M&A roundup - week ending 10/8/16

Shopify bought Boltmade; eBay acquired Corrigon; Salesforce purchased Krux; Samsung bought Viv

Commerce platform Shopify acquired product design and development consultancy Boltmade. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The Boltmade team will be closing up their contracts with existing customers, and all 21 employees will be coming over to Shopify, where they will become part of the company's enterprise offering, Shopify Plus. 

Founded in 2013, Boltmade used the Laurence Group as an advisor. 

Love2shop, a multi-retailer gift voucher and prepaid gift card, acquired Fisher Moy International, a brand engagement specialist. It was an all-cash deal for an undisclosed sum.

FMI will remain in Chilton, Buckinghamshire and will initially continue to operate under the existing brand in order to spearhead Love2shop’s engagement services expansion and act as a local base for clients in London and the Thames Valley.

Love2shop is accepted at over 150 major retailers with more than 20,000 stores UK wide.

Nuvias, an IT distrubition company, acquired SIPHON Networks, a unified communications solutions and technology integrator for the channel. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

SIPHON will continue to operate from the same location, with the same staff and the same management team, led by Steve Harris, who will remain as managing director.

SIPHON was founded in 2009. 

McGraw-Hill Education acquired digital personalized learning company Redbird Advanced Learning. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The acquisition strengthens McGraw-Hill Education’s position as a leader in adaptive learning and broadens its digital curriculum offerings in K-12.

Redbird was founded in 2013. East Wind Advisors acted as exclusive financial advisor to Redbird Advanced Learning in this transaction.

eBay signed an agreement to acquire Corrigon, a provider of visual search technologies. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Upon the close of the transaction, the Corrigon team will join eBay’s structured data organization and will be based in eBay’s Israeli Development Center in Netanya. Corrigon will support processing and enriching data and creating product experiences.

Corrigon was co-founded in 2008 by Avinoam Omer and Einav Itamar. 

Akamai, a provider of content delivery network services, acquired Soha Systems, a provider of enterprise secure access delivered as a service. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The acquisition is intended to complement Akamai's strategy of securing, protecting and accelerating enterprise applications and services in the cloud.

Founded in 2013, Soha Systems had raised $9.8 million in venture funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Cervin Ventures, Menlo Ventures and Moment Ventures.

Salesforce signed a definitive agreement to acquire intelligent marketing hub Krux. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Krux will extend the Salesforce Marketing Cloud’s audience segmentation and targeting capabilities to power consumer marketing with even more precision, at scale. In addition, Krux will feed Salesforce Einstein with billions of new signals, enabling companies to be even smarter about their customers. Krux and Salesforce together will empower every company to deliver more relevant and valuable consumer experiences across every touchpoint.

Monthly, Krux interacts with more than 3 billion browsers and devices, supports more than 200 billion data collection events, processes more than 5 billion CRM records, and orchestrates more than 200 billion personalized consumer experiences.

Pixonic had raised $5 million in venture funding.

Career Step, a provider of online education and professional training programs in the healthcare sector, acquired Medic-CE.com, a provider of online continuing education for EMS and firefighting professionals. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Founded in 2006, Medic-CE currently serves over 75,000 learner subscribers as well as more than 200 unique EMS and fire departments throughout the country.

Hogan Lovells US LLP acted as legal advisor to Career Step in the transaction. Porter Hedges LLP acted as legal advisor to Medic-CE in the transaction.

insightsoftware.com, provider of Hubble solutions, an integrated suite of business performance management apps, acquired Antivia, a business intelligence software company. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The acquisition will expand insightsoftware.com’s market reach beyond the Oracle and JD Edwards Enterprise Resource Planning ecosystem, which is currently served by the Hubble Corporate Performance Management suite, and into the SAP ERP markets.

Antivia’s DecisionPoint and insightsoftware.com’s Hubble will remain two separate brands but will share technology to benefit both solutions. Antivia’s product and expertise will allow insightsoftware.com to better serve both SAP and Oracle ERP markets.

insightsoftware.com was advised by Taylor Vintners and Antivia was advised by Berwins Solicitors.

MRI Software, a provider of real estate software solutions, acquired CallMaX, a provider of SaaS and mobile front-office solutions for apartment communities in the multifamily real estate industry. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

CallMaX will continue to serve its clients without interruption and remains committed to providing and supporting solutions for all organizations, regardless of their property management software.

