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The Wicks Group of Companies, L.L.C. Acquires Assets from CMP Entertainment Media, Inc., CMP Media LLC and Uemedia Community Sites, Inc.
For Release: Thursday, September 14, 2006
Contact Information:
Jamie M. Weston
Partner
The Wicks Group of Companies, L.L.C.
(212) 838-2100
www.wicksgroup.com
Tony Keefe
CEO
NewBay Media LLC
(212) 378-0497
The Wicks Group of Companies, L.L.C. Acquires Assets from CMP Entertainment Media, Inc., CMP Media LLC and Uemedia Community Sites, Inc.
New York, NY (September 14, 2006)–The Wicks Group of Companies, L.L.C. (the "Wicks Group"), a New York-based private equity firm, today announced that it has acquired, through its affiliate NewBay Media LLC ("NewBay"), certain assets of CMP Entertainment Media, Inc., CMP Media LLC and UEMedia Community Sites, Inc. (collectively "CMP" or the "Company"), serving professional and enthusiast musicians, recording professionals, sound engineers, audio and video systems installers and technology educators. The Company's assets consist of 14 magazines, eight events, numerous supplements and newsletters, custom products, and over 20 rapidly growing online properties. Major business-to-consumer titles acquired include Guitar Player, Bass Player, and Keyboard magazines; business-to-business titles include Pro Sound News, Systems Contractor News, Residential Systems, Videography, Government Video, DV, Technology & Learning and Television Broadcast magazines. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Tony Keefe, the current CEO of the business, will continue in this role at NewBay. Mr. Keefe has more than 20 years of experience in the magazine publishing industry, having spent the past eight years in various positions with United Business Media (London: UBM.L), parent company of CMP.
"I'm excited to be a part of this new partnership with Wicks," said Mr. Keefe. "We plan to make significant investments in the business to further strengthen our market-leading products and brands and to continue to build value for our customers. Our business is full of talented people and we will all be working together to maximize the potential of our multimedia platform."
Jamie Weston, Partner at the Wicks Group, said that "NewBay has been formed to pursue a strategy of acquiring and developing information products in the entertainment and entertainment technology sectors. The acquired assets constitute a significant foundation on which to build a leading media company serving musicians and sound and video professionals and their related fields. We look forward to working with Tony and his team to explore additional ways of growing the value of this franchise."
The Wicks Group of Companies, L.L.C. (www.wicksgroup.com) manages private equity funds that invest in selected segments of the communications, information and media industries. These funds currently own or have owned companies in educational publishing, consumer publishing, medical information services, community newspapers, radio broadcasting, television broadcasting, magazine publishing, outdoor advertising, newsletter publishing, and cable television distribution.
United Business Media (www.unitedbusinessmedia.com) is an international media and business information company. UBM operates in two principal areas of business activity: PR Newswire, a global leader in news distribution; and CMP & Commonwealth, bringing business-to-business buyers and sellers together through events, publications, online media and business information.
The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. acted as financial advisors to United Business Media in connection with the sale. |
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