Hong Kong: Tuesday June 24th, 2003. International magazine publisher Haymarket has accelerated its expansion into Asia through its phased acquisition of FinanceAsia - one of Asia's leading independent financial publishers. Haymarket will acquire the flagship capital markets magazine FinanceAsia, its award-winning website FinanceAsia.com, asset management title AsianInvestor and FinanceAsia Conferences, tapping into an audience of senior financial decision makers around the world. Details of the deal have not been disclosed.
The FinanceAsia management team of editors and publishers are staying on to run the business. "All of our senior managers will continue in their current roles, using their skills and their extensive experience in the Asian markets to increase readership and revenues," says Foster Wright, the publisher and chief executive officer of the company. "Our mission of being a key source of news, information and comment on Asia's financial markets remains the same. We think there will be great synergies with Haymarket, whose owner and chairman, Lord Heseltine has long had a considerable interest in Asia. As former President of the British Board of Trade he was very active in the region. Lord Heseltine was one of the earliest to see the great changes occurring in China and the enormous potential this had for the global economy."
"We look forward to working with Haymarket to build the business and explore new publishing and conference opportunities around the region, particularly in countries like China."
Wright says despite the poor market conditions, FinanceAsia has reported steady growth in earnings and coverage. In the past 12 months, the number of subscribers receiving its daily email newsletter has doubled. "We put this success down to our unwavering commitment to editorial quality. With the backing of a multinational publisher of the calibre of Haymarket we can invest in fresh and thought-provoking products that explore new media and new languages."
The phased buy-out is a strategic move for the London-based Haymarket publishing group, which is the largest privately owned magazine publisher in the UK. In addition to its Asian interests, Haymarket owns publishing and exhibition interests in New York, Florida, Los Angeles, Germany, and Australia, and publishes titles in more than 20 countries.
Commenting on the deal, Haymarket's chairman, Lord Heseltine, says: "I am delighted to welcome FinanceAsia into the Haymarket group. Since first meeting the management team in 2001, I have been impressed by their continuing commitment to their products and to their sector. The excellence of the magazines and website fits well with Haymarket's editorial standards." FinanceAsia will be added to the company's local stable of business titles, which includes CEI and Media magazines. "I am pleased that magazines of such quality are joining the Haymarket portfolio, and I look forward to working with the FinanceAsia team,"says Martin Durham, the managing director of Haymarket Business Publications.
FinanceAsia is an integrated financial publishing and conference company based in Hong Kong with offices in Singapore and the Philippines. Its monthly flagship, FinanceAsia, was first published in September 1996 and provides its readers with intelligent analysis of trends in the financing activities of the region's most influential companies. FinanceAsia is audited by BPA and has a readership made up of CEOs and CFOs of Asia's top companies, institutional investors and financial intermediaries. FinanceAsia was awarded the Best Trade Media Award by the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) for two consecutive years in 2000 and 2001. The company also publishes a magazine called AsianInvestor (formerly PensionsAsia), which reports on the issues shaping the pensions and investment market in the region. It is the only English-language title dedicated to the institutional funds management business in Asia.
In June 2000, the company launched a website, www.FinanceAsia.com, the definitive homepage for all financial professionals. The site is updated daily and covers deals in the equity and debt markets, while providing analysis of M&A transactions, transactional banking and asset management, and offering in-depth interviews with financiers. A series of email newsletters distributed daily, weekly and bi-monthly target individual readers with specific interests. These newsletters reach a phenomenal 16,000 subscribers each morning. Adding to the company's list of accolades, FinanceAsia.com was named Best Interactive Publication in Asia by SOPA in 2002.
FinanceAsia is also a successful conference organizer having held a series of successful events over the past five years. The inaugural Asian Debt Conference held in 1997 has since spawned over a dozen events covering different aspects of the capital markets. FinanceAsia Conferences brings together the region's top issuers and investors to network and exchange ideas about raising finance in the capital markets.
For more information contact:
In Hong Kong:
Nick Lord, Editorial Director, FinanceAsia.
(852) 2122 5282 or [email protected].
In London:
Martin Durham, Chairman and Managing Director, Haymarket Business Publications
(44) 20 8267 4181 or [email protected]
