Good morning Eurohubsters, Craig McGlashan here taking you into the weekend.
Our increasingly data obsessed world is leading to some pretty big trades in the private equity sphere. Just look at the £1.7 billion bid for my old employer Euromoney Institutional Investor last month that will spin off the commodity pricing service Fastmarkets. Well, add another one to the spreadsheet today – Frankfurt’s Montagu has just agreed to buy one of the oldest data providers out there.
Deal ahoy! The firm in question is London-based Maritime Intelligence, commonly known as Lloyd’s List Intelligence. The deal, announced on Thursday, values the division at £385 million. Seller Informa – a London publisher and events group – will retain a 20% stake.
Maritime Intelligence provides analysis, intelligence and data around global seaborne transport and trade enabling professionals and businesses working in maritime industries to make better informed decisions. The deal includes Lloyd’s List, a source for global shipping news with origins stretching back to 1734.
For history buffs, Lloyd’s List reported on the launch of the Titanic – the ship, not the film.
“Maritime Intelligence is a unique business with a historic legacy and reputation hard-won over hundreds of years,” said Edward Shuckburgh, director at Montagu. “It is complementary to our portfolio of data and analytics investee companies with strong current growth and revenue acceleration potential. We are pleased to welcome the business to the Montagu family.”
“We are delighted to join Montagu and the suite of knowledge-led and tech-enabled businesses in their portfolio,” said Michael Dell, CEO of Maritime Intelligence. “Partnering with Montagu supports our continued delivery of innovative maritime analytics for customers, and we are confident of a bright and prosperous future under their leadership.”
Digitalisation. CVC and CDP Equity announced on Wednesday that they have signed a definitive agreement to buy 100% of Maticmind from Fondo Italiano d’Investimento’s FICC.
Upon completion, CVC will own 70% of Maticmind. Maticmind chairman Carmine Saladino and CDP Equity will own 15% each. Maticmind has also announced the purchase of SIO, an Italian cybersecurity and intelligence technologies company headquartered in Cantù.
Maticmind is a Milan-based IT company that specialises in designing, integrating and managing tech solutions across all areas of IT and communications. CVC and CDP’s investment will support Maticmind’s growth strategy as the company looks to build out its solutions in networking, cybersecurity, datacentres, cloud solutions and internet of things.
“We are thrilled to invest in Maticmind, a true innovator in the IT space that is playing a critical role in the digitalisation journey of Italy and in the development of a national hub for intelligence technologies,” said Giorgio De Palma, partner at CVC.
“We are delighted to partner on this investment with CDP Equity and Carmine Saladino, who will provide enormous support to the growth of the company, especially in cyber technologies,” added Andrea Peyracchia, senior managing director at CVC.
Diversity. We’ve got an interesting story that originally appeared on our affiliate title New Private Markets about Cornerstone VC, a first-time fund manager that has set out to prove that superior financial returns can come from backing diverse entrepreneurs.
Rodney Appiah, founder and managing partner, may have a mission, but he doesn’t want his firm to be seen as an impact fund.
“We want to be viewed as a commercial fund,” said Appiah. “We do not want to be viewed as an impact fund, although clearly impact is a significant secondary benefit of backing diverse founders.”
Cornerstone VC was born out of a Black-led angel investor group, Cornerstone Partners, which Appiah co-founded in 2016. The young firm has just held a first close on £20 million ($24 million; €24 million) for its debut fund, raised from a mix of institutions and individuals.
You can read the whole interview here.
That’s all from me – have a great weekend and speak to you on Monday.
Cheers,
Craig
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