Deal value soars for b-to-b mergers in the first quarter
July 10, 2012 - The number of business-to-business media deals jumped 75 percent to 14 in the first half of 2011 while deal value leapt 266 percent, according to The Jordan, Edmiston Group’s first half 2012 M&A overview. That’s the largest percentage growth in deal value among the nine categories tracked by JEGI.
Still, total deal value for b-to-b media was relatively small at $82 million. Deals in the first half included Questex selling its industrial and specialty publications to North Coast Media while Bobit Business Media acquired the b-to-b trucking industry assets of Newport Business Media.
Business-to-business companies are aggressively pursuing acquisitions in the data and business information sectors (which as a category totaled 36 deals worth $6.21 billion in the first half of 2012, according to JEGI). McGraw-Hill was said to be one of the final bidders for oil and gas researcher Wood Mackenzie, which ended up selling to private equity group (and former Advanstar owner) Hellman & Friedman for $1.7 billion Both Penton and Questex made extensions into data and business information services. Penton teamed with REIS Inc., a provider of commercial real estate market information and analytical tools, to offer Reis content and data to audiences for Penton’s National Real Estate Investor brands, as well as collaborate on webinars. Questex recently acquired Ataway Exchange, a community network and conference aimed at marketing and technology executives in the travel industry. The goal is to offer a line of digital consulting services and paid content services offering market research, market analysis and best practices.
Meanwhile, the B-to-B Online Media and Technology sector saw deals jump 21 percent to 47, with deal value totaling a whopping $7.93 billion, driven by the pending Alibaba Group/Yahoo deal, as well as the IHS acquisition of GlobalSpec.
Marketing & Interactive Services topped the list with 262 deals worth $8.68 billion (accounting for 40 percent of all transactions and 27 percent of the total volume), driven in large part by agencies and large brands acquiring interactive marketing solutions and expertise. Notable deals included Oracle’s $300 million acquisition of Vitrue, which helps companies manage their presence on social networks.
By Matt Kinsman