M&A Report: Little Bird HR, Ansonia Credit and Black Knight In the News

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, TriNet acquired Little Bird HR, Equifax bolstered its databases with Ansonia Credit, and Black Knight plans to expand with Optimal Blue.

TriNet Acquires Little Bird HR

TriNet has acquired Little Bird HR, a privately held firm that specializes in PEO and human resource solutions in the education industry.

The announcement came with a simultaneous release of TriNet’s second quarter 2020 results which show the company’s total revenues increased 1% to $0.9 billion and stock price rose to $1.87 per diluted share from $0.64 per diluted share in the same period last year.

TriNet has established itself as a leading provider of HR solutions for small to medium-sized businesses. Little Bird HR was founded in 2015—and was run by former school leaders and HR professionals.

The company has experience working with similar-sized institutions as TriNet’s client base, mostly pre-K to 12 charter schools.

The terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.

Equifax Gains Ansonia Credit

Consumer credit reporting agency Equifax completed an acquisition of Ansonia Credit Data, a leading provider of business credit, collections, and account receivable data.

Under the terms of the deal, Ansonia will be integrated into Equifax’s PayNet division, which provides credit and analytics for small and medium-sized businesses.

Ansonia, which launched in 2006, covers 7 million businesses across more than 140 industries. The acquisition bolsters Equifax’s commercial databases of small business loans, leases, and lines of credit.

Ansonia also contributes unique trade intelligence to support transportation, logistics and financial services companies.

Ansonia president and founder Tony Kinninger commented “Our integration into Equifax gives us the additional resources and capabilities we need to further scale and innovate for financing teams focused on the transportation and logistics industry.”

Financial terms of the acquisition have not been released to the public.

Black Knight is purchasing Optimal Blue

Black Knight, Inc., an American corporation that provides integrated technology, services, data and analytics to the mortgage and real estate industries, is buying Optimal Blue, a marketplace platform for the mortgage industry, from private equity firm GTCR for $1.8 billion.

Black Knight plans to combine Optimal Blue with its Compass Analytics business and form a new entity. Black Knight will retain 60% ownership of the new entity with minority co-investors Cannae Holdings, Inc. and Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P.

GTCR acquired Optimal Blue in 2016 for $350 million as part of a leveraged buyout. Black Knight currently has 4,300 employees and reported $1.2 billion in revenue last year. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.

In Other News

These weren’t the only major developments from the past week. Check out what else is happening:

NRG Energy is set to acquire its rival Direct Energy for $3.625 billion in cash. Direct Energy is a subsidiary of U.K.-based Centrica PLC.

Cognizant, an IT corporation which provides digital, technology, consulting, and operations services announced it will acquire Microsoft’s Cloud Partner company New Signature.

The somewhat obscure company SPARC Group LLC — which is in fact the combination of U.S. mall owner Simon Property Group and apparel-licensing firm Authentic Brands Group — has made a $305 million “stalking horse bid” for the bankrupt Brooks Brothers.

Tailored Brands, owner of men’s apparel chains Men’s Wearhouse and JoS. A. Bank, is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as its fiscal third quarter.

Rocket Companies, the parent company of Quicken Loans and Rocket Mortgage, filed for an IPO earlier this month and has now set the stage for its proposed debut.

In a somewhat perplexing move to industry insiders, German software colossus SAP SE has decided to spin off experience management platform Qualtrics in a new IPO.