Former comms service-provider rivals take Cision brand as they combine

CHICAGO: Communications software and service providers Cision and Vocus have officially combined under the Cision brand, the company said Monday night.

The iContact, PRWeb, Help a Reporter Out, and Visible Technologies brands will continue to be used despite the change.

The combined company will be based in Chicago. Vocus had been headquartered in Beltsville, Maryland, while Cision’s home office was in Stockholm. Cision will have offices in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, and China, the company said in a statement.

Peter Granat, former chief executive of the earlier iteration of Cision, is serving as the company’s CEO. Its leadership team also includes president and CFO Jack Pearlstein, COO Dawn Conway, and CMO Mark Thabit. Magnus Thell is MD for Europe, while Terry Foster has been named president for Canada. Geoff Alexander is serving as president of iContact.

The announcement comes nearly six months after private equity firm GTCR Valor Merger Sub bought nearly 72% of Cision while also in the process of purchasing Vocus with an eye to combine the two. It later increased its stake in Cision to nearly 98%. GTCR was battling for control of the companies with trade rival Meltwater during this spring and summer.

Granat resigned his role as president and CEO of Cision in June to lead Vocus and eventually the combined company.

Last month, Vocus and Cision announced plans to acquire social media analytics platform Visible Technologies in their first joint purchase.

The company said in a statement that although the combination process will continue for the coming months, it has given customers of each former company crossover access to each other’s services. For instance, Cision customers can use the former Vocus services Help a Reporter Out and the PRWeb wire service, while Vocus users can access content from LexisNexis.hip with the company.