Euromoney acquires 10% of Zanbato

September 29, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC has acquired a 10 percent interest in Zanbato Inc, an international private capital placements platform and workflow tools provider, for $5.5 million.

The investment is part of a $14m Series B funding round aimed at expanding the capital base of Zanbato. Other key investors include Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur Joe Lonsdale, Formation8, a Silicon Valley technology investment fund, and Accelerate-IT Ventures, a US-based venture capital firm which led the round. As part of the transaction Euromoney will also receive a seat on the Zanbato board.

Zanbato, founded in 2010 and chaired by Joe Lonsdale, is a California-based business focused on building technology to address inefficiencies in private capital markets. Zanbato’s business comprises: i) Zanbato Private Label, an enterprise SaaS solution that enables broker-dealers, placement agents and fund managers to handle the placement of their offerings securely within their proprietary networks: the custom branded and configured solution is trusted by leading financial institutions because of its data rooms, investor analytics, compliance suite, enterprise-calibre security, e-signature integration and due diligence support; and ii) Zanbato Marketplace, software that enables institutional investors and family offices to access direct private investment opportunities. The software is used across several verticals, including fund stakes, pre-IPO company shares and real estate.

Earlier in 2015, Zanbato and Institutional Investor, a division of Euromoney, agreed to enter into a joint venture to bring together the technology of Zanbato and the market reach of Institutional Investor’s Investor Intelligence Network, a private online membership, to serve the institutional segment of the private placements market. Euromoney’s investment strengthens this strategic partnership by providing Zanbato with the financial resources to accelerate its product and business development plans.

Commenting on the announcement, Euromoney Chairman Richard Ensor said: “Over 45 years, Euromoney has built a wealth of trusted relationships with the buy-side and sell-side of the global asset management and capital markets sectors, which we are now using to create specialist digital communities. Our partnership with Zanbato will enable our Institutional Investor division to expand further its digital revenue streams by tapping into the fast-growing online private placement market. Over the next five years, this sector has the potential to create a significant opportunity for placement platforms. With its advanced SaaS technology, Zanbato is well placed to take an important share of this market.”

Zanbato, Founder and Chairman Joe Lonsdale said: “Innovation in finance is critical to advance modern society – technologies that make the global financial system more effective and efficient ultimately benefit all of us. Leaps in progress are often made by applying new ideas to the reach and impact of established players. We have a great respect for the platform Euromoney Institutional Investor has built, and believe our partnership will be formidable as each company brings unique and necessary ingredients required to transform private capital markets. I’m proud to see the innovation behind Zanbato having an increasing impact.”

UK, London & USA, Mountain View, CA

Related articles:

Posted in Content Media, Market Data & Information, Publishers, ~Europe, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

Axel Springer acquires Business Insider

September 29, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

Axel Springer SE is acquiring approximately 88 percent of the shares in New York City-based Business Insider, the digital offering for business news in the U.S.

The purchase price based on 100 percent of Business Insider amounts to USD 442 million (currently approximately EUR 395 million) on the basis of a cash and debt free valuation of USD 390 million (currently approximately EUR 348 million). The valuation corresponds to an amount of USD 343 million (currently approximately EUR 306 million) for the 88 percent of the shares that Axel Springer is acquiring. Axel Springer already holds a stake of approximately nine percent in the company and, after this purchase, will hold a stake of approximately 97 percent. Bezos Expeditions, the personal investment company of Jeff Bezos, will hold the further shares.

Henry Blodget, Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Editor-in-Chief, and Julie Hansen, Chief Operating Officer and President, will continue to lead Business Insider in their respective roles. They will also remain significantly invested in Business Insider through an extensive, long-term equity incentive. Kenneth Lerer, Managing Partner at leading early-stage technology venture capital firm Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Co-Founder of Huffington Post and Chairman of Buzzfeed, will receive a seat on the Board of Business Insider.

Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer SE: “With the acquisition of Business Insider, we continue with our strategy to expand Axel Springer’s digital reach and, as previously announced, invest in digital journalism companies in English-speaking regions of the world. Business Insider has set new standards in digital business journalism globally. Henry Blodget’s way of digital storytelling reaches tomorrow’s decision-makers. Combining our forces will allow us to unlock growth potential and expand Business Insider’s portfolio to new verticals, new locations and new digital content. We look forward to working together with Henry Blodget, Julie Hansen and the exceptional Business Insider team to continue shaping the future. At the same time, I am thrilled to have our close partner Ken Lerer joining us.”
Business Insider was launched in 2007 by Henry Blodget, Kevin Ryan and Dwight Merriman. It employs more than 325 people, approximately 50 percent of whom are journalists. In addition to its U.S. news sites, the company has a growing international presence, with local editions or licenses in seven other countries. A German edition will be introduced in the fourth quarter of this year and will be operated by finanzen.net, a company of Axel Springer SE. Editions for other countries are in development.

