Prime Global Publishing Acquires Aggregates Business
Fivefold Associates have advised the shareholders of Route One Publishing Limited on the sale of their Aggregates Business Europe and Aggregates Business International titles to Prime Global Publishing the international subsidiary of Prime Creative Media, Australia’s largest independently owned B2B Events and Publishing business.
First published in 2006, the Aggregates Business masthead was launched as a global information source for the aggregates sector. Prime Creative Media CEO John Murphy says he’s excited to extend his company’s purpose of growing individuals, organisations and industries to the international aggregates sector through these publications. The Melbourne headquartered company has a history of growing its national quarrying sector through Quarry Magazine, which it publishes in partnership with the Institute of Quarrying Australia (IQA). It also serves the broader infrastructure sector through its publications Road and Infrastructure, Inside Construction, Cranes & Lifting Magazine and Infrastructure Magazine. Its major expo, Converge, is the only Australian-owned major event showcasing the latest tools and technology in the municipal works, civil and commercial construction space.
“We have long admired the important work of the quarrying and wider aggregates sector as the backbone of infrastructure development,” says John. “We appreciate the opportunity to invest in the growth of these publications, to continue to tell the stories of the exciting developments in this space, now on a global scale.”
Route One Publishing Chairman Roger Adshead says that Prime Global Publishing is an ideal new home for Aggregates Business magazines, with its parent company’s proven record in growing publications and events.
“Aggregates Business is positioned very much at the business end of the industry, which like many, is now embracing digitalisation and the deployment of more efficient equipment to become both more profitable and more sustainable,” says Roger. “At a time when its footprint has been growing rapidly, it makes sense for Aggregates Business to join the construction materials team at Prime Global Publishing as it moves to leverage its industry experience beyond the shores of its Australian home base.”
Steve Anstey, Managing Director of Fivefold Associates says, “It was a pleasure to advise Roger Adshead and his fellow Route One shareholder on the sale of their Aggregates Business titles. The fit with Prime Creative Media was apparent from our first conversation with John Murphy and I’m confident that the titles will thrive as they are developed and taken forward under new ownership.”
Chris Fox, Director and co-founder of Fivefold Associates added, “In light of the sector Aggregates Business serves, global research was required with potential acquirers identified and contacted across four continents in disparate timezones to ensure a competitive process.”
Roger Adshead commented on the sale process further, “Principal Steve Anstey inspired confidence from the start, providing guidance which proved invaluable. Of course, we thought we knew who the likely buyers might be, but Fivefold has a great team who researched the international market and came up with a quite amazing list of potential target buyers for Fivefold to contact. In the meantime, Steve and his team worked with us to produce a comprehensive ‘Information Memorandum’ to supply to interested parties under NDA. Fivefold explained the necessity to generate real positive interest from multiple potential buyers, in order to create competition, and before long, we had several firm expressions of interest.
From the start we were working across multiple time zones, and Steve proved willing to run Teams calls at either end of the day to ensure nothing got lost in translation. He inspired confidence form the start and maintained it throughout. We received five-star service at all times.”
Prime Global Publishing and Route One Publishing are now working together to ensure a smooth transition for the magazines, advertisers, readers and partners.