Integration initiatives with MRI Software will focus on alignment of shared services, sales and account management and joint product development to integrate the CallMaX solutions into MRI’s multifamily Connect suite.

Denovo,  a full-service enterprise hosting/cloud computing and professional services firm, entered into an agreement to acquire CD Group, a full-service JD Edwards consulting and managed services provider. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Denovo and CD Group combined will have over 325 employees to assist Oracle, Oracle customers and prospective customers in their assessment and implementation of cloud solutions. 

The combination strengthens Denovo's dominance as a leading Oracle Cloud Application, JD Edwards and E-Business Suite service provider offering cloud hosting, managed services, disaster recovery, and software.

Funds affiliated with Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm, agreed to acquire Ascentium Capital, a private-independent equipment finance company. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Tom Depping, CEO of Ascentium Capital, has agreed to roll over his entire equity ownership stake in the business and continue to lead the Company.

Since its founding in 2011, Ascentium Capital has provided over $2 billion in financing and since 2012, the Company’s originations have grown at a 51 percent annualized growth rate. It is the third largest private-independent equipment finance company in the U.S. by origination volume, with assets over $1.1 billion.

Ascentium Capital was advised by Goldman Sachs as financial advisor and Vinson & Elkins LLP as legal counsel. Warburg Pincus was advised by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., a Stifel Company, as financial advisor and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP as legal counsel.

Micro Focus, a multinational software and information technology company, acquired GWAVA, a provider of Enterprise Information Archiving. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The addition of GWAVA solutions broadens Micro Focus's portfolio in the areas of Mobile, Social, Cloud and Big Data.

 EIA specifically delivers the ability to archive all electronic business communication data in one central location, including email, social media, instant messaging and mobile communication.

Wolters Kluwer Health, a provider of information services and solutions for professionals in the health, tax and accounting, risk and compliance, finance and legal sectors, acquired Emmi, a provider of patient engagement solutions. The price was $170 million in cash.

The acquisition is expected to deliver a return on invested capital above Wolters Kluwer’s after tax cost of capital (8%) in 3 to 5 years and is expected to be enhancing to adjusted earnings in the first full year. 

Founded in 2002, Emmi’s revenues are expected to reach approximately $29 million in 2016. 

Completion of the transaction is subject to Hart-Scott-Rodino regulatory review and other customary closing conditions.

Criteo, a performance marketing technology company, signed a definitive agreement to acquire HookLogic, a provider of closed-loop marketing for brand advertisers. No financial termsof the deal were disclosed. 

Criteo will integrate its technology for predictive bidding and product recommendations into HookLogic’s products, bringing increased campaign performance to brand manufacturers and enabling retailers to further monetize their site traffic via the HookLogic Exchange.

Founded in 2004, HookLogic had raised $39 million in venture funding from Bain Capital Ventures, Fung Capital USA, Intel Capital, Michael Barrett and Mousse Partners..

The transaction remains subject to customary conditions and is expected to close in the 4th quarter of Criteo’s fiscal year.

Sikich, a professional services firm, acquired SCS, a provider of enterprise resource planning solutions. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Founded in 1979, SCS is headquartered in Glendale, and has satellite offices in Phoenix and Las Vegas. It is a Microsoft Gold Certified partner with annual revenues of more than $9 million,

The acquisition is scheduled to close on November 1.

Cardtronics, a provider of self-service financial kiosks, entered into definitive agreement to acquire DCPayments, a provider of ATM services. The purchase price wasCAD$19.00 per share in cash, representing a transaction value of approximately $460 million

The acquisition includes the assets of First Data Corporation's Australian retail ATM and managed services ATM portfolio, which was acquired by DCPayments on September 30. 

Founded in 2007, DCPayments was approximately 25,000 ATMs (inclusive of its First Data ATM portfolio acquisition) with primary operations in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The combined companies would serve approximately 225,000 ATMs in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Inviqa, a Web and software development company, acquired software consultancy Byng. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The acquisition will allow Inviqa to grow its digital innovation practice and expand its suite of customer engagement services.

Byng CEO and founder Ollie Maitland joins Inviqa as the company’s Digital Innovation Practice Manager. In his new role, Maitland will be focused on further expanding the growing digital innovation practice.

