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Centaur Media beefs up biz info segment
Wednesday, 21st December 2011 Please login to be able to star items

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Centaur Media, parent company of Perfect Information, announced last week that it has acquired Venture Business Research, a provider of digital information, data and analytics business specialising in clean energy and global security. According to the press release, Centaur paid £2.5 million for the company, which had revenues of £0.5 million in the fiscal year ending March 2011.

Venture Business Research monitors trends, deal flow, government initiatives and market activities in both the clean energy and global security markets, and the newly acquired group will be folded up into Centaur's Business Information Division.

That's the second significant acquisition for that division in 2011, following the company's purchase of Investment Platforms Ltd in August of this year. IPL provides research data, analysis and advice on the retail financial distribution and fund platforms, "with a focus on financial wraps, or platforms that typically offer access to a range of asset types" according to the Centaur press release at the time of acquisition.

The acquisitions are of a pattern for Centaur: find a company offering both online products and events aimed at a market information niche, preferably one that underpins a Centaur title in its Business Publishing segment – witness with the acquisition in April of this year of expatriate information and events business the Forum for Expatriate Management Ltd (FEM), a logical fit with Centaur's title "Employee Benefits" – or with products in the Business Information segment.

Perfect Information comprised the only brand in Centaur's BI segment as of the June 2011 annual report, but that is likely to read much differently in 2012.

By Nancy Davis Kho

With more than a decade of experience in the product management and business development side of online content, Nancy Davis Kho now writes about the rapidly changing environment of digital content and its implications for business.

Nancy is a frequent contributor to EContent Magazine, Streaming Media, Enterprise Search Sourcebook, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Her website is at www.daviskho.com.