June saw Access Intelligence make a bid for an Australian jewel, Meltwater add to its list of acquisitions, and Hamilton Place Strategies found a new owner. Meanwhile, we had partnerships from Onclusive and Geospark Analytics.
Access Intelligence to acquire Isentia 
In what is a market-changing event, the UK’s Access Intelligence is set to acquire the Australasian leader Isentia. The deal has a value of $AUD 67 million based on a $AUD 35 million equity value and a $AUD 32 million net debt balance as of May 31. Access Intelligence has already entered into an agreement to acquire a 19.85 per cent shareholding in Isentia for the offer price of $0.175 from Isentia’s largest shareholder Spheria Asset Management. As we reported last month, Isentia’s share price has recently hit a low, and the company had a market cap of $AUD13.6 million at the time of the announcement. The deal is subject to a shareholder vote, which is likely to take place in August. Should it be successful, Isentia will be delisted from the Australian Stock Exchange in September.
Meltwater acquires Owler
Meltwater has acquired the online business community Owler for $US18.9 million in cash and $US5.6 million. Owler’s five million members contribute insights on topics including private company revenue estimates, employee headcount and growth trends, which Meltwater intends to combine with its news and social media analytics. Since its listing on the Euronext Growth Oslo in December 2020, Meltwater has been on a bit of a buying spree – acquiring Linkfluence for €50 million in March, and Klear for $US17.8 million in April.
Hamilton Place Strategies picked up by PE firm
Falfurrias Capital Partners has acquired a majority stake in Hamilton Place Strategies, the Washington DC public affairs firm launched by former George W. Bush administration veterans. The investment will see HPS, and its Flag Media Analytics news monitoring solution, combined with Ballast Research.Alex Jutkowitz, Ballast executive chairman and former US CEO at Hill+Knowlton, will chair the new venture.
Babel Street loses appeal
Remember the US Air Force contract worth $US259 million that was awarded to Dataminr? (We looked at it last April.) Well, Dataminr wasn’t the only bidder for the contract and Babel Street, one of the other bidders, contested the award. It felt that its $US60 million bid should have been considered more favourably. A review has taken place, and the procurement decision was upheld. But, the decision is an interesting read and provides some insight into Dataminr.
Geospark Analytics partners up
Control Risks, a global specialist risk consultancy, has picked up a 10% stake in Geospark Analytics, which develops applied artificial intelligence solutions for risk and threat monitoring based on news and social media content. The partnership will see Control Risks analysts adding their expertise and guidance to Geospark Analytics AI-led data. It’s a tale as old as time, and it still takes a human to add context and insight to data.
Introducing Emplifi
Following its acquisition last September, Socialbakers has now merged with Astute Solutions to form the newly-branded Emplifi. The platform will connect social media marketing, customer care and social commerce. The new entity has more than 750 individuals, and intends to retain all staff. Socialbakers CEO, Yuval Ben-Itzhak, is now president and chief of strategy of Emplifi. While, CEO of Astute, Alex George, has been appointed president and chief product officer.
MSL expands Onclusive partnership
MSL and Onclusive have decided to expand their partnership and take it global. MSL will now make Onclusive’s PR analytics service available to parent company Publicis Groupe clients around the world. Onclusive’s technology, PR Attribution, will be used to aid MSL’s clients to demonstrate PR effectiveness. I love a good partnership in our industry, especially one that expands the audience for smart measurement.
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