In addition, Centaur has conditionally agreed to the early settlement of the earn-out entitlement of the former shareholders of E-consultancy.com Limited for £12.5m in cash.
According to Centaur, the highlights are:
1. Conditional sale of Perfect Information to Mergermarket for an enterprise value of £26m subject to certain adjustments based on the completion balance sheet
* Single format business which does not fit Centaur’s market strategy and has a limited overlap with core customers, content and technology
* Simplifies Centaur’s business and supports focus on core areas
* Realises significant funding for investment in growth
2. Conditional early settlement of Econsultancy earn-out for £12.5m in cash
* Key business within Centaur’s marketing portfolio
* Subscription and events-led information provider to global digital marketing and e-commerce community
* Econsultancy acquired in July 2012 for initial cash consideration of £12m with deferred performance based consideration of up to £38m due in 2016
* Agreement assumes Econsultancy will generate EBITDA of not less than £3.5m in 2015
* Full integration of Econsultancy into marketing portfolio will immediately start to accelerate growth
Both the Proposed Disposal and the Proposed Settlement are subject to shareholder approval.
Andria Vidler, CEO of Centaur, said: “Our strategy is to focus on our core markets and leverage the strengths of our businesses to provide audiences and customers with the benefits of expertise and synergies around content, insight, and digital technology.
“Perfect Information is an excellent data business but it does not fit with the rest of the business and has only a limited opportunity to grow under Centaur’s ownership.
“The funds raised will strengthen our balance sheet and provide additional capacity for investment in other portfolios across the Group.
“The immediate investment into the Econsultancy settlement enables us to fully integrate our marketing portfolio, the largest part of the group, and by working together more effectively, we are able to further accelerate growth across this portfolio.”
