In keeping with our mission to provide comprehensive advertising analysis, MediaRadar puts together a report of the most important mergers and acquisitions news each week. Stay in the loop, whether you sell advertising space or focus on business development.
This week, Rent-A-Center acquired Acima, Nasdaq bought financial fraud detection firm Verafin, and Unilog gained Bravo Business Media.
Rent-A-Center buys Acima, expands fintech capabilities
Rent-A-Center, Inc. announced it completed its acquisition of Acima Holdings for $1.65 billion in a cash and stock transaction that combines Acima’s lease-to-own (LTO) platform with Rent-A-Center’s Dynamix platform to provide retailers and consumers an expanded set of fintech solutions for LTO transactions.
Acima operates in over 15,000 active retail partner locations and e-commerce platforms, generating around $1.25 billion in revenue last year. Jason Hogg, the vice president of Dynamix commented that “this combination marries Acima’s advanced decisioning with Preferred Dynamix’s complementary and proprietary digital platform.
The resulting set of fintech capabilities will support faster innovation, allowing us to bring aspirational brands to consumers across a broader set of e-commerce and retail partners.”
Integrating Acima will provide synergy resulting in potential $4.1 billion in estimated pro forma revenue and improving long-term outlook for profitability and cash flow generation
Nasdaq gains Verafin, extends reach of anti-crime tech
Nasdaq has announced the completion of its $2.75 billion acquisition of the financial fraud detection firm Verafin.
Verafin’s anti-crime technology tools use artificial intelligence to help banks detect money laundering and fraud for more than 2,000 financial institutions in North America, many of them smaller banks and credit unions.
Nasdaq already has software that detects market manipulation, and recently launched a product to help banks investigate possible money laundering.
This acquisition will help Nasdaq bring Verafin’s technology to larger banks and a global client base. Though Nasdaq is known primarily for its flagship stock exchange with big tech stocks like Apple and Facebook, the stock exchange has been shifting away from trading and towards businesses with more stable revenue, such as selling data and software.
Unilog acquires Bravo Business Media, increases range of eCommerce solutions for distributors and wholesalers
The leading provider of eCommerce solutions for B2B transactions, Unilog, announced it acquired Bravo Business Media in an all-cash transaction.
Bravo Business Media is the preferred eCommerce solution for more than 600 decorative showrooms. In addition to uniting Unilog’s B2B and B2C selling channels, the deal gives distributors and wholesalers a larger range of eCommerce solutions. The integration of Bravo Business Media also enriches product content to support clients’ digital commerce strategy.
The deal comes roughly a month after Unilog itself was acquired by private equity firm Investcorp. Under terms of this latest agreement, Bravo Business Media, with its staff of 20 employees, will operate as a Unilog company. Financial terms of the acquisition have not been made public.
In Other News
Other notable events this week include:
- Australian-based e-commerce company Selz announced in a company blog post that it has been acquired by Amazon.com Inc.
- Camping World Holdings Inc. announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire recreational vehicles (RVs) dealer Flagg RV.
- The largest U.S. radio broadcaster, iHeartMedia announced it has struck a deal to acquire ad-tech company Triton Digital from E.W. Scripps for $230 million.
- LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Accuitiy have announced they are merging operations.
- This past Tuesday Tribune Publishing officially announced a proposed sale to hedge fund Alden Global Capital for $630 million.
- Nestle is selling its North American water unit to One Rock Capital Partners, in partnership with Metropoulos & Co., for $4.3 billion.
- According to Coindesk, as Bitcoin hits a record high, the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase Global, is preparing to trade publicly in the coming months.
- According to Bloomberg, Volkswagen AG (VW) is mulling an IPO of its Porsche brand in a deal that could value the sports-car unit at up to $30 billion.
