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Transactions

July 2014
Washington, D.C.
has been acquired by
London, UK


Background

Current Analysis (“CA”) is a leading provider of timely, practical market intelligence that helps global IT and telecom professionals compete, innovate, and improve performance. The Company’s experts and proprietary services empower more than 35,000 professionals at more than 1,400 fast-paced global enterprises to identify opportunities to drive growth and market leadership - offering clients a unique perspective on the impact of market, competitive, and innovation activity.

In January 2014, the Company engaged Marlin and Associates (“M&A”) to help develop, pursue, and evaluate potential strategic alternatives. The primary objective of the engagement was to identify complementary businesses that would see the value in combining assets to foster growth and to find opportunities that would have a likelihood of providing the highest possible return to the Company’s shareholders. Mergers, acquisitions and/or strategic business alliances also were considered.



Overview

M&A organized a dedicated team to work closely with Management to identify potential partners and connected with more than 40 parties. After a thorough review of the potential partners, M&A and CA concluded that there were few appropriate acquisition candidates that fit CA’s objective to maximize shareholder value. However, several firms indicated potential interest in acquiring CA.

Working with Current Analysis, M&A qualified all these parties, ultimately concluding that the most compelling potential partner was Progressive Digital Media (“PDM”), a publically traded company (AIM:PRO), headquartered in London with offices across the UK, US, India, and Australia. After several discussions, PDM submitted an indication of interest that met the shareholders’ expectations. The strategic fit was solid; PDM was led by Mike Danson, the founder and former CEO of Datamonitor (acquired by Informa), who had decades of experience in the business information space. PDM owned two related companies: Kable, a leading producer of primary research and sales enablement tools; and Pyramid Research, which provides research on IT and Telecommunication industries in emerging global markets. After careful consideration and negotiation, the Company agreed to be acquired by PDM.

M&A Role

Marlin & Associates managed the process, identified the buyer, assisted in the negotiations, and acted as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Current Analysis in its sale to Progressive Digital Media.

Press

Progressive Digital Media Group Acquisition of CurrentAnalysis Inc

July 08, 2014

London – July 8, 2014 – Progressive Digital Media Group plc is pleased to announce its agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of CurrentAnalysis Inc. (“CurrentAnalysis”), for a gross consideration of US $19.6 million in cash payable on completion. Completion, which is subject to the approval of CurrentAnalysis shareholders, is expected to occur within 30 days and will be funded from the Group’s existing cash resources.



Background to the Acquisition



CurrentAnalysis is an established and well regarded business which provides subscription based business intelligence services to the ICT industry. The acquisition supports the Group’s strategy of expanding its premium subscription based services into global markets. CurrentAnalysis has offices in Washington D.C, London and Singapore.



For the financial year ended 31 December 2013, CurrentAnalysis reported revenues of approximately US $13.0 million, with net liabilities of approximately US $2.3 million.


The Progressive Board believes that, with the benefits of being part of the enlarged Progressive Group, the Acquisition will be earnings accretive within the first twelve months post acquisition, though the impact on the Group results to 31 December 2014 are expected to be broadly neutral.



Commenting on the acquisition Simon Pyper, Chief Executive of Progressive Digital Media, said: “The acquisition of CurrentAnalysis satisfies all of our acquisition criteria, providing subscription based business information services to blue chip companies operating in a global sector. Additionally, CurrentAnalysis augments our existing platform and significantly increases our footprint in the key North American market.”


 

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