Briefing Media today announces the acquisition of Global Data Systems (“GDS”). GDS is the publisher of two market leading intelligence platforms: FeedInfo – the world’s leading source of news and premium intelligence for the meat, biotechnology and animal feed sectors; and FlexNews – a vital news service for senior executives working at multinationals in the global food industry.
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Toulouse, France, GDS is our first acquisition since Lyceum Capital’s investment in July 2015 and will sit well alongside our agriculture and food supply chain investment-focussed data and analytics business Agrimoney.
The acquisition allows us to target an additional fast-growing and global sector of the agriculture industry. Its subscription products are recognised as industry-leading and have significant potential to be developed further under Briefing Media’s ownership.
Neil Thackray, CEO of Briefing Media comments “the synergies between Briefing Media and GDS made it a clear target as part of our acquisition market mapping. Having tracked the Business for some time, its complementary platform to Agrimoney will allow us to scale, strengthen our international reach and deepen our knowledge in some critical sectors of the global agribusiness industry. GDS is heavily entrenched in its customers’ workflows, which can be seen from the Business’s premium subscription rates and extremely high customer retention levels.”
Daniel Adler, Partner at Lyceum Capital and board member of Briefing Media says “we’re delighted that Briefing Media has completed its first add-on acquisition since we invested last year. GDS will allow Briefing Media to broaden the data and analytics capabilities of the Briefing Media group and we and the management team continue to source other businesses that will fortify Briefing Media’s news and data offering.”
The deal has been funded by RBS and Lyceum Capital.
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