SAN FRANCISCO: Meltwater has acquired a competitor in the Canadian market, Infomart, for $30 million.
Infomart is a media monitoring division within Toronto-based publisher Postmedia Network, whose portfolio includes the National Post and Toronto Sun.
Meltwater paid Postmedia $30 million in gross proceeds, subject to adjustments, a Postmedia statement said. An amount equal to 15% of the purchase price will be paid into escrow. Postmedia will use the net proceeds to pay off its debt.
Meltwater, a media intelligence company, has been on an M&A streak over the past few months, having acquired U.K.-based AI startup Wrapidity earlier this year, as well as Hong Kong-based Klarity, a social media analytics platform, only a few days ago.
"Combining these two will be great for the Canadian market, giving them a leading media intelligence platform in Meltwater, and deep experience and content [from Infomart]," said Kaveh Rostampor, head of Meltwater in the Americas.
Through this deal, Meltwater absorbs Infomart’s customers, but Rostampor noted there will be no immediate staff changes. He declined to comment on who will oversee the Infomart business, adding that Infomart will be part of Meltwater Americas.
Meltwater announced it closed a $60 million debt funding round with Silicon Valley Bank and Vector Capital in February to "ramp up strategic acquisitions."
The comms and PR solutions space has faced increasing consolidation in recent years. Cision, one of Meltwater’s competitors, received a capital injection of about $325 million and has plans to go public this year.
Asked how Meltwater would position itself against Cision, Rostampor said, "We’ve been in the same space with Cision for a long time. I personally don’t think it’s so much about how much money you have on hand, as what value you’re creating for the market and customers."
Meltwater had entered into a bidding war with GTCR in 2014 for Cision. The PE firm eventually combined Cision with Vocus.
The company is currently dealing with legal troubles in Australia, where media monitor group Isentia alleges Meltwater "subscribed to [its] print monitoring services and then provided that content to Meltwater clients," according to Business Insider.
Meltwater chose VSC Consulting as its AOR, a spokesperson said. VSC Consulting handles PR for North America.
This article was updated on June 23 to correct the name of the Toronto Sun.
