By Greg Hazley
PR Newswire has acquired an outstanding 50% share in its Canada Newswire partner for £30.1M in cash (about $43.8M) from U.K.-based PA Group.
CN, which sends around 90,000 press releases annually and provides webcasting and regulatory filing services, had 2011 revenues of £30.8M ($49.4M).
PRN CEO Ninan Chacko said the two companies have enjoyed “many years of close collaboration” but expects the acquisition to better service clients of both companies.
PRN parent UBM retains a 17% stake in PA Group, which owns PR services company Press Association and weather forecasting company MeteoGroup. UBM CEO David Levin takes a board seat at PA Group.
UBM, which now claims a 58.7% stake in CN, said restructuring costs in 2012-13 will offset any gains in integrating the CN business and technology platform, but the company expects to see a return exceeding its investment “in 2013 and subsequent years.”
UBM shareholders this week approved a plan to move its headquarters for tax purposes back to the U.K. after four years in Ireland. WPP is making a similar move.
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