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Linda Constantine
(212) 752-2710
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WILLIAM F. REILLY AND WIND POINT PARTNERS ACQUIRE PFINGSTEN PUBLISHING AND HIGHLINE MEDIA, TO FORM SUMMIT BUSINESS MEDIA
New York, NY, November 9, 2006 – William F. Reilly and Wind Point Partners, a private equity firm, announced today the formation of Summit Business Media, which simultaneously acquired Pfingsten Publishing and Highline Media. Mr. Reilly will be Chairman and CEO of Summit.
Mr. Reilly stated, "We are very pleased to acquire Pfingsten and Highline, which have been fast growing business-to-business information companies. Both companies have outstanding management teams with excellent track records and experience. The businesses have major brands and are leading information providers in their respective markets.” Mr. Reilly continued, “The combined enterprise has many opportunities for synergy in that Highline has a very strong position in electronic publishing while Pfingsten has significant experience in trade shows, conferences and seminars. The fact that both are information providers to the insurance industry, for example, is a major plus. The two companies also have similar operating strategies in that they are classic affinity marketing businesses.” Mr. Reilly emphasized, "Print products remain an important element of our media mix, but are currently only a little over 50% of the sales of these combined companies.”
James TenBroek, managing director at Wind Point, echoed Mr. Reilly's comments, stating, “Planning for Summit includes very achievable value creation initiatives, including new product launches and acquisitions. We plan to make Summit a major force in the business-to-business information community." Mr. TenBroek added, “Bill Reilly will be complemented by Andy Goodenough, President of Highline, and Joe Bennett, President of Pfingsten. Both executives have a record of achievement and more than 20 years in the business information market."
Andy Goodenough, President of Highline Media, added, "Everyone at Highline is excited to join Bill Reilly, Pfingsten and Wind Point Partners to create a world class information company. We have long respected Pfingsten's leading brands in the insurance and mortgage categories as well as their trade show program for financial investors in the precious metals markets worldwide. Now we can work together to pursue a coordinated strategy with Joe Bennett to extend our joint strong positions in insurance and financial services, and in conferences and trade shows.”
Joe Bennett, President of Pfingsten, commented, "We are pleased to join with Bill Reilly and Andy Goodenough of Highline to strengthen our market shares in the insurance field, further penetrate the financial services market and increase our electronic publishing positions. We are very excited to have the benefit of Highline's experience in electronic publishing as we see growth opportunities in electronic media products for Pfingsten.” Mr. Bennett added, “Andy Goodenough and his team bring cutting edge skill and experience to the electronic side. We also see significant growth opportunity in the Art Market, in which we have leadership positions in magazines, trade and consumer shows, conferences and seminars”.
About William F. Reilly
Mr. Reilly brings 25 years of senior leadership experience in the media and publishing industry, where he led the formation and growth of several media businesses. He was most recently Chairman and CEO of F&W Publications. Prior to F&W, Mr. Reilly served as Founder, Chairman and CEO of Primedia, a diversified media company with sales of $1.7 billion at the time of his departure in 1999. Prior to Primedia, he was President of Macmillan Publishing Company.
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About Wind Point Partners
Wind Point Partners is a private equity investment firm with offices in Chicago and Southfield, Michigan, with $2 billion in capital under management. Wind Point focuses on partnering with top caliber management teams to acquire solid middle market businesses with a clear path to value creation. Additional information about Wind Point is available at www.windpointpartners.com
About Pfingsten Publishing
Formed in 1998, Pfingsten Publishing is a business-to-business media company that serves ten market segments through three business groups. The company's Art and Framing Group serves the decorative art and framing, fine art, and modern and contemporary art markets through such leading market brands as DECOR, VOLUME, and Art Business News magazines, DECOR Expo trade shows, Artexpo fine art shows and Art Miami and Art Washington modern and contemporary shows. The Financial Services Group serves the life and health insurance, property and casualty insurance and mortgage origination markets with the respected magazine brands Life Insurance Selling, American Agent & Broker and Mortgage Originator. In February 2005, the Group added International Investment Conferences to its fold, providing the Group with the world’s largest conference in the global investment mining market; The Industrial Group serves light commercial construction, maintenance repair and operations (MRO), and industrial distribution markets with Contractor Tools & Supplies, MRO Today and Progressive Distributor magazines. Additional information about Pfingsten Publishing is available at www.pfingstenpublishing.com .
About Highline Media
Highline Media was formed in October 2003 to acquire The National Underwriter Company, a publisher and reference provider to the insurance and financial industries. Magazine brands include the National Underwriter Property/Casualty and Life/Health weeklies, Claims, Tech Decisions, Insurance Advocate and Florida Underwriter; the reference tools TaxFacts and Fire, Casualty and Surety Bulletins, along with 150 other books and electronic products, and five conference events. In May 2004, the company added insurance data assets, including regulatory, M&A and publicly traded data, from The Thomson Corporation. In the fall of 2005, Highline acquired Wealth Manager magazine from Bloomberg and Research and Futures magazines from Adams Business Media, and in 2006, the insurance executive events from The Conference Group. Highline has 220 employees and revenues of nearly $50 million. Additional information about Highline Media is available at www.highlinemedia.com .