Germany, Berlin & USA, New York, NY

Related articles:

Posted in Content Media, Internet Media, Publishers, ~Europe, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

Axel Springer and ProSiebenSat.1 acquire shares in the American virtual reality specialist Jaunt VR

September 21, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

Axel Springer SE and ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE have each acquired a minority shareholding in Jaunt, an American start-up that specialises in the creation and distribution of virtual reality content.

Working with media companies, advertisers and artists, and using in-house developers camera and software technology, Jaunt produces high-quality virtual reality content and releases this via the Jaunt distribution platform. To date, videos are primarily receivable through the Jaunt Smartphone app using Cardboards. In future they will however also be available directly on Virtual Reality headset displays such as the “Oculus Rift”.

Following the joint Media-for-Equity shareholding in the DEAG subsidiary MyTicket and the co-investment in Klaus Hommels’ LAKESTAR II Internet fund, the participation in Jaunt is a third measure in the joint initiative by Axel Springer and ProSiebenSat.1 to promote digital growth companies.

Alongside Axel Springer and ProSiebenSat.1, The Walt Disney Company, Evolution Media Partners and China Media Capital are also taking part in the current investment round in Jaunt. Other investors include Google Ventures, Highland Capital, Redpoint Ventures and Sky, as well as prominent angel investors such as Jared Leto.

Anton Waitz, Managing Director of Axel Springer Digital Ventures Inc.: “Jaunt is an exciting new component in the portfolio of our early-stage investments. We are investing in a market, which can change media use over the next few years: Virtual Reality will provide creative pioneers in the entertainment and news industry with completely new ways of pleasing their audiences.”

Dr. Hanno Fichtner, Chief Digital Strategy Officer of ProSiebenSat.1 in San Francisco: “The investment in Jaunt is an investment in the future of entertainment for ProSiebenSat.1. Virtual reality will trigger an entertainment revolution similar to what our core media of TV did. Jaunt is perfectly positioned in this market and has raised the quality of virtual reality experiences to the next level.”

Jens Christensen, CEO and co-Founder of Jaunt: “We are excited to have Axel Springer and ProSiebenSat.1, two leading and innovative media companies, as a part of this strategic investor round. As we continue to build upon our leadership position, delivering amazing virtuality reality experiences to audiences worldwide, we are pleased to have these strong European partners on our side.”

Germany Berlin & USA, Palo Alto, CA

Related articles:

Posted in Broadcasting, Content Media, Internet Media, Marketing/Advertising, Publishers, ~Europe, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

UES Energy acquired by Inprova Group

September 17, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

inprova-logoInprova Group has acquired UES Energy, a procurement outsourcing service company based in Caerphllly, Wales. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

UES Energy was founded in 2003 by Andrew Padmore. Andrew Diplock joined him a few months later. Andrew Diplock, Managing Director and Gruff Dodd, Finance and Operations Director later led a management buy-out; and at the time of the acquisition, were the main shareholders. Andrew Diplock and Gruff Dodd will join the senior leadership team at Inprova’s energy division.

UESThe company has built a significant client base across the UK in areas like manufacturing, food, education, service and leisure. It procures and manages over £150m of energy contracts on clients’ behalf, with an expected turnover of over £2m this financial year.

The deal, funded through a debt facility from Barclays, follows Inprova Group’s acquisition of two non-domestic energy brokers, energyTEAM and ENER-G Procurement, in April. The two have since been integrated into Inprova’s new energy division, branded energyTEAM. UES Energy will become part of the energy division over the next 12 months.

Paul Kennedy, Inprova Group Chief Executive, said: “This deal further consolidates Inprova’s growing energy services offer and brings us closer to our ambition to be among the top five TPIs in the country. UES Energy complements the world class services, expertise and knowledge we already have in our new energy division and will enable us to continue to expand our service offer to existing customers and reach new markets.”

UK, Caerphllly, Wales

Related articles:

Posted in B2B Services, Consultancy, Energy & Environmental Services, Outsourcing, Procurement, ~Europe. Leave a Comment »

AOL to acquire Millennial Media

September 3, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

AOL is to acquire Millennial Media, Inc., an end-to-end mobile platform, for $1.75 per share of Millennial Media common stock.

