Acquisitions

LoyaltyOne nabs stake in Brazilian loyalty firm

Mary Elizabeth Hurn October 19, 2009

Alliance Data-owned company LoyaltyOne has acquired a 29% stake in CBSM, Companhia Brasileria De Servicos De Marketing, which operates Brazil-based loyalty program Dotz. Terms of the agreement, which was signed in early October, were not disclosed.
 

Publicis Razorfish deal closes

Dianna Dilworth October 14, 2009

Razorfish is now officially a part of the Publicis Groupe, making Publicis the largest digital advertising company in the world. After acquiring the agency from Microsoft for $286.8 million in cash this summer, the deal is now complete.
 

Reynolds DeWalt acquires RiverView to boost direct mail capabilities

Kevin McKeefery October 06, 2009

Reynolds DeWalt acquired RiverView Marketing Consultants, a direct marketing services company, effective October 5. Reynolds DeWalt, a multichannel agency, made the acquisition to boost its direct mailing capabilities, particularly in database management and analytics services for mail campaigns, in which RiverView specialized.
 

Acxiom acquires DMS, expands into Middle East-North Africa region

Mary Elizabeth Hurn September 23, 2009

Acxiom announced September 23 that it will acquire Direct Marketing Services, which has offices in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to extend the data marketing agency's footprint into the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region. Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close by the end of next month, were not disclosed.
 

Inuit to acquire Mint.com for $170 million

Dianna Dilworth September 17, 2009

Software company Intuit agreed this week to purchase online personal finance firm Mint.com in a cash transaction valued at approximately $170 million. The deal is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter.
 

One to One Interactive acquires Twelve Horses

Nathan Golia September 14, 2009

One to One Interactive, a digital marketing firm based in Boston, has acquired Reno, NV-based agency Twelve Horses. Terms of the deal, announced September 14, were not disclosed. One to One will add Twelve Horses' Reno, NV, and Salt Lake City offices to its Charlestown, MA headquarters.
 

ExactTarget acquires Keymail Marketing to expand into UK market

Dianna Dilworth September 08, 2009

Indianapolis-based e-mail service provider ExactTarget is expanding into the UK market through the acquisition of Keymail Marketing. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition, announced September 8, comes four months after ExactTarget received $70 million in venture capital funding, which it said it would use to expand its international presence.
 

Yahoo acquires Maktoob

Carol Krol August 25, 2009

Yahoo announced on August 25 it has agreed to acquire Maktoob.com, a Dubai-based online community with more than 16.5 million users. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal combines Yahoo's products with Maktoob's local online content that caters to the Arab world. The combined audiences also give advertisers greater reach.
 

It's time for digital co-op marketing

Chip Hall, SVP sale and marketing, Teracent Corp. August 25, 2009

Cooperative marketing -- advertising and promotional programs in which a manufacturer supports the advertising efforts of a retailer -- has seen extensive success in the offline realm. However, considering the sheer mass of audience data and publisher complexity involved, aggregating and using this data in a meaningful way has been nearly impossible to date. Today, technology has finally caught up to the market need for digital co-op marketing.
 

Advent to acquire Charlotte Russe

Chantal Todé August 24, 2009

Teen mall-based retailer Charlotte Russe Holding Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired and taken private by private equity firm Advent International Corp. for approximately $380 million. The price represents a 26.9% premium over the closing cost of Charlotte Russe's shares on August 21, the last trading day before the deal was announced.
 

NC agency Wildfire bolsters sports presence with buy

Nathan Golia August 17, 2009

Winston-Salem, NC-based agency Wildfire acquired Keystone, a sports marketing agency, last month. The acquisition expanded Wildfire's existing sports marketing capabilities, allowing it to take campaigns from concept development to execution rather than having to outsource the execution, said Brad Bennett, "chief firestarter" [CEO] at Wildfire.
 

