Bunzl acquires Quirumed in Spain and Jan-Mar Sales in Canada

February 23, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

bunzl-logoBunzl plc, the international distribution and outsourcing Group, today announces that it has completed the acquisition of two further businesses in Spain and Canada.

quirumedThe Company has acquired Quirumed, S.L. in Spain.  Based in Valencia, Quirumed is principally engaged in the supply of healthcare related products and equipment to an international customer base consisting of medical centres, doctors’ surgeries and other end users throughout Spain and in other countries in Europe.  Revenue in the year ended 31 December 2014 was €18 million.

jan-marBunzl has also purchased Jan-Mar Sales Limited in Canada.  Based in Toronto, Jan-Mar is principally engaged in the sale of cleaning and hygiene supplies to distributors in the region.  Revenue in the year ended 31 January 2015 was C$12 million.

Commenting on the acquisitions, Michael Roney, Chief Executive of Bunzl, said:

“The acquisition of Quirumed is an important development for Bunzl as it takes us into the healthcare sector in Spain for the first time, having previously acquired businesses there in the cleaning and hygiene, safety and foodservice sectors.  The purchase of Jan-Mar complements our existing cleaning and hygiene business in Canada and strengthens our position in the Toronto region.

UK, London & Spain, Valencia & Canada, Toronto

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The Quarto Group acquires Lewes Holdings, owner of The Ivy Press

February 23, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

The Quarto Group, the illustrated book publisher and distribution group, is to acquire Lewes Holdings Ltd, the owner of The Ivy Press Limited, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Quarto Publishing plc.  The acquisition is conditional on the approval of Bank of Scotland, lenders to The Ivy Press Limited, to the proposed change of ownership.

Ivy Press is a publisher and packager of creative, highly illustrated non-fiction books. Founded in 1996, Ivy works with publishers and has printed over 20 million books and sold rights in 26 different languages.

The total consideration payable is up to £1.3m plus the assumption of up to £200,000 of debt.  Excluding initial one-off/non-recurring costs in the order of $0.5m, the acquisition is earnings enhancing.  The consideration will be paid in three tranches: on completion, 1 July 2015, and 4 January 2016.

Commenting on the acquisition, Marcus Leaver, Chief Executive Officer of Quarto, said: “We are delighted to welcome the Ivy team to The Quarto Group. We have long admired their creativity and innovation. Ivy’s presence will further underline our Quarto International Co-Editions division as the market leader. Further, we are pleased that Jenny Manstead, one of Ivy’s co-founders, is returning to Quarto after spending time with us earlier in her career.”

UK, London & West Sussex

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Reader link acquires Baker & Taylor Marketing Services U.S. and Baker & Taylor Publishing Group

February 23, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

ReaderLinkLogoReaderlink Distribution Services has acquired the Baker & Taylor Marketing Services U.S. (“BTMS”) and Baker & Taylor Publishing Group (“BTPG”) businesses from Baker & Taylor, Inc.

BTMS UK and BTMS Mexico are not included in the transaction and will remain subsidiaries of Baker & Taylor, Inc.

Readerlink is the largest full-service book distribution company to non-trade booksellers in the USA, selling approximately one out of every three trade books sold in the USA. All of the current management and employees of the acquired businesses are joining the Readerlink team, including Sydney Stanley, Executive Vice President and General Manager, who will continue to lead the acquired businesses under Readerlink’s ownership. Sydney will report to Michael Hesselbach, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of RDS.

Readerlink will be acquiring BTMS’ 504,000 square-foot Indianapolis, Indiana distribution center, as well as its general offices in San Diego, California, and its editorial offices in Ashland, Oregon.

In the near future, BTMS will re-brand to Readerlink Marketing Services, and BTPG will re-brand to Printers Row Publishing Group. The individual publishing imprints, Silver Dolphin, Thunder Bay, Canterbury Classics and Portable Press will not be re-branded.

“We believe that the businesses’ talented management team, dedicated employees and world-class wholesale club partners distinguish them as leaders in their respective verticals,” said Dennis E. Abboud, President and C.E.O. of Readerlink. “This transaction provides us with additional assets and expertise to continue our long-standing, proven commitment to customer service and to help us and our new retail partners succeed in a dynamic and evolving book market.”

