Jennifer Litterick, who most recently served as group publisher of Rogers Media, has been named CEO of EnsembleIQ, replacing David Shanker.

Private equity ownership dominates B2B media and understanding how to successfully work with private equity is critical, even for independently-owned operators who may deal with PE on standalone transactions (or even for future sales of their companies).

After several years of rampant M&A in the B2B media space, which included the $5 billion sale of UBM to Informa, the estimated $180 million sale of Questex to MidOcean and the acquisition and merger of Hanley Wood into Meyers Group (also under MidOcean), M&A has slowed considerably in 2019--and not just in B2B. The $29 billion merger of Refinitiv and London Stock Exchange notwithstanding, the number of deals across data and information services, consumer media, events and even software and technology have plummeted.

This blog post is sponsored content by a 2019 Connectiv Executive Summit sponsor JEGI | CLARITY

While the number of deals in the B2B Media & Technology category grew a healthy 27 percent to 80 transactions in the first nine months of 2018, deal value leaped 1,326 percent, thanks to several deals worth more than $1 billion, according the JEGI Q3 2018 M&A Overview. 

Infocommerce Partners Holdings, LLC, a Boston-based private equity firm, in conjunction with its affiliated fund Infocommerce Capital I, L.P. and Siguler Guff of New York City, are pleased to announce they have completed the merger of Fourth Wall Events with WorldTek Events while simultaneously funding the acquisition of McVeigh Associates. The combined entity will re-brand as McVeigh Global Meetings and Events, LLC (“MGME”). Infocommerce Partners led the transaction, with debt and equity participation by Siguler Guff, and equity participation by company management. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Randall-Reilly’s acquisition last week of Smart Rhino Labs, which offers recruiting services for the trucking industry and provides its new parent with a deeper level of lead gen and data capabilities, could be the first of several deals as Randall-Reilly looks to build out its portfolio thanks to a full war chest courtesy of private equity firm Aurora Capital, which purchased the publisher last year for a reported $230 million. “Last summer we went through a quick version of strategic planning and started lining up priority acquisitions,” Prescott Shibles, Senior Vice President of Data at Randall-Reilly, told Connectiv. “That’s why we didn’t buy anything right out of the gate with Aurora. Now, we’re open for businesses.” Randall Reilly is looking for four key elements from an acquisition according to Shibles: assets that provide complementary data sets; new capabilities that solve client pain points; businesses that bring in new cl ...

Data is the hot ticket in B2B. While the number of mergers and acquisitions in the Database and Information Services category fell slightly in 2016 versus 2015 (down from 59 to 56), deal value more than doubled to $41.7 billion, according to the Jordan, Edmiston Group.