Acquisitions

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.
 

Crispin Porter + Bogusky nabs Daddy, expands European footprint

Carol Krol June 15, 2009

Crispin Porter + Bogusky, an MDC Partners company, has acquired Daddy, a Swedish digital agency located in Gothenburg, Sweden. The move represents the agency's first creative hub in Europe, and the agency characterized the deal as the launch of its European operations.
 

Printers look to merge in slowdown

Carol Krol June 12, 2009

Print service providers are responding to one of the most challenging economic environments ever by joining forces and expanding services to compete.
 

Quebecor World declines RR Donnelley's offers

Chantal Todé June 10, 2009

Ailing printing company Quebecor World has rejected RR Donnelley & Sons latest offer to acquire it and, instead, has decided to proceed with a reorganization plan currently underway as a result of bankruptcy proceedings. Quebecor World has said it could emerge from creditor protection by mid-July.
 

Schmidt acquires Solar's card deck business

Chantal Todé June 10, 2009

Schmidt has acquired the cooperative direct mail business of Solar Communications Inc., including Solar's collating assets and paper outer-wrap technology. "The business-to-consumer portion of our business has been growing significantly over the last few years and this acquisition provides a good opportunity to continue that growth and add some capabilities that we didn't have," said Jeff Winter, director of sales and marketing at Schmidt.
 

Golden Gate to acquire J. Jill from Talbots

Chantal Todé June 08, 2009

The Talbots Inc. has signed a definitive agreement to sell substantially of the J. Jill brand assets to an affiliate of private equity investment firm Golden Gate Capital for approximately $75 million. Jill Acquisition LLC, the Golden Gate affiliate, will assume the leases for 204 of the 279 J. Jill brand stores, which it will continue to operate. Talbots will retain the remaining 75 store leases and is expected to close these stores within the next 60 days.
 

Google joins the growing e-book club

Chantal Todé June 02, 2009

The e-book market is heating up with two recent developments. Google Inc. recently announced plans to launch a program that will allow consumers to purchase access to digital versions of books via any Web-enabled computer, e-reader or mobile phone. And, around the same time, Prime View International (PVI) signed a definitive agreement to acquire E Ink Corp., which manufactures many of the e-reader displays used today, for $215 million.
 

Bonnier snags five HFMUS titles

Lauren Bell June 02, 2009

Bonnier Corp. completed its acquisition of five Hachette Filipacchi Media US brands on Monday, June 1. The five acquired brands — Popular Photography, Flying, Boating, Sound and Vision and American Photo — fit snugly with Bonnier's existing catalog of special interest titles, which includes Scuba Diving, Field and Stream and Saveur. All five have print magazines, but they also encompass Web sites, books, licensing agreements, videos and branded events.
 

Lorton Data acquires Aldata

Chantal Todé May 28, 2009

In a strategic move intended to enhance its ability to work on direct marketing campaigns from the initial stages through to performance analytics, data management services firm Lorton Data has acquired Aldata, a list acquisition company. Aldata, in business since 1985, specializes in all aspects of database and list services, including access to over 65,000 lists in over 220 consumer and business classifications, as well as list segmentation for testing and profiling.
 

Toys 'R' Us acquires FAO Schwarz, Macy's boutiques to end

Chantal Todé May 28, 2009

Toys "R" Us Inc. has acquired upscale toy retailer FAO Schwarz from investment firm D.E. Shaw Group. Under the terms of the deal, FAO Schwarz's arrangement with Macy's for FAO Schwarz toy boutiques inside up to 300 Macy's stores will end in November of this year, according to a company spokesperson. That arrangement was announced last fall.
 

Archway moves into consumer promotions with acquisition

Chantal Todé May 27, 2009

Archway Marketing Services, which provides fulfillment services, print management and business intelligence to businesses, has entered a deal to acquire the supply chain management division of Resolve. The deal is expected to close at the end of June. While the two companies have competed in the past on the business-to-business side on fulfillment of marketing and point-of-sale materials, the deal with Resolve brings capabilities in consumer-facing marketing materials.
 

