Phoenix invests in Capital Economics

March 27, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Phoenix Equity PartnersPrivate equity firm Phoenix Equity Partners has acquired a controlling stake in independent research company Capital Economics. Phoenix’s investment, which values the business at circa £95m, will be made alongside the existing management team and shareholders. Roger Bootle will retain a significant stake in the business.

Capital Economics is one of the leading independent macro-economic research companies in the world. Their team of more than 60 experienced economists provide award-winning macro-economic, financial markets and sectoral analysis, forecasts and consultancy from offices in London, New York, Toronto, Singapore and Sydney. The business provides research subscriptions, data and events to approximately 1,500 global institutions.

Capital Economics’ existing backer LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group, will exit its minority stake. Since their investment in October 2014, the business has grown revenues by 30% to over £22.5m in its latest financial year, launched several new services and opened new offices in New York and Sydney. It has expanded the team by 30% to over 140 employees across its five locations.

The investment by Phoenix will allow Capital Economics to continue to accelerate its growth. Phoenix’s support will enable investments in new services and in technology to enhance and personalise client delivery. A number of potential acquisitions have also been identified.

Chris Neale, Partner at Phoenix, said: ‘Capital Economics is an exceptional business with outstanding economists and staff, and an unrivalled reputation for macro-economic insight. It has grown every year since inception, building up a global base of loyal repeat clients. Demand for high quality, independent research continues to increase and we are excited about the future potential of the business. We look forward to working with Bob and the team to help accelerate growth over the coming years.’

UK, London

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Euromoney acquires European investment industry survey Extel

March 8, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

EuromoneyEuromoney Institutional Investor PLC, the international business information and events group, has acquired 100% of the business and assets of Extel from WeConvene. Extel will be integrated into Euromoney’s Institutional Investor Research business which is well known for its sell-side analyst and corporate IR performance research and rankings, and strengthens further Institutional Investor’s asset management offering. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Extel runs the annual independent survey of quality across the European equities investment community. The Extel Survey began in 1974 and in 2017 over 15,500 investment professionals cast 1.1 million votes across the investment industry, providing a huge dataset to help clients analyse and drive their market understanding.

The acquisition of Extel fits within Euromoney’s strategy of investing in its main themes, specifically asset management. Extel is deeply embedded in the equities investment community and its complementary data sets and highly valued analytics and insights will support the transition of Institutional Investor to a next generation 3.0 business model.

Will Rowlands-Rees, MD of Institutional Investor Research, said: “Although a small business, Extel has a strong reputation in the European market, and is highly complementary to our existing Institutional Investor Research offerings. By integrating these businesses, we will create a unique bulge bracket through domestic broker view of research product evaluation in the European market at a time of tremendous market change driven by MiFID II. I look forward to leveraging our shared expertise and knowledge, and partners in the investment community to build a stronger and broader set of capabilities across our portfolio of products to help with these challenges.”

UK, London

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Euromoney to sell its Global Markets Intelligence Division (CEIC and EMIS)

February 12, 2018 — Fusion DigiNet

Euromoney plcEuromoney Institutional Investor PLC is to sell its Global Markets Intelligence Division, consisting of CEIC and EMIS, to a consortium of CITIC Capital Partners Management Limited, the private equity arm of CITIC Capital Holdings Limited, and Caixin Global Limited, for an equity value of $180.5 million.  The proceeds, net of transaction costs and tax, are expected to be approximately $145 million. They will be paid in cash on completion.

For the year ended 30 September 2017, GMID reported an operating profit of £11.9 million ($15.1 million). GMID’s gross assets at 30 September 2017 were £45.3 million. The sale is expected to complete by the end of April 2018.

Headquartered in Hong Kong, GMID is a leading provider of macro-economic, company and industry intelligence on emerging markets with a strong customer presence in China, India, Brazil and Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in developed markets.

Andrew Rashbass, CEO of Euromoney, said: “This transaction is another example of Euromoney’s strategy in action: where a good business is not strategic, we will sell it and recycle capital towards our main investment themes like price discovery, asset management and telecoms.  CITIC Capital and Caixin will provide an excellent home for the business, which Aloisio Parente and the whole team have done a fantastic job developing as part of Euromoney.  I am confident that the business will thrive under its new owners.”

citiccapitallogoYichen Zhang, Chairman and CEO of CITIC Capital, said: “We are very excited to make this investment in CEIC and EMIS, which are world-class platforms for macro-economic and business information. Together with Caixin, we look forward to working with the management team to continue growing the business and developing its global customer base.”

As previously reported, last November Citic teamed up with the Asia arm of Baring Private Equity to purchase the Wall Street English educational unit from Pearson Plc for $300 million.

CaixinShuli Hu, Publisher of Caixin Media, Chairwoman of Caixin Global, said:  “We are optimistic about GMID’s business and future.  Caixin will further leverage the rising global influence of China’s economy, and combine state-of-the-art technology with its authoritative information service and data offerings.  We will join forces together with GMID to provide indispensable data and insight for overseas and domestic financial industry professionals and stakeholders.”

UK, London & Hong Kong

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