M&A Activity

Summit Business Media to look overseas in 2009, CEO says mergermarket
21/08/2008

Summit Business Media, the New York City based business-to-business (B2B) publisher, is interested in overseas acquisitions, said new chief executive Andrew Goodenough in an interview. The Wind Point Partners backed company - which has made seven buys in the last 21 months - is going to "take a little pause" on buying, but plans to start looking again in the Fall for 2009. The USD 150m revenue business has identified about 400 companies, and is in dialogue with approximately 50, Goodenough said.

Summit is looking to expand its insurance, mining and futures businesses beyond the US, and is interested in data products, events and reference. Though still interested in print publications, Goodenough said the company was gearing "a little bit" away from it.

The company has number of property and life insurance assets, and is interested in adding to its portfolio with acquisitions of companies based in Bermuda or London, Goodenough said. Depending on the asset, it will pay multiples in the low double digits for electronic buys, and six to eight times EBITDA for print assets.

There are not many UK groups left for Summit to pursue in independent publishing, a UK industry source said. The industry has been through a wave of consolidation, with the large media groups, such as Incisive, Informa or Centaur, having acquired most already, the source explained. However, some targets remain.

The Insurance Insider, which publishes four titles focusing on the insurance industry, is a rare beast in the UK insurance publishing industry, the source said. The group also generates revenue by producing events. Peter Hastie, the company's founding editor, said Insurance Insider "is not for sale" and declined to comment on a potential offer from Summit.

Insurance data provider Axco, which has revenues in the region of USD 7m-10m, also could be of interest, a second industry source said. It is understood the group is holding exclusive talks with a trade player to be acquired. Axco's joint owner Nigel Harley declined to comment.

New York-based insurance data group Advisen, the second industry source said, could also be a good fit with Summit Media. Although US-based, the group also operates in Europe, through its London office. Advisen's managing director for Europe Mason Power declined to comment on Summit, but said the group could engage in M&A activity if there was a "two plus two equals six type of concept". "We are always looking for third parties we can work with. If it made more sense to our clients to do M&A, then we would look at it," he added. Advisen has some 100 employees, and provides information into underwriting, marketing and purchasing commercial insurance. The group is privately-funded and independently-owned.

Summit's Goodenough said he was familiar with The Insurance Insider and Advisen, but declined to comment further. Summit also has seen great success with its Futures magazine, and wants to expand it into a global business. London is a "very good place" for futures-focused assets, he noted.

Similarly, the company is looking to expand its mining division. It has a "huge show" in Cape Town, and is looking for more data, events and reference-related businesses, "ideally based" in Canada or Australia.

Goodenough is taking over the reins from William Reilly, who will continue as Chairman of the company. Goodenough, named president in September 2007, is a veteran of the B2B industry—prior to Summit he was president of Thomson Media's Banking Publishing/Conferences Group.

The company uses Reed Smith for legal advice; Eric Baum, VP of Business Development, runs the company’s internal M&A team.