[February 2020]
Intermediate Capital Group has acquired UK-based financial news, data, and events company Pageant Media in a deal worth between £100m and £150m as reported in Private Equity News
Intermediate Capital Group’s Europe Mid-Market Fund announced its first investment in Pageant Media, a leading global provider of news, insight, and data to the asset management sector with a diversified portfolio of high-quality brands. In addition to this Pageant also runs a number of tier-one events for industry participants. The business has an excellent track record of organic growth and value-enhancing M&A, and benefits from the structural tail winds experienced in alternative asset markets.
CloudOrigin provided Vendor Technology and Operational Due Diligence to Pageant Media, led by CEO, Richard Hall: “Pageant Media has a refreshingly strong architecture and technology vision within the media and events sector, with an IT function able to fully support global growth, including scalable tools for fundamental research and an integrated, multi-asset user information experience”.
This is the first investment in ICG’s Europe Mid-Market Fund, which closed in late 2019 at €1bn. The Fund was raised to continue ICG’s 30-year track record of investing in the European midmarket via a dedicated fund. The Fund’s flexible investment strategy and partnership-oriented approach were key factors in securing this investment opportunity.
Gareth Knight, Head of ICG Europe Mid-Market, said: “Pageant Media is an excellent business, operating in a market we know and understand well. The company has an attractive subscription model, providing proprietary data and insight – typically embedded into the workflows of clients. Charlie and the management team have done an exceptional job in building such a dynamic business and we are thrilled to be partnering with them for the next phase of growth.”
Charlie Kerr, CEO and Founder of Pageant Media, said: “We are delighted to be working together with ICG. As a successful global asset manager, they were extremely well placed to understand our business, and we see real potential to leverage their platform and market insight for the benefit of Pageant. This coupled with ICG’s creative approach to investment structuring saw them stand out as the perfect partner with whom to share our future success.”
Graham Elton, Chairman of Pageant Media, said: “We are all excited about the next chapter in Pageant Media’s exciting growth story”.
For more information from ICG [click here], and Private Equity News coverage [click here]