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, Costco bolsters its supply chains by acquiring Innovel Solutions. LexisNexis acquires Emailage Corp. and Macquarie wins a bidding war to acquire Cincinnati Bell.
Costco gains “supply chain arm” Innovel Solutions
Costco Wholesale Corporation, a membership-only retail conglomerate, acquired Innovel Solutions, Inc., a top supplier of supply chain solutions. Costco acquired Innovel from Transform Holdco, LLC for $1 billion.
Innovel was considered the “supply chain arm” for Sears and provided services to many well-known clients such as the Air Force, the Navy, and Lands’ End. Innovel’s logistics solutions mesh well with Costco’s inventory of bulk items.
This will allow Costco to expedite sales involving shipments of large and cumbersome items. Innovel’s logistics network currently covers 90% of the United States and Puerto Rico with 11 fulfillment centers and 1,500 employees.
LexisNexis acquires Emailage Corp.
LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a division of RELX plc, has acquired fraud prevention and risk management solutions provider, Emailage Corp.
LexisNexis provides data and technology services, analytics, and risk management solutions to a wide range of industries such as healthcare, financial services, and law enforcement. LexisNexis services customers in over 180 countries and employs a staff of nearly 30,000 people,
The addition of Emailage will greatly enhance LexisNexis’ Digital Identity Network through Emailage’s machine-learning technology and fraud prevention solutions.
Macquarie wins bidding war to acquire Cincinnati Bell
Macquarie Infrastructure Partners announced that it has reached an agreement with Cincinnati Bell Inc. for an all-cash acquisition valued at $2.9 billion.
Cincinnati Bell was first approached by Toronto-based conglomerate Brookfield Infrastructure Partners for a $2.6 billion deal at the end of last December.
As a result, before the deal was reached, a bidding war between Macquarie and Brookfield broke out at the beginning of March, where Brookfield kept upping its ante for a week of March only to get outmatched by Macquarie.
In Other News
Here are other noteworthy developments from last week:
- Lee Enterprises, an Iowa-based American media company, has acquired The Buffalo News, the daily newspaper of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area.
- Riskonnect, an integrated risk management solution, has acquired Xactium, a UK-based software provider that is changing the way businesses evaluate and manage enterprise risk and compliance.
- Fox Corp. is taking a bigger stand in the streaming wars. The media company has agreed to buy San Francisco streaming business Tubi for $440 million in an effort to expand its direct-to-consumer audience and attract more advertising dollars.
- Weeks after its announcement to acquire Credit Karma for $7 billion, tax software company Intuit is reportedly pondering the acquisition of more fintech companies. Intuit is said to be currently eyeing Finicity, Credit Sesame, and NerdWallet.
- Japanese investment giant SoftBank Group Corp. warned that it could back away from part of its planned $3 billion bailout of workspace sharing company WeWork after probes from US securities regulators and the Department of Justice.
- Following the start of what can only be called coronavirus mayhem, new public offerings seem to be on involuntary, indefinite hold and markets continue to decline. Most notably, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had the largest single-day decline since 1987.
