Star India to acquire Hyderabad-based Maa Television Network

starStar India, a fully owned subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, is to acquire Hyderabad-based Maa Television Network and its four channels in a deal valued at Rs 2,400 crore.

The money will go to N Prasad, Chiranjeevi (politician), A Nagarjuna Rao (film star) and other co-promoters of Maa TV. The 100 per cent buyout is subject to performance targets set for March 2015. Assuming it goes through, the deal adds an estimated Rs 300 crore to Star India’s top line and about Rs 100 crore to its bottom line.

Star will gain Telugu language channels: MAA Gold, MAA Music, MAA Cinema and MAA General Entertainment.

The deal is expected to close in three to four months time.

India, Mumbai & Hyderabad

 

The Montgomery Group acquires AidEx

Exhibition News is reporting that The Montgomery Group has acquired AidEx, from Centaur Media. AidEx is an international event that brings together the international aid and development community. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The AidEx portfolio comprises two annual events; its flagship conference and exhibition in Brussels (November) and a conference in Nairobi (June).

The exhibition in 2014 attracted more than 200 exhibitors and organisations including the EU, Red Cross, UN and Oxfam, and companies offering a range of products from 4×4 vehicles to medical supplies, shelter products, logistics, short-wave radios and satellite communications.

UK, London

STATS acquires The Sports Network

statsGlobal sports data and analytics provider STATS has acquired The Sports Network. Based in Philadelphia. The Sports Network is an international sports information company. Its content ranges from statistics to news, weather and injury reports to instant scores, branded product and game casts to photography and complete fantasy coverage data, US domestic or world-wide, radio or TV, print or Internet, mobile to signage.

TSNAbbr“The growing appetite for sports content, data and analytics continues to revolutionize the experience of sport in every arena for fans, teams and brands alike,” said Gary Walrath, CEO of STATS. “The combination of STATS and The Sports Network will expand our ability to meet the increasing demand for the creative use of sports data and analytics across different customer segments globally.”

STATS acquired Bloomberg Sports in September 2014.

USA, Northbrook, IL & Philadelphia, PA

Xchanging plc acquires spend analytics company Spikes Cavell

xchangingXchanging plc, a business process, procurement and technology services provider, is to acquire the spend analytics company Spikes Cavell Analytic Limited, for up to $11.5 million on a cash free, debt free basis. $6.75m will be paid on completion, and up to a further $4.75m will be payable over the next two years, subject to achieving operating performance targets.The Acquisition is expected to complete by the end of March 2015.

spikes cavellSCAL is a British company which provides spend analytics technology and services mainly to public sector institutions in the UK and higher education authorities in the USA, but also increasingly to the private sector.  Based in Newbury (UK) and Virginia (US) and with 35 employees, SCAL has around 60 lead customers, some of whom represent groups. SCAL had revenues of £1.8m for the year ended 31 March 2014.

Spend analytics is an important diagnostic tool for customer due diligence in determining spend savings and is frequently included within wider procurement engagements. Spend analytics also provides a way for measuring spend in order to manage supply chain risk and assist organisations in assessing their compliance with diversity programmes. SCAL is also pioneering analytics services that benchmark an organisation’s competitiveness against its peers.  

Ken Lever, Xchanging’s Chief Executive, commented: “Increasingly organisations are recognising the major savings that can be made by using technology to enhance their procurement strategies. Our procurement business went through a significant transformation in 2014, building on the impetus of the MM4 acquisition, made in late 2013, which brought a core technology platform. It also opened up the business to accelerated client acquisition by increasing the number of lower price point offerings. SCAL contributes to this strategy and further enhances our technology capabilities.”

UK, London & UK, Berkshire & USA, Virginia

Under Armour acquires Endomondo and MyFitnessPal

Under Armour, the athletic sportswear maker, has acquired Endomondo and MyFitnessPal. Under Armour already owns the MapMyFitness and UA RECORD™ suite of applications. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

MyFitnessPal is a free resource for achieving and maintaining health and fitness goals. It has 80 million registered users

Endomondo is an open fitness tracking platform and social fitness network connecting athletes throughout the world. Endomondo has around 20 million registered users, approximately 80% of which are located outside of the U.S.

“Under Armour’s demonstrated global leadership in health and fitness innovation is greatly enhanced with the addition of Endomondo and MyFitnessPal, as we continue to redefine and elevate the Connected Fitness experience for millions of people around the world,” said Kevin Plank, Chairman and CEO of Under Armour. “Similar to MapMyFitness, Endomondo and MyFitnessPal have established track records of unmatched equity, expertise and passion in the fitness and nutrition space, and they are ideal partners to enable Under Armour to provide data-driven, proactive solutions to help athletes of all levels lead healthier and more active lifestyles.”

As a wholly-owned subsidiary of Under Armour, Endomondo will continue to operate out of its headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark. Following the anticipated closing of the acquisition in the first quarter of 2015, MyFitnessPal will continue to operate out of its headquarters in San Francisco, CA.

