A year after joining British events and publishing giant Informa plc, UBM Life Sciences’ media brands are changing hands again.
Informa plc has agreed to sell several media brands from within its Life Sciences Group to New Jersey-based healthcare publisher MJH Associates for “just over $100 million,” the two companies announced Friday.
The deal—which includes over 20 print and digital brands serving the healthcare, pharmaceutical and veterinary spaces and spread across six U.S. offices and one in the UK—signifies a major expansion for the 20 year-old MJH Associates, essentially doubling its portfolio of media brands and swelling its overall headcount to more than 600 employees, an increase of around 50 percent according to a company statement.
“The strategic purchase of UBM Life Sciences’ media assets leaves no question that MJH is dedicated to remaining at the forefront of delivering trusted health care information now and into the future,” said MJH Associates president, Michael J. Hennessy, in a statement. “It furthers our overall commitment to providing diverse stakeholders access to trusted and timely resources to help inform care and optimize outcomes.”
Informa is positioning the divestiture of the brands, which arrived in its portfolio through its multi-billion-dollar acquisition of UBM a year ago, as part of its year-long UBM integration plan, which involves reviewing or exiting “markets which do not offer attractive long-term growth and returns,” according to a July statement to investors.
Not included in the sale is CBI—a global series of more than 100 professional conferences serving the healthcare industry including the annual Pharma Forum and Pharmaceutical Compliance Congress, among others—which also arrived through UBM but will remain with Informa.
“We are pleased to find a partner that is invested in engaging our valued audiences in new and exciting ways,” added Tom Ehardt, executive VP and managing director of UBM Life Sciences, who will join MJH as president of MultiMedia Healthcare, a newly formed business unit. “MJH is an ideal fit for us as they understand how to deliver high-quality content in multimedia platforms and live events.”
The acquisition also continues something of a brotherly competition between Michael Hennessy and Jeff Hennessy, CEO of Malvern, Penn.-based HMP Communications, which capped its own string of healthcare-industry media acquisitions in July with the purchase of a handful of trade magazines and events from Vendome Group.
