Reed Elsevier sells RBI France

June 5, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Reed Elsevier

Reed Elsevier has sold Reed Business Information France to funds belonging to  Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners (via the Winch Capital 2 fund), BNP Paribas Développement and several managers of the company. The funds bought a 75 percent stake of RBI France, while the remaining 25 percent was purchased by managers Jean-Pierre Seguret and Alexandre Sidommo. The value of the deal was not disclosed, but is being reported that RBI France was sold for around £40 million.

Reed Business Information France provides professional information and services. Sales in 2012 amounted to EUR 62.4m and the rbigroup has 476 employees in France, Spain and Tunisia. Its main activities include a business intelligence platform which manages tenders (DoubleTrade), some of Reed Elevier’s last consumer magazines including CosmétiqueMag and Coiffure de Paris, guides and soft cover books (Prat Editions, ESF éditeur), an occupational training company (Comundi) and a lead generation company (emedia).

The deal also includes the transfer of the Reed Elsevier group’s Spanish tender management companies Manivest and Construdatos to RBI France.

RBI France is the latest disposal by Reed Elsevier as it moves away from cyclical markets  and focuses on electronic data services and research businesses.

Alexandre Sidommo, head of the Business Intelligence division DoubleTrade has been appointed chairman of Reed Business Information France. The Supervisory Board will be chaired by Jean-Pierre Seguret, former chairman of the DDB France group.

The executive team comprises Stéphane Barus, Finance and Administration director, Gianni Cavalcaselle who becomes head of the Business Intelligence division (DoubleTrade France and Spain), Thierry Lescure, head of emedia, Reed Contents, IT systems and Internet Strategy, Rémi Ramondou, head of the Publishing division, Aurélie Sornat, head of Human Resources and Anne Thomas, head of the Press division.

Pierre-Yves Poirier, Partner of Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners said, “We are very proud to assist entrepreneurs looking to boost business growth. We now share the same objective, namely helping RBI France to seize growth opportunities on its markets.”

France, Paris

Related articles

Posted in Content Media, Internet Media, Publishers, ~Europe. Tags: , , . Leave a Comment »

Morningstar Acquires Remaining Ownership Interest in Morningstar Sweden

May 3, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

morningstarMorningstar has acquired its remaining ownership interest in Morningstar Sweden AB from Stadsporten Citygate AB and two private investors.

Morningstar, through one of its subsidiaries, acquired its remaining 76 percent ownership stake for approximately U.S. $13 million, or approximately SEK 87 million, subject to post-closing adjustments.

Fondstar AB, a subsidiary of Citygate, licensed Morningstar’s methodology and began providing ratings for funds in 1998.Morningstar Europe B.V . and Citygate established a joint venture in 2001, formally incorporating Morningstar Sweden AB. Morningstar’s main offerings in Sweden include Morningstar Direct, Morningstar Data, Integrated Web Tools, and Morningstar.se, an investment information website for individual investors that provides fund and ETF data, portfolio tools, and market analysis.

“Together with Citygate and the local management team, we’ve been supplying investment data and other research tools to Swedish investors for more than a decade,” said Bevin Desmond, president of international operations for Morningstar. “We’re pleased to fully integrate Morningstar Sweden into our Nordic operations, providing seamless access to our offerings and better serving clients across the region.”

Morningstar has 25 employees based in Stockholm. George Sallfeldt, chief executive officer, will continue to lead the company. Morningstar serves more than 200 clients in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland and provides complete data on more than 2,000 domiciled mutual funds and 20,000 funds registered for sale in the local markets. Morningstar also has data coverage on all listed stocks and several other investment offerings in the Nordic region.

USA, Chicago, IL & Sweden, Stockholm

Related DigiNet Articles

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

Euromoney Institutional Investor acquires a majority stake in the Centre for Investor Education in Australia

April 19, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Euromoney logoEuromoney Institutional Investor PLC, the international online information and events group has acquired  a 75% stake in the Centre for Investor Education (CIE).

Based in Melbourne, Australia, CIE was founded in 1997 and is a provider of investment forums for senior CIEexecutives of superannuation funds and global asset management firms.  Principal events include the Chief Investment Officers Symposium and the Major Market Players Symposium, both held annually in Australia, as well as the International Investing Symposium which was held in Tokyo earlier this month.  CIE was acquired in 2010 from its founder, Melda Donnelly, by Erling Sorensen and Jamie Nemtsas who have expanded its portfolio of events and will remain shareholders in CIE until December 2015.

The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing for Euromoney in financial year 2013. Euromoney has paid an initial A$14.4 million (£9.9 million) cash consideration for a 75% interest in CIE, to be adjusted up or down dependent on CIE’s results for the year to December 2013.  Euromoney will acquire the remaining 25% of CIE’s equity in two instalments based on CIE’s profits for the years to December 2014 and 2015.  The acquisition will be funded from Euromoney’s existing committed borrowing facility.  CIE recorded an unaudited pre-tax profit of A$1.5million (£1.0 million) on revenues of A$4.3 million (£2.9 million) for the year to December 2012.

“We are delighted to acquire CIE,” said Richard Ensor, Chairman of Euromoney.  “Euromoney expects to benefit from the rapid growth of Australia’s asset management industry.  This acquisition of the high-quality CIE business gives us the opportunity to consolidate further our position in this premium segment of the events market.  We look forward to working with Erling Sorensen and Jamie Nemtsas to develop CIE further.”

UK, London & Australia, Melbourne

Related articles

Posted in Conference/Exhibitions/Events, Content Media, Internet Media, Market Data & Information, Publishers, ~Europe, ~Oceana. Tags: , , , . Leave a Comment »