USA, Oak Brook, IL

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Solucom acquires consulting firm Hudson & Yorke

February 19, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

solucom-logoSolucom, a French management and IT consulting firm, has acquired Hudson & Yorke, a consulting firm based in London. The deal will be financed entirely in cash. Further terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Founded in 2006, Hudson & Yorke is a specialist management consultancy focused on strategic ICT advisory. Its offering includes support to clients conducting large-scale ICT sourcing programmes in the UK, Europe or globally.

The firm’s client portfolio comprises several international brands such as Barclays, BP and Zurich, as well as the Department of Energy & Climate Change.

For the current fiscal year (ending 31 March 2015), Hudson & Yorke is expecting turnover over £3.5m (roughly €4.7m) and a double-digit operating margin.

The acquisition of Hudson & Yorke offers Solucom the two-fold opportunity of gaining a foothold in a key consulting market and strengthening its client portfolio with the addition of blue chip multinationals. The merger will also enable Solucom to provide its French clients with better advice for their UK-based operations.

Commenting on the operation, Solucom Chairman, Pascal Imbert said: “The UK, and especially London, is a key market in the consulting industry. We were attracted both by the reach and standing of the Hudson & Yorke brand and the firm’s very high value-added positioning in this market. We are now eager to begin working with the Hudson & Yorke team; a collaboration which will enable us to seize some tremendous opportunities”.

Hudson & Yorke’s founding directors, Harry McDermott and Mike Newlove, will continue to lead the Hudson & Yorke business and will join the Executive Committee of Solucom.
France, Paris & UK, London

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Sagentia Group acquires Oakland Innovation

February 19, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

Sagentia Group plc has acquired Oakland Innovation Limited, an R&D consultancy specialising in technology innovation and market intelligence for the global consumer and healthcare markets.

Founded in 1989 by Managing Director, Michael Zeitlyn, Cambridge-based Oakland employs 47 staff, of which approximately two-thirds are PhD qualified.  Michael Zeitlyn, and Jennifer Brown, Sales Director and shareholder, will remain with the business. Oakland will be integrated into Sagentia’s Technology Advisory Division.

In the year to 31 December 2014, Oakland generated revenue of approximately £3.9 million and profit before tax of approximately £0.7 million.  Net assets at completion were approximately £0.5 million including £0.7 million in cash.  These figures are all unaudited.  The total cash consideration of £5.0 million will be satisfied as to £3.6 million in cash on completion (payable out of Sagentia’s existing cash resources) and as to £1.4 million satisfied by the sale of Sagentia’s treasury shares, equivalent to 1,043,333 Sagentia shares at the average closing mid-market price of 130.7 pence on the five dealing days immediately prior to completion.  The Sagentia shares are subject to lock-in periods of between 18 months and three years.  There is no deferred consideration.

The total number of ordinary shares in issue (excluding treasury shares) following this announcement is 38,379,948.  Sagentia holds 3,682,087 shares in treasury. Following this announcement the directors of Sagentia Group plc have interests in the ordinary shares of the Company as follows:

No of shares owned

% Holding

Martyn Ratcliffe

12,512,906

32.60%

David Courtley

375,000

0.98%

UK, Cambridge

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NAHL Group acquires Fitzalan Partners

February 18, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

national accident helplineNAHL, the UK consumer marketing business focused on the Personal Injury market, operating under the National Accident Helpline brand, has acquired Fitzalan Partners. The Group is paying up to £4.3m for Fitzalan made up of an initial cash consideration of £3.0m and a further cash of up to £1.3m prior to 31 December 2015 dependent on certain conditions being met. Fitzalan reported Profit before Taxation of £0.7m for the year to 31 July 2014.  

Based in London, Fitzalan, which was founded in 2011, is an online marketing specialist that uses proprietary technology platforms to target home buyers and sellers in England and Wales and offers lead generation services to panel law firms and surveyors in the conveyancing sector, providing them with confirmed instructions rather than partially qualified leads. 

Russell Atkinson, CEO of NAHL, commented: “As we highlighted at the time of our IPO, strategic acquisitions are a key part of our growth strategy and we are delighted with the acquisition of Fitzalan.  The acquisition offers NAHL the opportunity to extend its reach into the conveyancing market and utilise its competitive advantage and skill set from the PI market to take advantage of the significant growth opportunities already identified.”

UK, Kettering & London

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21st Century Fox completes acquisition of true[X]

February 17, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

21CF21st Century Fox has completed the acquisition of true[X] media, a video advertising company that specialises in consumer engagement and on-demand marketing campaigns. The parties announced a preliminary agreement in December 2014. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Previous reporting – 21st Century Fox to Acquire true[X] Posted on December 17, 2014true[x] media

USA, New York, NY

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Haynes Publishing Group acquires Teon Media for £0.45M

February 17, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

HaynesLogoHaynes Publishing Group P.L.C. has acquired Teon Media Limited for £0.45 million. The consideration is to be paid in staged payments over 24 months.

