NEW YORK—May 31, 2007—Veronis Suhler Stevenson (“VSS”), a leading private equity investor in the media, communications, information and education industries, today announced the completion of the acquisition of Advanstar Communications, a premier worldwide media company providing integrated marketing solutions for the fashion, life sciences and powersports industries. The total purchase price of the acquisition was $1.142 billion.
The transaction was financed with funds drawn from VSS Fund IV. VSS is joined in this investment by co-sponsors Citigroup Private Equity, New York Life Capital Partners, AIG Global Investment Group, Varma Mutual Insurance, as well as other co-investors. Many of Advanstar’s senior executives remain significant shareholders in the company.
The debt portion of the transaction was committed by Credit Suisse and Barclays Capital. Prior to the closing of the transaction, Advanstar shareholders tendered all of their bond holdings. This allows for a new capital structure to be put in place by the new company owners, in close cooperation with Advanstar senior management.
“With the completion of this transaction, VSS is approximately 50 percent invested in its fourth fund. We are quite pleased with our investment pace of the last two years and the quality of the portfolio we have been able to assemble,” said Scott Troeller, Partner at VSS. “This year alone we invested in Cambium Learning, a leading education company that provides intervention solutions for literacy and mathematics, MediZine, a provider of patient education material, and LaNetro Zed, one of the world’s premier providers of mobile content and services,” he added.
“Advanstar has recently refined its organization and market position and is now a highly focused media company serving three distinct verticals—fashion, life sciences, and powersports—each with its own launch and acquisition strategy,” commented VSS Managing Director Chris Russell. “We see tremendous growth opportunities in these sectors over the next year,“ added Eric Van Ert, a Managing Director at VSS.
Following a “buy-and-build” investment approach, VSS typically identifies and acquires platform companies that hold a strong market position in respective verticals, and then builds them aggressively through strategic acquisitions and organically.
The acquisition of Advanstar is a new platform investment for VSS. Together with Advanstar’s experienced senior managers, all of whom are proven integrators and builders of businesses and co-investors in this transaction, VSS will work to further enhance the company’s market leading products and services.
VSS received legal counsel from Proskauer Rose LLP. The debt syndication was led by Credit Suisse and Barclays Capital.
About Veronis Suhler Stevenson
Veronis Suhler Stevenson (http://www.vss.com) is a private equity firm that invests buyout and structured capital funds in the media, communications, information and education industries in North America and Europe. VSS provides capital for buyouts, recapitalizations, growth financings and strategic acquisitions to companies and management teams with a goal to build companies both organically and through a focused add-on acquisition program. To date, VSS equity and structured capital funds have invested in over 50 platform companies, which have in turn completed over 220 add-on acquisitions resulting in a portfolio with realized and unrealized enterprise values in excess of $12 billion.
About Advanstar
Advanstar Communications Inc. (http://www.advanstar.com) is a leading worldwide media company providing integrated marketing solutions for the Fashion, Life Sciences and Powersports industries. Advanstar serves business professionals and consumers in these industries with its portfolio of 87 events, 58 publications and directories, 125 electronic publications and Web sites, as well as educational and direct marketing products and services. Market leading brands and a commitment to delivering innovative, quality products and services enables Advanstar to “Connect Our Customers With Theirs.” Advanstar has roughly 1,000 employees and currently operates from multiple offices in North America and Europe.