Moody’s Corporation to acquire RMS from DMGT for $2 billion

Moody’s Corporation is acquiring RMS from Daily Mail and General Trust plc for approximately £1,425 million (approximately $2 billion). RMS is a global provider of climate and natural disaster risk modelling and analytics. It services the global property and casualty insurance and reinsurance industries.

In the 12 months to 31 March 2021, RMS generated £33 million adjusted operating profit and £38 million EBITDA from revenues of £242 million. Based on these figures, the acquisition is made for is a premium valuation of more than 30 times EBITDA.

Moody’s reports that, subject to final conformity to their accounting policies, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021, RMS is expected to generate revenue of approximately $320 million and adjusted operating income of approximately $55 million.

The acquisition will immediately increase Moody’s insurance data and analytics business to nearly $500 million in revenue. RMS is expected to generate up to $150 million of incremental run-rate revenue by 2025.

“Today’s leaders face a complex, interlinked world of risks and stakeholders,” said Rob Fauber, President and Chief Executive Officer of Moody’s. “In the context of a global pandemic, the climate crisis and increasing cyberattacks, our customers must manage a wider range of risks than ever before. We are excited to add RMS and its team of world-class data scientists, modelers and software engineers to the Moody’s family to help accelerate solutions that enable customers to build resilience and make better decisions.”

Moody’s will fund the transaction through a combination of cash-on-hand and the issuance of new debt. The acquisition is expected to close in late 3Q 2021.

USA, New York, NY & Newark, CA & UK, London

dmg media acquires New Scientist for £70M

dmg media has acquired New Scientist, one of the world’s leading science publishing titles, from a consortium of individual investors led by Sir Bernard Gray, for £70m cash consideration. 

New Scientist, first published on 22 November 1956, is a magazine that covers all aspects of science and technology. Based in London with offices in the USA and Australia, it has a weekly circulation of approximately 120,000, of which just over half are UK-based. In 2021 the business is expected to generate cash operating income and operating profit of approximately £7 million and revenues are expected to exceed £20 million. Around 75% of the revenue base is derived from subscriptions. The business also runs international events including New Scientist Live.

Lord Rothermere, Chairman of DMGT, said: “New Scientist is a world-renowned publication loved by its readers, and we are both thrilled and proud to welcome it to the DMGT family.  They are a specialised and talented team who showcase the best of science journalism, bringing integrity, curiosity and craftmanship to their work.  We are very much looking forward to supporting their exciting plans to grow as the go-to publication for anyone interested in the scientific world around us.”  

Paul Zwillenberg, DMGT CEO, added: “The acquisition of New Scientist marks an exciting new addition to the DMGT portfolio and reflects our disciplined approach to acquisitions.  It is a natural step in our consumer strategy to improve the quality of our revenues through building up subscriptions and digital capabilities. We are committed to supporting the talented team and their plans for the future and are confident that the business is well positioned for future growth.” 

UK, London

Daily Mail and General Trust plc sells EdTech business business Hobsons in two separate transactions

Daily Mail and General Trust plc is to sell Hobsons, its EdTech business, in two separate transactions, for total proceeds of approximately $410 million.

Hobsons’ Naviance and Intersect businesses are being sold to US-based PowerSchool, a provider of K-12 education technology solutions, for approximately US$320m, and are expected to be part of PowerSchool’s unified platform.

Hobsons’ Starfish business, after an internal restructuring where it will be spun-out from the rest of Hobsons, is being sold to EAB, a US-based education company, for approximately US$90m.

In FY 2020, Hobsons generated £6m adjusted operating profit from revenues of £85m.

Paul Zwillenberg, DMGT CEO, commented: “These two transactions mark another major milestone in DMGT’s transformation and are a clear demonstration of the benefits of our strategy. Hobsons was restructured in 2017 to focus on high-growth opportunities in Student Success. The combination of operational execution and organic investment drove a significant increase in capital value.

Consistent with our strategy, the divestitures will increase the focus of the DMGT portfolio, resulting in the Group operating in four sectors, compared to ten in 2016. The proceeds will strengthen DMGT’s existing net cash position, further enhancing DMGT’s significant financial flexibility.”

UK, London & USA, & USA, Folsom, CA & USA, Washington, DC

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Verisk acquires energy information business Genscape from DMGT for GBP 297M

Verisk logoThe Daily Mail and General Trust, owner of the Mail titles, has sold its energy information business Genscape for GBP 297 million to US firm Verisk. Genscape collects data and offers forecasts and analytics to customers in the market, as well as providing software solutions.

New York-listed Verisk, which also provides risk analysis to the insurance sector, acquired the energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie for GBP 1.85 billion in 2015. Genscape will become part of Wood Mackenzie.

DMGT chief executive Paul Zwillenberg said, “This transaction marks another major milestone in DMGT’s continued transformation and is in line with our strategy. It will further increase the focus of the portfolio and will result in DMGT operating in five sectors, compared to ten in 2016.”

He added that the sale of Genscape was “consistent with our strategic priorities” and would add more than GBP 200 million net cash to the company’s balance sheet.