AOL was acquired by Verizon Communications earlier this year for an estimated total value of approximately $4.4 billion.

“AOL is well positioned as consumers spend more and more time on mobile devices, and as advertisers, agencies and publishers become more reliant on programmatic monetization tools,” said Bob Lord, President, AOL. “As we continue to invest in our platforms and technology, the acquisition of Millennial Media accelerates our competitive mobile offering in ONE by AOL and enhances our current publisher offering with an ‘all in’ monetization platform for app developers.”

Founded in 2006, Millennial Media is headquartered in Baltimore, MD and has additional U.S. offices in Atlanta, Boston, New York and San Francisco, and international offices in Hamburg, London, Paris, Singapore and Tokyo. Millennial Media’s portfolio of assets includes acquisitions of TapMetrics, Condaptive, Metaresolver, Jumptap and Nexage.

The transaction will take the form of a tender offer followed by a merger, with Millennial Media becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL upon completion.

 

USA, New York, NY & Baltimore, MD

Related articles:

Posted in Content Media, Internet Media, Mobile Apps, Publishers, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

Tarsus Group sells its French portfolio

September 3, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

Tarsus Group plc has sold Tarsus France Holdings SAS to Magellan VI SAS for €9.2 million (approximately £6.6 million). The Disposal supersedes the 8 January 2014 announcement, when the Group said it was selling of up to 18% of the French Business to CRG Consulting SAS. See Fusion DigiNet reporting here.

The French Business, which owns a broad portfolio of exhibitions and conferences in France covering sectors including education, marketing, IT and the events and meetings industry, generated a profit before tax for the year ended 31 December 2014 of €0.9 million (approximately £0.6 million) and, as at 31 December 2014, had gross assets of €24.7 million (approximately £17.7 million).

Tarsus will receive €9.2 million (approximately £6.6 million) in cash. €7.2 million (approximately £5.2 million) will be received at completion and a deferred payment of €2.0 million (approximately £1.4 million) is expected to be received prior to 31 December 2016 (the “Deferred Consideration”). The Consideration is subject to customary financial adjustments to reflect the amount of net financial debt in the French Business at completion of the Disposal. Payment of the Deferred Consideration is subject to fall-back arrangements which provide for the Group to take majority control of the Purchaser if the Deferred Consideration is not paid in cash by 31 December 2016, but the Company does not expect those arrangements to be implemented.

Magellan VI SAS is owned 50.03% by CRG and 49.97% by Fonds de Consolidation et de Développement des Entreprises II. Romuald Gadrat, previously managing director of Tarsus France Holdings SAS, owns 80% of the share capital and voting rights of CRG, with the remaining 20% held by Claire Gadrat.

UK, London & France, Paris

Related articles:

Posted in Conference/Exhibitions/Events, Content Media, Publishers, ~Europe. Leave a Comment »

Progressive Digital Media Group completes the acquisition of Datamonitor Financial, Datamonitor Consumer, MarketLine and Verdict businesses from Informa

September 1, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

Progressive Digital Media Group plc has completed the acquisition of Datamonitor Financial, Datamonitor Consumer, MarketLine and Verdict businesses from Informa plc.

The sale was effected by Informa transferring the above named businesses to Verdict Research Limited, the entire share capital of which was acquired by Progressive. Progressive paid £25.0 million in cash. For the financial year ended 31 December 2014, the pro-forma revenues for the businesses being acquired were approximately £17.8m and adjusted earnings (excluding central overheads) were circa £3.0m.

Commenting on the acquisition Simon Pyper, Chief Executive of Progressive Digital Media, said: “The acquisition of these businesses will broaden Progressive’s Consumer offering, providing scale and additional categories in an important industry sector. This acquisition will be our largest to date, yet of all the companies acquired by Progressive, these businesses are the ones we are most familiar with. Whilst some investment will be required this year and next, the Board is confident that this acquisition will provide a platform for further growth.”

Michael Danson, Executive Chairman of Progressive Digital Media Group plc, was chief executive of Datamonitor when the business was sold to Informa for a reported £502 million in 2007.

