Halyard Capital has acquired Harte Hanks Market Intelligence and The Aberdeen Group from Harte Hanks, Inc. The two acquired businesses will be branded together as The Aberdeen Group.
Harte Hanks Market Intelligence gathers, measures, and assesses data that is used by companies active in the technology industry to improve marketing and sales (www.hartehanks.com). The Aberdeen Group provides research and content marketing services that are used by business professionals to improve marketing related decision-making and business strategy (www.aberdeen.com). The combined company will have operations in Boston, San Diego, London, Paris and Madrid (www.aberdeenservices.com).
Dr. Charles Stryker, Chairman of VDC (www.venturedc.com), an advisory firm to the information services industry, will invest alongside Halyard and will serve on the board of directors of the new company. Gary Skidmore, the former President of Harte Hanks, will also invest alongside Halyard and will become Chief Executive Officer of the company.
“We’re confident that with our added support and investment, the combined entity will drive significant additional value for both current and future customers,” said Jonathan Barnes, Partner of Halyard Capital. “We are pleased to be partnering with a seasoned leader in Gary Skidmore and with Charlie Stryker, a talented executive with whom we have partnered successfully in the past. We look forward to building upon the impressive accomplishments of these two organizations and to accelerating their growth together.”
Halyard specializes in middle-market leveraged buyouts and growth equity investments in technology-enabled information, data analytics, communications and business services companies that cater to the healthcare, education, marketing services, human capital management and media sectors. The firm has over $600 million of capital under management and is based in New York (www.halyard.com).
“I am thrilled to be teaming up with Halyard Capital and Charlie Stryker for this exciting opportunity. Both Market Intelligence and Aberdeen are uniquely positioned, creating a fantastic opportunity to transform the vibrant technology data and content marketing space with a combined offering,” said Mr. Skidmore. “Our platform will provide marketing and sales professionals with proprietary intelligence on who their ideal audiences are, what they are interested in now, and how to connect with them. And our integrated content marketing capability will allow companies to maximize this audience intelligence with improved content and storytelling tools.”
© 2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 4-14-15
