Glacier Finalizes Acquisition of JuneWarren

Glacier Ventures International Corp. (GVIC) this month finalized plans to acquire the assets of JuneWarren Publishing Ltd. it announced last November. The acquisition gives GVIC ownership of JuneWarren's stable of properties covering the oil and gas industry, including magazines, directory and atlas publications, charts and maps. Specific publications included in the sale are Canadian Oilfield Service & Supply Directory, Oilweek, Oil & Gas Inquirer, Oilsands Review, Alberta Construction Magazine and Canadian Oilfield Gas Plant Atlas.

GVIC already publishes several oil-related titles through its Nickle's Energy Group, such as the Daily Oil Bulletin, the Canadian Oil Register directory, New Technology Magazine, the Rig Locator and The Profiler. GVIC expects the combination of these titles and the newly-acquired ones will help the company better serve the information needs of the Canadian oil and gas industry. The company also expects to provide improved advertising and distribution capabilities as a result.

This is certainly a smart buy for GVIC. JuneWarren's stable of products appears to be a natural fit and should integrate seamlessly into GVIC's established product line. The addition of these publications instantly increased GVIC's stature in the business and professional information and trade information markets. It should also help expand GVIC's relationships with current customers and provide a strong foundation for new relationships with JuneWarren customers. It looks like 2008 will be a very busy year for GVIC as it takes advantage of the growth opportunities these new publications will afford.

Zagat's Possibly Pursuing Sale

Zagat Survey, the publisher of the well-known restaurant guides bearing the founders' name, is considering a sale. The company issued a statement yesterday that said it has hired Goldman, Sachs & Co. to explore future growth possibilities for Zagat, including partnerships, joint ventures or a sale.

Founders Tim and Nina Zagat noted in the statement that 2007 was the company's best year and mentioned the success the company has had producing its content in print, digital and mobile formats. They added that they feel it is time to position Zagat Survey for further long-term growth.

Media reports estimate that a buyer could be willing to pay $200 million and that potential buyers could include IAC/InterActiveCorp. and New York Media Holdings LLC.

Zagat information covers more than 100 countries worldwide through formats including print, ZAGAT.com and ZAGAT TO GO, a service for smart phones, as well as the ZAGAT mobi mobile website. More than 300,000 surveyors supply the content.

This will certainly be an interesting development to watch. While many services that provide similar functions for free, Zagat's remains a hot property in the directory space partly because its name is synonymous with entertainment review space. Not many companies have the name recognition Zagat's does and there are likely many publishers who would be interested in taking ownership.

Zagat's has done a good job keeping up with changing technology and information needs, comfortably expanding beyond its traditional print books to launch online, and then, mobile services. So they are certainly positioned for future growth (despite increased competition from free services that offer similar offerings). If they are, in fact, sold, let's hope that the Zagat's name continues to flourish.

JMI Acquires Clinical Trials Companies from Thomson

Healthcare information and marketing services provider Jobson Medical Information LLC (JMI) this week acquired the assets of CenterWatch and The New England Institutional Review Board from Thomson Healthcare (a unit of The Thomson Corp.). A purchase price was not disclosed.

Both CenterWatch and NEIRB provide information and tools that serve the clinical trial industry (including a customer base of pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology and medical devise firms, CROs (clinical research organizations) and patients involved in the trials). CenterWatch produces relevant data for the field. The CenterWatch website lists more than 5,000 clinical trials and details more than 30,000 clinical trial sites. The site attracts more than 200,000 visitors a month. NEIRB supplies FDA mandated services to pharmaceutical companies and CROs.

JMI offers a wide range of offerings, from marketing services, information databases, trade publications, medical education programs, events and websites. The company is an affiliate of The Wicks Group of Companies LLC, a private equity firm that invests in properties in the communications, information and media industries.

We usually cover acquisitions made by The Thomson Corp. and its business units, not sales. But for JMI, these purchases represent significant acquisitions and should certainly help the company round out its healthcare information offerings. The company intends to use CenterWatch and NEIRB to expand its overall offerings in the development state of the pharmaceutical product pipeline, JMI CEO Mike Tansey said in a statement.

Both properties should position JMI for immediate prominence and future growth in the clinical trial space. Thomson's loss is definitely JMI's gain. It will be interesting to see if other similar acquisitions are also part of JMI's future.

FlightStats and Google Align to Provide Relevant Travel Search Results

Conducive Technology Corp.'s FlightStats platform has increased its profile with a recent affiliation with Google, launched last month--just in time for holiday travel. Google users using the search engine for airline flight information can now receive real-time flight information courtesy of FlightStats. (Conducive Technology is an ICG Model of Excellence award winner.)

All users need to do is enter a flight number and airline into the search box and they will receive departure and arrival times for the flight and if it is running on schedule. From the Google results page, users can obtain even more data, such as detailed flight information and airport conditions by clicking on a link that takes them to a FlightStats.com page. Once there, users will find additional features, such as the ability to schedule a flight status alert.

FlightStats collects its information from data feeds from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Being a part of Google results certainly increases the prominence of FlightStats and Conducive Technology, since this makes their very useful technology readily available to a wider audience. The alliance should also drive a steady increase in traffic to the FlightStats.com site. The site traffic could increase even more as users may eventually opt to bypass Google and visit FlightStats.com directly for their travel information.

Still, the relationship between the two companies will benefit Google too, as it will help improve the search engine's effectiveness in travel-related searches. Many people complain that the major search engines fail to provide relevant results. With these flight information queries powered by FlightStats, such individuals won't likely be disappointed.

American Medical Information Launches DrListExpress.com

American Medical Information, an online provider of medical, business and consumer databases, has launched DrListExpress.com. This new service is an online subscription tool created to help medical companies and sales representatives cultivate healthcare sales leads 24/7. (American Medical Information is an infoUSA company).

DrListExpress.com offers users access to 730,000 physicians and surgeons, 180,000 dentists and thousands of other healthcare providers, such as chiropractors, physical therapists, and healthcare facilities. It also offers access to databases of new movers and new homeowners for building medical practices.

To make DrListExpress.com an even more complete source, American Medical Information has also added content to the site. Customers can use the tool to educate themselves on the specifics of direct marketing, as well as call planning, researching competitors and uncovering other revenue streams.

Sales professionals are constantly seeking new ways in which to increase their pipelines, uncover promising sales leads and close those sales. Any tool that promises to help them accomplish their goals is worth trying. This one has such great potential, in part, because of the backing of database powerhouse infoUSA, which is known for its vast business and consumer databases.

Getting face time with any physician is also an incredible challenge for sales reps; and it's an even more daunting task if they are targeting the wrong physicians. This new tool should definitely help reps identify the decision-makers they seek. With nearly one million names in the database at launch, DrListExpress.com should provide value for reps immediately. The around the clock access isn't revolutionary, since it's a typical feature for online services. However, it's a key feature for reps who outline their sales strategies after business hours. The availability and functionality to DrListExpress.com should undoubtedly ensure that the entire sales process keeps moving.