Founded in 2006, Byng's client portfolio includes BT, Virgin Atlantic, Allianz and Telefonica.

FLIR Systems, a company that designs, manufactures, and markets thermal imaging infrared cameras, acquired Point Grey Research, a developer of machine vision cameras. The price was approximately $253 million in cash.

The Point Grey business will augment FLIR's existing OEM cores and components business by adding a broad range of visible spectrum machine vision cameras and solutions. Additionally, FLIR's thermal sensor technology will further extend Point Grey's product range into new application spaces. The business will become FLIR's Integrated Imaging Solutions line of business operating within the OEM and Emerging segment.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2016. FLIR anticipates the business and related transaction costs will be approximately $0.01 dilutive to its 2016 earnings per share and accretive for 2017.

True Capital Partners, a retail and consumer sector specialist private equity firm, acquired a majority stake in The Cotswold Company,  an online furniture retailer, from Blackbird Retail Holdings. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The Cotswold Company was acquired by Blackbird Retail Holdings in a purchase led by Kevin Johnson and James Birtwhistle in 2009. The company generates annual revenues in excess of £35m, and has delivered strong compound annual sales and EBITDA growth over the last four years.

Following the transaction, Gordon Segal, founder of Crate&Barrel will play an active role in the company, particularly around product, real estate and supply chain.

International M&A firm Livingstone advised Blackbird Retail Holdings. 

Emerson (NYSE: EMR) today announced it has agreed to acquire UK-based Permasense Limited, a leading provider of non-intrusive corrosion monitoring technologies for the offshore and onshore oil production, refining, chemical, power, pipelines, metals and mining and other industries. Permasense® monitoring systems use unique sensor technology, wireless data delivery and advanced analytics to continuously monitor for metal loss from corrosion or erosion in pipes, pipelines or vessels, and reliably deliver high-integrity data from even the harshest environments.

Linden Capital Partners, a healthcare private equity firm, completed its acquisition of Merical, a developer, manufacturer, and packager of probiotic and other nutritional supplements. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Linden named Operating Partner Brian Smith as interim CEO. Linden Operating Partner Chris Kolber has also joined the Board.

Founded in 1965, Merical has 400 employees across several facilities.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisors to Linden. GulfStar Group and Payne & Fears LLP served as financial and legal advisors to Merical. PNC Business Credit and certain private and public debt funds managed by THL Credit Advisors LLC provided financing for the transaction.

Aptos, a provider of retail technology solutions, acquired BT Expedite, the exclusive reseller of Aptos solutions in Europe. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Included in the transaction was a Clienteling application currently resold by Aptos in North America; a retail learning management system; the Mercatus merchandising platform; and an eCommerce platform, FrescaCommerce. 

With the acquisition, Aptos establishes a strategic and immediate market presence in Europe including a direct relationship with BT Expedite’s customers, nearly 100 retailers with operations in 13 countries including WH Smith, Primark, Supergroup and Mothercare.

The transaction was finalized on September 30, 2016.

Aptean, a provider of mission critical enterprise software solutions, acquired GQ Life Sciences, a provider of life science patent search solutions. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The acquisition of GQ Life Sciences expands Aptean;s ability to provide vertically-focused mission critical enterprise solutions by entering the Life Sciences and Big Data markets

Founded in 1999, GQ Life Sciences had raised $11.2 million in venture funding from Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, Milestone Venture Partners, Mosaix Ventures andSociete Generale Asset Management..

Samsung Electronics agreed to acquire Viv Labs, an intelligent interface provider. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

With Viv, Samsung will be able to unlock and offer new service experiences for its customers, including one that simplifies user interfaces, understands the context of the user and offers the user the most appropriate and convenient suggestions and recommendations.

Viv was founded in 2012 by Dag Kittlaus, Adam Cheyer and Chris Brigham. As part of the acquisition, the founding team will work closely with Samsung’s Mobile Communications business, but continue to operate independently under its existing leadership.

The company had raised $30 million in venture funding.

Stripe acquired open-source distributed NoSQL database RethinkDB. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

RethinkDB will be shutting down. but will be working with members of its community to develop a continuity plan for RethinkDB andHorizon. Both projects will continue to be available, distributed under open source licenses. We hope to continue our open development process with a larger community of contributors.

