blogger Necole Kane, xoNecole’s mission is to promote positive images of women of colour, as well as empower, educate and inspire millennials through interviews, beauty, fashion, lifestyle, career and travel features. Kane’s initial gossip site, NecoleBitchie.com, launched in 2008. The site rebranded in 2015 to focus on universal themes important to young women.

The deal expands WPM’s media footprint with xoNecole becoming the company’s first owned and operated digital platform and complementing its existing strength in TV, digital and branded content production. WPM will implement an accelerated growth strategy for the cross-platform brand, expanding its video, social and mobile offerings, and building a branded newsletter and multi-faceted event series to further connect with its audience.

Will Packer, CEO and founder of Will Packer Media, said, “Necole is amazingly gifted in her ability to connect with women and deliver much needed engaging, smart and empowering content that is aspirational and impactful.”

USA, Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY & Atlanta, GA

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