Stevens & Bolton LLP has advised Centaur Media plc (“Centaur”), the business information and events group, on the acquisition by its subsidiary, Centaur Communications Limited, of Venture Business Research Limited, a specialist digital information, data and analytics business in the clean energy, security and defence sectors worldwide, for a maximum consideration of £7.5 million. The acquisition was completed in December 2011.
Centaur considers the acquisition to be an excellent fit with its strategic objectives of growing digital subscription revenues in core expanding international markets.
The Stevens & Bolton LLP team was led by head of corporate Ken Woffenden, supported by Lucy Handford and Mark Smith (corporate), Hannah Ford (employment) and Kate Schmit and Deepash Patel (tax).
Commenting on S&B’s role in the transaction Ian Roberts, Head of Legal of Centaur, said:
“This is the third acquisition in 2011 where we retained Stevens & Bolton LLP as our legal advisers, the others being the acquisitions of The Forum for Expatriate Management Limited (completed in April 2011) and Investment Platforms Limited (completed in August 2011). We have been delighted with the high quality, commercial and responsive service provided by Stevens & Bolton LLP in all these transactions.”