USA, Baltimore, MD & Denmark, Copenhagen & USA, San Francisco, CA

Greentube Acquires BlueBat Games 

greentubeGreentube, a developer and provider for internet, mobile, PC and iTV and their parent company, the Novomatic Group, have acquired a controlling interest in the social gaming leader, BlueBat Games. A business founded in 2011 by video game industry veterans Kenny Huang and Tim Harris. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, BlueBat Games enables game developers and casino brands to socialize their games on browser-based and mobile platforms. Blue Bat Games is the creator of Greentube’s turnkey private label social casino marketing platform, Greentube Pro.

bluebat_logo“We worked closely with the BlueBat team on a number of projects in the past year,” said Thomas Graf, CEO of Greentube Internet Entertainment Solutions GmbH. “After the launch of Greentube Pro, it became apparent that BlueBat and Greentube’s approach to social gaming were in direct alignment. The Acquisition was the next logical step in our progression.”

UK, London & Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia

dmg media acquires Elite Daily

Daily Maildmg media‘s Daily Mail has acquired Elite Daily, the news and entertainment website. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Elite Daily has over 70 million unique browsers per month and an average daily audience of 4 million, primarily in the US. The site has a particularly strong millennial appeal, with approximately 70% of its audience being in the 18 to 34 age range, and has a large social media presence.

Elite DailyElite Daily’s revenues were $5 million in the 12 months to December 2014. The company employs a team of 65 people. Elite Daily will continue to operate as a separate website.

David Arabov, Chief Executive Officer of Elite Daily, made the announcement on the Elite Daily website. Read the announcement here.

UK, London & USA, New York, NY

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Slyce buys SnipSnap for $6.5 mln

Visual product search platform Slyce Inc. has acquired mobile couponing company, SnipSnap App Limited Liability Company for $6.5 million, made up of: US$1 million in cash payable at closing, plus US$3 million in Common Shares issued at Closing Date at an issue price of CDN$0.80 per share and up to US$2.5 million in Common Shares issued at future determined share prices, upon the achievement of revenue milestones by December 31st, 2015 and December 31st, 2016.

Slyce CEO Mark Elfenbein said of the acquisition, “SnipSnap and its four million users represent an enormous opportunity for Slyce to widen its service offering to leading retailers. The team has solved a huge problem for retailers-effectively building a bridge between analog and digital coupon distribution. Furthermore, this acquisition enables users who are already taking photos of coupons to now take photos of real world items, a natural extension of the SnipSnap app’s current use case. With the addition of the SnipSnap platform and team including founder Ted Mann, Slyce instantly becomes the go-to provider of not just visual search applications but the very best out-of-store customer engagement solutions for retailers.”

SnipSnap Founder Ted Mann will continue to lead SnipSnap, which will remain based in Philadelphia.

Canada, Toronto, ON

KKR acquires Trainline

KKRGlobal investment firm KKR has acquired Trainline. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

trainlineTrainline is the most downloaded travel app in the UK and its website ranks 5th by gross transaction value in the UK e-commerce sector. The company has 4.7m active customers, 20.8m visits per month and operates platforms for both consumers and businesses. Trainline is licensed to sell rail tickets on behalf of all UK Train Operating Companies, Deutsche Bahn and Trenitalia.

Dominic Murphy, Member and Head of KKR operations in the United Kingdom commented: “The investment in Trainline adds to our track record of partnering with entrepreneurs and management teams to build global companies and industry leaders. Similar to our Alliance Boots investment, we will support a strong investment program leading to a further transformation and strong international expansion of the company.”

USA, New York, MY & UK, London

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AXIO Data Group completes acquisition of FlightView

OAGOAG, a provider of aviation information and analytical services, has acquired FlightView, Inc., the Boston-based provider of real-time flight information solutions for the aviation and travel industries. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

flightviewFlightView‘s products help aviation and travel professionals achieve superior customer service, operational efficiencies, and has attracted strong brand loyalty with easy to use real-time information. FlightView brings more than 600 B2B customers from the travel, technology and general aviation sectors. In addition, FlightView’s smart phone apps have been downloaded more than 3 million times, its website has over 1 million monthly unique users and it responds to over 300m flight status requests every month.

OAG, headquartered in Luton, UK and with a global network of offices, is the aviation division of AXIO Data Group. Axio operates a portfolio of information businesses and is owned by funds managed by Electra Partners LLP.

Henry Elkington, Chief Executive of AXIO, said: “The addition of FlightView, with its highly complementary customer base and strength in the US market, will give OAG clear leadership in the growing global flight status and schedules data markets. This is the second significant bolt-on acquisition AXIO has made in the last 12 months. We continue to execute our strategy of building and improving each of our individual businesses to increase their value.”

UK, Luton & USA, Boston, MA

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ITE Group acquires transportation and logistics exhibition business Breakbulk from Axio Posted on December 23, 2014