Through its founder Peter George, Teon, has developed a digital platform designed to engage with younger motorists. Since 2011, Teon has created a mobile centric platform and database covering Europe’s most popular cars. This platform will enable Haynes to accelerate development of its digital delivery plans by adding its own content to a well established delivery system to supply free and paid for content. Content will be delivered in the form of video and simplified text procedures designed to eventually afford multilingual and pan-European delivery using the translation skills of HaynesPro, and beyond that to the rest of the Group’s markets. The complementary nature of the Teon platform alongside the Group’s extensive model coverage, growing video archive, technical expertise and language translation capabilities will form a key element of the Group’s consumer digital initiative.

Commenting on the acquisition, Eric Oakley, CEO of the Group, said “The acquisition is an important move for the Group and whilst we remain firmly committed to our Haynes manual programme, Teon forms a major building block in our consumer digital strategy.  Building on the strength of our iconic Haynes Manuals, the complementary provision of timely information in an accessible, easy to use and trustworthy format will significantly strengthen our consumer offering. We are also delighted that as part of the deal we’ve signed a three year consultancy agreement with Peter, which will help to ensure continuity during the important post acquisition period and add strength to the Group’s digital initiative.”

UK, Yeovil, Somerset & Darlington, Co Durham

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The Mission Marketing Group acquires The Weather Digital and Print Communications Limited

February 17, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

MissionThe Mission Marketing Group plc, a marketing communications and advertising group, has acquired Edinburgh-based The Weather Digital and Print Communications Limited, a specialist digital Agency, employing 11 staff. The acquisition was made through The Mission Marketing Group’s integrated Agency, Story UK Limited. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Executive Chairman of the The Mission Marketing Group plc, David Morgan, The Weathersaid: “Continuing our strategy of finding complementary businesses to extend and expand the range of services our Agencies can provide, we are delighted to welcome The Weather into the missiontm family.” 

The Acquisition of The Weather is not a substantial acquisition as defined by the AIM Rules for Companies. As part of the initial consideration for the Acquisition, the The Mission Marketing Group plc will issue 210,136 new ordinary shares of 10 pence each. Further consideration may be payable, subject to The Weather’s future performance.

UK, London & Edinburgh

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RPS Group acquires Klotz Associates for up to $24.1M

February 17, 2015 — Fusion DigiNet

RPSlogoRPS Group plc has acquired Klotz Associates Inc. (“KAI”), a Texas based consultancy providing engineering, planning and environmental services, for a maximum consideration of US$24.1million (£15.9 million).

KlotzFounded in 1985, KAI has its headquarters in Houston and offices in Austin, San Antonio, Lufkin and Fort Worth. The company, which employs 116 staff, works primarily on projects associated with transport, water and land development, primarily to public sector clients in Texas.
Seventeen of the eighteen vendors of the business, including the founder Wayne Klotz, are remaining with RPS; the other vendor has recently retired.

In the year to 31 December 2014, KAI had revenues of US$26.2 million (£17.2 million), fee income of US$19.4 million (£12.8 million) and profit before tax of US$3.6 million (£2.4 million), after adjustment for non-recurring items. Net assets at 31 December 2014 were US$5.4 million (£3.6 million). Gross assets at 31 December 2014 were US$9.3 million (£6.1 million).
RPS is acquiring the entire share capital of KAI for a maximum total consideration of US$24.1 million (£15.9 million), all payable in cash. Consideration paid to the vendors at completion was US$16.9 million (£11.1 million). Subject to certain operational conditions being met, two further sums of US$4.8 million (£3.2 million) and US$2.4 million (£1.6 million) will be paid to the vendors on the first and second anniversaries of the transaction respectively.

Alan Hearne, Chief Executive of RPS, commented: “Klotz Associates has an excellent reputation and track record in Texas, as well as a strong management team. Its skills will complement the services RPS currently provides in the water sector.  It will also enable us to extend the range of capabilities of our business to include transport and infrastructure consulting.  We anticipate Wayne Klotz and his highly experienced team will make an important contribution to our BNE North America business, which remains a priority for investment for the RPS Board.”

UK, Abingdon, Oxfordshire & USA, Houston, TX

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