JEGI Represents Northstar Travel Media in Sale to The Wicks Group of Companies
New York, NY July 9, 2012 Northstar Travel Media ("Northstar" or "The Company"), the leading business-to-business information company serving the travel and meetings industries, has been acquired by The Wicks Group of Companies, LLC ("Wicks"). Wicks is a New York-based private equity firm that invests in the media, education, and information industries.
The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (www.jegi.com) of New York, NY, the leading independent investment bank for the media, information, marketing services, and technology sectors, represented Northstar Travel Media in this transaction and acted as its exclusive financial advisor.
Northstar Travel Media serves the retail travel, meetings and conventions, corporate travel management and incentive markets with leading brands including Travel Weekly, TravelAge West, Meetings & Conventions, Successful Meetings,Meeting News, Business Travel News, Procurement.travel, and Incentive; database-driven electronic publications Hotel & Travel Index, Official Cruise Guide and M&C Facilities Search; and online subscription services The Beat, Travel42,Weissmann Reports, Intelliguide Corporate, BTP24 and Star Service Online. The Company also produces more than 20 face-to-face events in the served markets of retail travel, corporate travel and the meetings industry. In addition, Northstar owns PhoCusWright, the leading research and event producer serving the fastest growing segment of the travel industry, on-line travel distribution.
"We are very impressed with the growth of Northstar Travel Media over the last few years during challenging economic conditions," said Dan Kortick, a Managing Partner at Wicks. "The management team has done an excellent job of migrating its core business to an integrated information and marketing solutions company. We are excited about partnering with the current management team to continue to grow the Company through product development and strategic acquisitions."
"We are very pleased to welcome Wicks as our new partner to provide the capital and investment experience to help Northstar achieve its full potential as an information company that serves one of the largest and most dynamic industries in the world: Global travel and tourism," said Thomas Kemp, Chairman & CEO of Northstar Travel Media. "BV Investment Partners has been a great partner of the Company. Wicks possesses many of the same qualities as BV with their depth of experience and success investing in the media and information industries."
"We are very pleased to complete the sale of Northstar to Wicks," said Andrew Davis, Managing Director of BV Investment Partners. "The growth of the Company and the aggressive diversification of revenue channels the past few years created much interest among investors for Northstar. We congratulate Wicks on closing the transaction and partnering with a great management team to continue to grow the business."
About Northstar Travel Media, LLC
Northstar Travel Media is the leading provider of news, information, events, and data for the travel, meetings and hospitality industries. Northstar produces face-to-face events, electronic directories, and online subscription information resources, and is an industry leader in marketing services, custom communications, content licensing and database management serving the travel and meetings industries. Based in Secaucus, NJ, the Company also has offices in New York, NY; Glen Ellyn, IL; Los Angeles, CA; and Winston-Salem, NC. For more information, visitwww.northstartravelmedia.com.
About The Wicks Group of Companies, L.L.C.
The Wicks Group of Companies, L.L.C. is a private equity firm based in New York City that invests in lower-middle-market companies operating in selected segments of the information, education and media industries principally in the United States and Canada. Wicks currently owns or has owned companies in numerous sectors including educational publishing, distance, site-based and continuing education, business-to-business and business-to-consumer information, software and data services, radio and television broadcasting, out-of-home advertising, music publishing and media storage. Since its founding in 1989, Wicks has invested over $1 billion of capital in 28 platform companies and approximately 100 add-on acquisitions. The firm has applied a consistent investment strategy since its founding, partnering with high-quality, experienced management teams to build businesses organically and through acquisitions. For more information, visitwww.wicksgroup.com.
About BV Investment Partners
BV Investment Partners is one of the oldest and most experienced sector-focused private equity firms in North America. Since its founding in 1983, the firm has invested over $2.6 billion in over 75 companies, actively targeting investments in the information and business services and communications industries. For more information, visit www.bvlp.com.
About The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc.
The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (JEGI) of New York, NY is the leading provider of independent investment banking services for the media, information, marketing services and technology sectors. Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2012, JEGI has completed more than 500 high‐profile M&A transactions for global corporations; middle-market and emerging companies; entrepreneurial owners; and private equity and venture capital firms. For more information, visitwww.jegi.com.
"From top to bottom, the JEGI team handled the Northstar Travel Media divestiture process flawlessly. Thorough, diligent, and highly professional, the team was fully committed to keeping the process on track and was available 24/7 to address any issue or roadblock that cropped up. JEGI knows full well that there are no shortcuts on the road to finding maximum value in the marketplace, and we wouldn't hesitate to give them another important assignment."
– Andy Davis, Managing Director, BV Investment Partners