Canadian Publishing Industry News
26 January 2015,     TORONTO
Annex, Newcom acquires 67 titles, digital properties from Glacier
In a deal that is sure to change the landscape of the Canadian B2B industry, Annex Business Media and Newcom Business Media have acquired 67 trade media publications and related digital assets from Vancouver-based Glacier Media Inc’s, Business Information Group (BIG), for $19.65 million.

Annex Business Media has over 70 B2B brands in its roster and has offices in Simcoe, Aurora and Toronto. Newcom Business Media Inc. is a privately-owned B2B media company with offices in Toronto and Montreal.

Included in the sale are its trade publications, digital properties, conferences and tradeshows in the following industries: automotive, construction and design, manufacturing, trucking/transportation and logistics, occupational health and safety, communications, dental, insurance, forestry, meetings and travel, and Scott’s Directories.

Glacier will keep its ERIS environmental risk information business, Northern Miner mining information group and Food in Canada business.

Ownership of the new acquisitions will be evenly distributed between the two companies. “It’s called the Annex-Newcom limited partnership.” Annex CEO Mike Fredericks said. “We’re 50/50 partners with Alex Papanou (BIG vp) operating it as our president. We will continue to operate our private company’s—effectively it’s a third company that sits between us.”

With the acquisition comes the inevitability of similar titles being in direct competition with each other. “We’re going to take our time to study the marketplace and see what’s best,” Fredericks said. “So in the next number of months it will be business as usual and they will continue to compete with each other.”

Almost 230 employees are included in the acquisition, including editorial, sales, circulation, production, digital and administration. The staff will remain in their current Toronto location.

Glacier now plans to pursue other growth efforts, which includes a focus on global agriculture, energy and mining information sectors, real estate information space, environmental risk information space and mutual fund information space.





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