UK, London, USA, Louisville, KY & Jersey City, NJ

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Daily Mail owner considering options for its Euromoney stake

Euromoney plcDaily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT), commenting on recent media speculation, has announced that it is considering strategic options for its stake in Euromoney Institutional Investor Plc.

Euromoney is an international business-to-business information company focusing on the global financial community. Holding around 49% of the shares, DMGT is Euromoney’s largest shareholder.

DMGT said it has not received any proposal nor is it in discussions with any party to acquire its holding in Euromoney.

UK, London

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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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Zoopla Property Group IPO Price Range

zooplapropertyOn 22 May 2014, Zoopla Property Group announced its intention to make an IPO on the London Stock Exchange. (See previous DigiNet reporting and an overview of the offer.) DMGT intends to participate in the IPO and reduce its stake in Zoopla. DMGT currently holds a 52.6% stake in Zoopla.

The price range is set at 200 pence to 250 pence per share. The mid-point of the price range implies a market capitalisation for Zoopla of approximately £940 million. The base deal offer size is in the region of 111 million to 179 million shares, representing between 27% and 43% of Zoopla’s existing issued share capital. The Offer comprises the sale of existing shares only.

Final pricing is currently expected to be announced on or around 19 June 2014, with conditional dealings in the shares on the London Stock Exchange beginning the same day. Admission and unconditional dealings in the shares are expected to commence on or around 24 June 2014.

UK, London

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dmg events acquires specialist exhibitions and publications business Quartz Coatings

dmgeventsdmg events, DMGT’s international exhibition and publishing company, has acquired specialist exhibitions and publications business Quartz Coatings Ltd. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The deal gives dmg events a significant share of the global paint and coatings exhibitions market. Its Middle East Coatings Show is already managed by Quartz Coatings, while the company itself organises a further five events in South East Asia, Central America and North Africa. It also publishes two of the industry’s leading titles.

Commenting on the acquisition, Geoff Dickinson, CEO of dmg events, said, “The coatings sector is a fast growing specialist market that complements our Big 5 construction events.

It allows us to develop our existing Middle East Coatings Show and is in line with our desire to build our presence in the South East Asia and Latin America through geo-cloning and strategic acquisitions.

I am excited to be working with Ian Faux, Vice President of Quartz Coatings and his team and look forward to developing our Coatings portfolio and associated activities in the coming years”.

UK, London and Surrey, Redhill

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DMGT – preliminary results for the year to September 2013

Daily Mail and General Trust plc has announced the group’s unaudited preliminary results for the year ended 30 September 2013

DMGT results 2013

 

Click on the table for an enlarged view.

Highlights:

  • Underlying revenue up 2%
  • Underlying operating profit up 6%
  • Margin up to 17%
  • Adjusted profit before tax of £282m, up 10%
  • B2B; underlying revenue up 6% and underlying profit up 4%
  • dmg media performance; underlying revenue decline of 1%, with cost efficiencies driving underlying profit growth of 10%
  • Progress on the £100 million share buy back programme, £69 million to date
  • Net debt reduced by £40 million to £573 million
  • Net debt/EBITDA ratio of 1.5
  • Earnings per share* up 7% to 53.0p
  • Full year dividend increased by 7% to 19.2p

Martin Morgan, Chief Executive, said:

“DMGT has again delivered a good set of results. Group adjusted pre-tax profits* rose by 10% despite the disposal of Northcliffe Media at the end of the first quarter, reflecting good underlying profit growth from both our B2B and consumer operations. Our international B2B companies have increased their revenues and profits* by 6% and 4% respectively on an underlying# basis. Our UK consumer business, dmg media, grew its underlying# profits* by 10%, reflecting greater productivity as the business continues its digital transition.

We continued to refine and optimise our portfolio of businesses during the year with further strategic bolt-on acquisitions, notably within dmg information and Euromoney, and disposals, including Northcliffe Media and dmg media’s central and eastern European consumer assets. We believe these changes have improved the overall quality and growth prospects of the Group and we look forward to another year of good progress.”

Read the full announcement at the DMGT website

UK, London

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DMGT acquires DIIG EUROPE for £75M

dmg information, the business information division of DMGT, is to acquire DMGTDIIG EUROPE for £75 million, from Decision Insight Information Group, a portfolio company of the US private equity firm TPG Capital.

DIIG(E) is a UK and Ireland property searches group, primarily delivering residential and commercial property search results to legal professionals, and is based in Kent, England with additional offices in Edinburgh, Scotland and Dublin, Ireland. DIIG(E)’S business comprises SearchFlow Limited (England & Wales), Millar & Bryce Limited (Scotland), Rochford Brady Legal Services Limited (Ireland), Decision Insight Hub Limited and Decision First Limited.

The acquired businesses had revenues of £69 million and operating profit of £6 million for the year to 31 December 2012.

Suresh Kavan, CEO of dmgi, said: “Acquiring this group of outstanding companies will greatly increase our strategic reach at a time of great opportunity in the property information industry. We are delighted to welcome them to our portfolio of companies.”

UK, London & USA, Austin, TX

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