Datamonitor agrees to £502m Informa takeover
Share
Datamonitor has agreed to a £502m takeover by publishing and conferences group Informa.
The board of the market intelligence firm unanimously backed the acquisition, with chief executive Mike Danson committing his 13% shareholding to the deal.
Danson – who founded the company in 1989, and listed it on the London Stock Exchange in 2000 – holds nearly 9.5m shares, netting him over £61m at the offer price of 650 pence per share.
He has agreed to stay with the company for 12 months following the successful completion of the acquisition, which is subject to shareholder approval. Danson will also invest £5m in Informa shares.
Datamonitor is no stranger to the acquisitions game, having bought seven businesses since 2002 – Computerwire, MIS, eBenchmarkers, Butler Research Group, Verdict, Life Science Analytics and, most recently, Ovum.
In that time, sales of its market data, analysis and forecasting services have more than doubled from £31m to £70m last year, with a focus on the automotive, consumer, energy, financial services, healthcare and technology sectors.
Informa, by contrast, reported 2006 revenue of over £1bn. Managing director David Gilbertson said there were many advantages in Datamonitor becoming part of a larger group.
He said: “As part of the Informa group, we believe Datamonitor will be able to market to our 20 million-strong contact database, take part in our 10,000 events each year and use our global sales infrastructure across 43 countries.”
Informa owns the Institute for International Research, organisers of The Market Research Event, an annual US conference taking place this year in October in Los Angeles. Informa also publishes Lloyd's List, a well-known newspaper covering the shipping industry.
The merger is expected to generate cost savings of £3m. Datamonitor chairman Bernard Cragg said: “Together the two businesses will be stronger and have greater potential.”
Author: Brian Tarran
Related links:
Datamonitor in £42m deal to acquire telecoms consultancy Ovum
Datamonitor acquires Life Science Analytics
Datamonitor buys Verdict Research in £4.7m deal
