Experian buys France's Emailing Solution to grow CheetahMail

Database and marketing services giant Experian bought French e-mail marketing firm Emailing Solution to expand the global footprint of its CheetahMail subsidiary.

Experian's CheetahMail, which currently operates in the United States, Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands, will have a larger presence in France and Spain after Emailing Solution is integrated with it. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"When you look at France specifically it is one of the largest markets in Europe and it is a difficult market to grow organically, so it was a place where an acquisition made sense," said Matthew Seeley, president of CheetahMail, New York. "Emailing Solution has a good team and they have a good place in the market in France and we like that they are in Spain as well."

Emailing Solution is Experian's latest acquisition. The Costa Mesa, CA-based company recently bought Internet intelligence firm Hitwise, online comparison-shopping service PriceGrabber, LowerMyBills.com and ClassesUSA. Purchased in 2002, CheetahMail itself bought Harvest Solutions, later renamed SiteClarity.

The Emailing Solution deal comes the same week in which e-mail marketing services firm Responsys announced its purchase of predictive analytics company Loyalty Matrix. That acquisition is designed to add predictability and optimization for Responsys clients including 24 Hour Fitness, Apple, the Chicago Sun-Times and Draftfcb.

With this acquisition, CheetahMail will gain access to 300 brands in the Emailing Solution portfolio, including Orange (France Telecom), Staples and Hewlett-Packard.

Emailing Solutions will keep its office in Paris and Barcelona, Spain.

"Over time we will look to see how we can synthesize the best from each of our solutions," Mr. Seeley said. "We're looking at the rest of this fiscal year as a transitional period."