Founded in 2009, RethinkDB had raised $12.2 million in funding from Amicus Capital, Amicus Capital, Avalon Ventures, CRV, Highland Capital Partners, and SV Angel, among others.

GREE International Entertainment, the Western arm of the mobile social company, acquired mobile role playing game Dragon Soul from PerBlue. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The global scale of GIE will help unlock further opportunities for the DragonSoul franchise. GIE will leverage its European operations, including localized live events, with the goal of significantly increasing market share of the DragonSoul franchise.

Product and engineering experts from GIE will be used to further improve the game and its features, and will execute a global marketing strategy to help introduce the franchise to players around the world. GIE will continue to operate its stable of long-standing franchises including Knights & Dragons and Modern War.

Rinse, an on-demand laundry service, acquired the assets of competitor Washio. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

With the acquisition of Washio assets, Rinse picks up additional customers in Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Oakland, New York and Washington, D.C.

Founded in 2013, Washio shut down in August. It had raised $16.82 million in venture funding from investors that included Canaan Partners, AME Venture Partners, and angel investors such as Ashton Kutcher and Nas.

Capital One acquired price tracking tool Paribus. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Launched in 2015, Paribus has more than 700,000 users. Paribus will remain a standalone service, continuing to offers 

The company had raised $2.22 million in venture funding from 1/0 Capital, Conversion Capital, Foundation Capital, General Catalyst Partners, Greylock Partners, Slow Ventures and others.

Accenture, a professional services company, entered into an agreement to acquire Defense Point Security, a cybersecurity company that supports the U.S. federal government. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

DPS’ comprehensive suite of advanced detection, engineering and operations services, as well as expertise with cybersecurity consulting, Managed Security Services (MSS) and Big Data platforms, will strengthen AFS’ ability to help federal agencies maximize cyber defense.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory review and other customary closing conditions.

Schoolzilla, a Public Benefit Corporation, acquired Decision Science Labs, an education technology company dedicated to helping education leaders make smarter resource allocation decisions. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Schoolzilla will incorporate Decision Science Labs’ expertise in linking spending with student outcomes across schools, districts, and states.

The acquisition is part of a broader initiative by Schoolzilla to incorporate financial data into Mosaic, Schoolzilla’s multiple measures dashboard for districts.

Founded in 2014, Decision Science Labs had raised $1 million in venture funding 

TriCore Solutions, an application management company, acquired Database Specialists, a database managed service company. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The acquisition strengthens TriCore's support of other mission-critical enterprise applications that run on Oracle database systems and reinforcing its position as a reliable and single source service provider to its customers.

Database Specialists was advised by MVP Capital, an investment banking firm serving companies in the technology, media, telecom, towers, and renewable energy sectors. Ropes and Gray, LLP and Wendel Rosen Black & Dean, LLP represented TriCore Solutions and Database Specialists as legal counsel, respectively.

SportsMEDIA Technology, a provider of tools for live sports telecasts and live entertainment productions, acquired Sportvision, a provider of television viewing enhancements for professional sporting events. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Sportvision will be rebranded as SMT. Founder Gerard J. Hall will remain CEO and controlling shareholder of the expanded SMT.

The transaction was unanimously approved by SMT’s Board of Directors and was financed through a minority round investment by Eldridge Industries, Vicente Capital Partners, and SMT CEO Gerard J. Hall. 

 Lazard Middle Market provided SMT with financial advisory services throughout the transaction. Pepper Hamilton of Philadelphia, led by Matt Adler, provided legal services to SMT for all aspects of the financing and the transaction. SMT’s current banking partner, Fifth Third, based in Raleigh, NC, was also instrumental in the funding of the acquisition.

Founded in 1988, Sportsvision had raised $34.8 million in venture funding.

Nokia acquired Eta Devices, a start-up specializing in power amplifier efficiency solutions for base stations, access points and devices. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

 Eta Devices will bolster Nokia's push to enhance base station energy efficiency, an increasingly important area for operators on the path to 4.9G and 5G.

Eta Devices was founded in 2010. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, MA with an R&D office in Stockholm, Sweden, and it employs approximately 20 people. The acquisition includes fixed assets, employees, intellectual property rights as well as lease and supplier agreements.

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