Circuit City Web site relaunches

Chantal Todé May 26, 2009

The Circuit City Web site, CircuitCity.com, has been relaunched by Systemax Inc., which recently acquired the brand's e-commerce business. On May 19, Systemax closed on its agreement to acquire certain trademarks, trade names, domains, customer lists and information as well as other intangible assets of Circuit City's e-commerce business. The purchase price was $14 million in cash plus a share of any future revenue generated utilizing those assets over a 30-month period.
 

Lyris and Silverpop expand in European marketplace

Dianna Dilworth May 19, 2009

E-mail marketing service providers Lyris and Silverpop are expanding into the European markets. Lyris is doing so by acquiring UK-based e-mail marketing agency Facultas and Silverpop is expanding with a new office in Germany.
 

Merkle acquires CognitiveData

Chantal Todé, Lauren Bell May 18, 2009

Database marketing agency Merkle has acquired data quality services provider CognitiveData, which came on to the scene in 2001 as a result of its proprietary data hygiene technology. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
 

Telematch acquires Phoenix Data Processing, Farm Market iD

Lauren Bell May 14, 2009

Telematch Inc., a marketing and information services provider, has acquired two new businesses from Multi Ag Media LLC: Phoenix Data Processing and Farm Market iD. Terms of the two acquisitions were not disclosed.
 

Systemax wins Circuit City's online business at auction

Chantal Todé May 13, 2009

Systemax Inc. won Circuit City's e-commerce business at an auction held this week, subject to court approval. Last month, multichannel electronics merchant Systemax entered a stalking horse agreement valued at $6.5 million with Circuit City, which began liquidating assets in January after filing for bankruptcy protection in November.
 

RR Donnelley makes offer for Quebecor World

Chantal Todé May 13, 2009

RR Donnelley & Sons has expressed interest in acquiring all or substantially all of Quebecor World's assets and properties, and is offering to pay Quebecor debtors approximately $957 million cash and 30 million shares, valued at $394 million as of the closing price on May 11.
 

Metro International divests US dailies

Lauren Bell May 12, 2009

The US operations of Metro International SA, publisher of free dailies, have been sold to former Metro CEO Pelle Tornberg. Metro International, which cited loss of revenue in the US division as a reason for the sale, is taking a loss of $2 million on the sale, the AP reported.
 

Private equity firm completes acquisition of Union-Tribune

Lauren Bell May 05, 2009

Private equity firm Platinum Equity has completed its purchase of The San Diego Union-Tribune, one of the most-read dailies in California. Forty-one percent of adults in the Union-Tribune's distribution area read the Sunday paper, compared to 36% at the second-most read and 23% at the Los Angeles Times. As of September 28, 2008, the Union-Tribune had an average weekday circulation of 269,819, and a Sunday circulation of 342,384.
 

Filene's Basement files Chapter 11; 17 stores to be sold

Nathan Golia May 04, 2009

Filene's Basement today filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. It also announced an agreement, subject to bankruptcy court approval, with an affiliate of Crown Acquisitions to purchase 17 of the chain's 25 stores, including the flagship stores in Boston and Union Square, NY.
 

IAC announces Urbanspoon purchase, Q1 results

Nathan Golia April 29, 2009

Along with its first quarter financial results, IAC today announced the acquisition of Urbanspoon, a Web-based local Internet guide. The Internet company reported revenue of $332 million in Q1 2009, a drop of 10% from the same period in 2008. However, it is confident in the growth potential of its search, personals and local businesses — the latter of which was bolstered by the Urbanspoon acquisition.
 

ABCSearch rebrands as Advertise.com

Mary Elizabeth Hurn April 21, 2009

Internext Media Corp-owned pay-per-click (PPC) search network ABCSearch has acquired Advertise.com. Now, all of ABCSearch's services will be transitioned under the Advertise.com Inc. brand. Over the next six months, the company will be rolling out new technologies to provide multiple integrated programs, including PPC, local and contextual targeting, as well as display ads.
 

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