UK, London

Posted in Content Media, Internet Media, Market Data & Information, Publishers, ~Europe. Leave a Comment »

Yardi acquires energy information and procurement company MCEnergy

August 24, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

MCEnergy logoYardi, a real estate and property management software company, has acquired MCEnergy, an energy information and procurement company based in Valhalla, N.Y. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

MCEnergy energy management services include contract negotiations with leading electricity, natural gas, fuel oil and green energy supplierss. Turnkey submetering solutions and energy and environmental tracking software give property managers access to energy, environmental and sustainability data and information.

“Yardi continues to focus on advancing our clients’ energy-related objectives by providing options to actively manage consumption, cut costs and support environmental initiatives within a single full-business software platform. Acquiring MCEnergy is the latest step toward that goal, and we look forward to welcoming their energy, real estate and software expertise to Yardi,” said Gordon Morrell, executive vice president of Yardi.

USA, Santa Barbara, CA & Valhalla, NY

Posted in B2B Services, Consultancy, Energy & Environmental Services, Procurement, ~North America. Leave a Comment »

A Fusion Deal: Accenture acquires EnergyQuote JHA

August 18, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

EQ logoAccenture has acquired EnergyQuote JHA, a Pan-European energy management and procurement services provider. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Fusion Corporate Partners acted as corporate advisers to the shareholders of Energy Quote JHA. The team was led by Paul Kelly, director at Fusion.

Headquartered in London, EnergyQuote JHA provides services including energy procurement, risk management and strategy development, forecasting, energy contract management, portfolio management, carbon emissions reduction and utility bill management to clients in more than 22 European countries.

“Clients are increasingly seeking a single provider of energy procurement and management services that can address the full spectrum of needs – from reducing demand and risk to improving pricing and payment accuracy – across all geographies,” said Mike Salvino, group chief executive, Accenture Operations. “This acquisition will extend Accenture’s industry leading position in the procurement market and enhance our ability to provide comprehensive energy management services, putting us in an even better position to provide innovative business process services that deliver business outcomes to our clients.”

“Since its founding in 1992, EnergyQuote JHA has developed specialized technology and expertise in key areas that complement Accenture’s existing energy procurement and management offerings,” said Jonathan Lydiard-Wilson, CEO, EnergyQuote JHA. “This agreement with Accenture will benefit the clients of both companies, combining our proprietary technology and extensive energy market intelligence with Accenture’s own industry leading procurement capabilities and global reach.”

EnergyQuote JHA has 279 employees in offices across Europe including the UK and Romania, as well as India.

Fusion Deals:

Business Support Services and Energy & Environmental Services

Media & Business Information

Exhibitions & Conferences

Healthcare

Broadcast

Posted in B2B Services, Consultancy, Energy & Environmental Services, Fusion Deal, Outsourcing, Procurement, ~Europe. Tags: , , , . Leave a Comment »

Pearson agrees to sell 50% stake in The Economist Group

August 13, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

EconomistPearson has agreed to sell its 50% stake in The Economist Group for £469 million, payable in cash.

EXOR S.p.A. has agreed to purchase 27.8% of The Economist Group’s Ordinary shares for consideration of £227.5 million and all of the B special shares for consideration of £59.5 million from Pearson. Pearson’s remaining Ordinary shares will be repurchased by The Economist Group for a total consideration of £182 million.

The sales comes just weeks Pearson sold the Financial Times to Nikkei for £884 million.

The Economist Group is a leading source of analysis on international business and world affairs, delivered through a range of publications and services including: The Economist newspaper, one of the world’s leading weekly business and current affairs publications with a circulation of around 1.6 million; Economist.com; the Economist Intelligence Unit; CQ Roll Call and TVC.

Pearson reports its stake in The Economist Group as an associate and includes 50% of its profit after tax in operating income. In 2014, The Economist Group contributed £21 million to Pearson’s operating income and approximately 3 pence to adjusted earnings per share. At 31 December 2014, the carrying value of Pearson’s investment in The Economist Group was £nil.

John Elkann, Exor’s chief executive, said: “By increasing our investment in The Economist we are delighted to affirm our role as one of the Group’s long-term supportive shareholders, along with the Cadbury, Layton, Rothschild and Schroder families and other individual stable investors.

The transaction is subject to a number of regulatory approvals and to approval by both a 75% majority of The Economist Group shareholders and the group’s independent trustees. The provisions of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers do not apply to The Economist Newspaper Limited. The transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2015.

UK, London & Italy, Turin

Related links:

Posted in Conference/Exhibitions/Events, Content Media, Internet Media, Publishers, ~Europe. Tags: , , . Leave a Comment »
« Older posts
Newer posts »