Web at heart of Vibe, Portfolio resuscitation

Lauren Bell August 13, 2009

Two magazines that shuttered earlier this year are making comebacks with a digital focus: Vibe, under new ownership, will relaunch in print and online this Fall, while Condé Nast's Portfolio has reopened as a Web-only venture owned by American City Business Journals (ACBJ).
 

Golden Gate completes Eddie Bauer acquisition

Chantal Todé August 04, 2009

Golden Gate Capital has completed its previously announced acquisition of Eddie Bauer's assets for $286 million in cash. As a result of the deal, Eddie Bauer will operate as a newly formed company with a stronger balance sheet, little or no long-term debt and a substantially lower cost structure. Eddie Bauer plans to maintain the majority of its stores and employees while refocusing the brand on its outdoor heritage.
 

Reed Business titles back on the block

Lauren Bell July 30, 2009

Following a disappointing first half and an enterprise-wide portfolio review, Reed Elsevier is putting portions of its Reed Business Information (RBI) unit back on the block. This time around, the company's US titles only are up for sale, barring a handful that will become part of RBI Global. Variety, which has a weekly circulation of 34,000, Reed Construction Data, RSMeans, MarketCast, LA411 and BuyerZone, will all be retained.
 

IBM to acquire SPSS in analytics push

Lauren Bell July 28, 2009

IBM continued its aggressive push into the analytics space Tuesday with the announcement that it would acquire predictive analytics firm SPSS and launch its Smart Analytics System in the second half of 2009. The planned acquisition, for $1.2 billion in cash, would equip IBM with SPSS' analytics software — including tools for data collection, statistics, modeling and deployment — building IBM's software portfolio as well as its business analytics offerings.
 

Meredith Corporation buys stake in The Hyperfactory

Dianna Dilworth July 22, 2009

The Meredith Corporation, a media and marketing services company, has acquired a strategic stake in mobile marketing firm The Hyperfactory. The investment, whose terms were not disclosed, will be accounted for on Meredith's financial statements for fiscal 2010.
 

Adknowledge acquires Super Rewards

Carol Krol July 22, 2009

Adknowledge announced July 22 it has acquired KITN Media, owner of Super Rewards, a virtual currency platform for online games and social network applications. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Scott Lynn, CEO of Adknowledge said this deal, its sixth acquisition in two years, is its largest acquisition to date. The Kansas City, Mo-based ad network said the deal combines the KITN's Super Rewards platform with Adknowledge's technology expertise, deep pockets and reach to enable it to offer a full set of social advertising solutions to advertisers.
 

Congressional Quarterly joins Roll Call Group to form major Beltway player

Lauren Bell July 22, 2009

Roll Call Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Economist Group, has acquired Congressional Quarterly (CQ) in a move to cement its hold on the DC political market. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. CQ, a magazine for Congressmen and other DC insiders, and its Web site, will join the newly formed CQ-Roll Call Group, which also includes 2008 Roll Call acquisition Capitol Advantage, the weekday daily Roll Call magazine, CongressNow wire service and other content sources.
 

Golden Gate places highest bid for Eddie Bauer

Chantal Todé July 17, 2009

Golden Gate Capital has emerged as the leading bidder for Eddie Bauer during a bankruptcy auction this week, with an all-cash bid for $286 million. The Golden Gate offer will be presented for court approval on July 22 and, if it is accepted, the transaction is expected to close in early August. Eddie Bauer voluntarily entered initiated Chapter 11 reorganization proceedings last month. At the time, it entered into an asset purchase agreement with CCMP Capital Advisors LLC for $202 million in cash, which could be superseded by other bids at auction.
 

More details emerge in Microsoft's push to sell Razorfish

Dianna Dilworth July 13, 2009

Microsoft Corp. is reportedly in talks with five of the world's biggest advertising companies about selling off digital agency Razorfish. According to reports in late June, Microsoft had hired Morgan Stanley to run the sale of the digital agency it acquired in 2007 after acquiring aQuantive for $6 billion.
 

High customer costs drive deals

Chantal Todé July 10, 2009

The number of mergers and acquisitions taking place among direct marketing-related firms is down overall, but the marketing services segment has been a hot bed of activity.
 

InfoGroup scoops up Experian's business database

Carol Krol July 09, 2009

In a major move, two database industry competitors are now teaming up, DMNews has learned. InfoGroup has acquired Experian's National Business database and announced the deal to clients on July 7. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the partnership will involve Experian reselling InfoGroup's data.
 

Deluxe adds to customer base with acquisitions

Chantal Todé July 09, 2009

Deluxe Corporation, which provides customer loyalty and retention programs and other marketing services as well as promotional products and printed items to small businesses and financial institutions, has announced two acquisitions intended to expand its small business Web services customer base. Deluxe's Hostopia unit has signed a definitive agreement to purchase certain assets of Aplus.net and completed the purchase of search engine marketing firm MerchEngines. Deluxe will pay approximately $30 million for these companies.
 

Q Interactive nabs Postmaster Direct

Carol Krol July 07, 2009

Q Interactive, a performance-based advertising network, announced on July 7 it acquired Postmaster Direct, a double opt-in permission-based e-mail marketing company, from Authentic Response, a market research and lead generation company spun off by Return Path in October 2008. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
 

Johnson & Quin acquires certain assets of Staples' direct mail division InteliMail

Chantal Todé July 06, 2009

Direct mail production and printing services provider Johnson & Quin has acquired certain assets of Staples Print Solutions' direct mail division InteliMail. The deal brings Johnson & Quin customers in the financial services, retail and government arenas as well as additional bindery, lettershop and affixing capabilities.
 

CognitiveData acquires CMS Direct

Chantal Todé July 06, 2009

Seeing an opportunity to bring innovation to the areas of data accuracy, analytics and marketing databases for the catalog industry, CognitiveData, which was acquired by Merkle in May and is a wholly owned subsidiary of the database marketing agency, is acquiring catalog marketing services firm CMS Direct. CognitiveData and CMS have been working together since 2006, when they formed a strategic partnership. At the time, CMS began incorporating CognitiveData's data accuracy technology into its list processing and data processing environment.
 

StrongMail acquires PopularMedia to offer social networking services

Dianna Dilworth July 01, 2009

E-mail marketing services firm StrongMail Systems has acquired PopularMedia, a social media marketing company, for an undisclosed figure. Under the terms of the agreement, PopularMedia will come under the StrongMail brand and its social media tools will become part of the StrongMail suite of digital marketing offerings.
 

Dress Barn, Tween Brands to merge

Chantal Todé June 25, 2009

Dress Barn Inc. and Tween Brands Inc. have entered into a definitive merger agreement. In the stock-for-stock transaction, a subsidiary of Dress Barn will merge with Tween Brands. Each share of the latter's common stock will be exchanged for 0.47 shares of Dress Barn common stock, representing an equity value of approximately $157 million based on June 24 closing stock prices for both companies. Upon closing of the transaction, Tween Brands stockholders are expected to own approximately 16% of Dress Barn.
 

Sapient broadens offerings with Nitro acquisition

Lauren Bell June 23, 2009

Digital agency Sapient Corp. will add traditional advertising experience to its offering when it completes its acquisition of Nitro Group LLC in July. The acquisition, worth approximately $50 million, will create a new division of Sapient called Sapient/Nitro, which will specialize in fully integrated campaigns that include digital commerce, marketing technology, traditional advertising and social media.
 

Eddie Bauer to reorganize; Spiegel finds a buyer

Chantal Todé June 18, 2009

Retailers Spiegel Brands and Eddie Bauer, which each faced financial difficulties several years ago when they were under the same ownership, are in the news again this week with financial troubles and new suitors. Private equity firm Patriarch Partners LLC has acquired substantially all the operating assets of Spiegel Brands Inc. through a newly formed company called Signature Styles LLC.
 

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