In a move to extend their reach into marketing and property data insights, Kagiso Media and Mint Management Technologies acquired Knowledge Factory, a property and marketing insights company, from Primedia, for an undisclosed amount.
Kagiso Media, which bought a 65% share, said Knowledge Factory, South African Property Transfer Guide (SAPTG) and PropertyDotGo brands will be maintained and housed under a new company called Kagiso EProps. The remaining 35% of the shares will be owned by Mint.
Knowledge Factory provides detailed intelligence about the South African population, markets and property to its clients, who use the information to make business decisions. The SAPTG and PropertyDotGo brands provide intelligence to realtors and financial services institutions respectively.
“Kagiso Media is eager to extend its reach into new markets that complement our existing media and advertising businesses. Knowledge Factory is a healthy and fast-growing business operating in an expanding market,” says Mervyn van Zyl, Kagiso Media's Financial Director, about the transaction, which brings together three leading organisations in their respective fields. “In addition to providing us with new avenues for expansion, we will also be able to leverage Knowledge Factory's solutions and experience in our media planning and advertising businesses,” said Van Zyl.
David Woolnough, CEO of Mint Management Technologies, is confident that the company now has the capability to take the solution services offering to the next level. “We are excited about our enhanced and comprehensive solution offering that brings together Mint's strategic management, information access and integration skills with Kagiso Media's advertising products, combined with the world-class data provision and analysis solutions provided by Knowledge Factory.”
He will lead Kagiso EProps and retains his current position at Mint.
“Knowledge Factory has been seeking new shareholders to help it accelerate its strategy following several years of robust growth,” says Geraldine Mitchley, CEO of Knowledge Factory. “In particular, we wanted a strong technology partner that could help implement advanced Web and mobile technologies as well as provide new value-added services to our clients. We have achieved all our goals through the transaction with Kagiso Media and Mint Management Technologies.”
Kagiso EProps will move into the Mint offices in early 2011. “Our customers can look forward to this partnership producing a range of new solutions that will help them achieve even more with the information that we provide.” The new ownership structure will not cause disruption to “our operations as we transition”, Mitchley concludes.
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Kagiso
Kagiso Media is a black-owned JSE listed company with substantial media assets.
Kagiso is a successful operator of highly productive radio assets such as Jacaranda FM, which broadcasts into Gauteng, Limpopo, North West and Mpumalanga, and East Coast Radio, which is based in KwaZulu-Natal. Kagiso Media has also maintained strategic investment stakes in OFM (Free State), Heart 104.9 (Western Cape) and iGagasi 99.5 (KwaZulu-Natal) and an economic interest in Kaya FM (Gauteng). The Group has interests in LexisNexis (50%) the leading provider of authoritative legal content, powerful online research productivity tools, and integrated online public record information.
The Kagiso New Media business is spearheading the group's presence beyond its traditional radio base. New Media was conceived as a strategic intervention to develop Kagiso Media's capabilities to operate in the "new media" and Internet space, and its success has so far been marked by the acquisition of Gloo Digital Designs and Acceleration Media. Kagiso.MSN was established as a venture with MSN to manage and localise the www.howzit.msn.com portal in South Africa; Kagiso Media will also be the sole sales partner for all Microsoft's Windows Live properties - including Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa; and thus leads to an increase in Kagiso Media's market share of the country's online market.
Kagiso's TV asset is Urban Brew Studios, whose main activities include creating and distributing audio-visual content on any platform as well as trading and distributing television content. It also has strategic partnerships with community television players, contributing to their developmental needs and sustainability.
Kagiso Media contact:
Mervyn van Zyl
Financial Director
Tel: +27 11 537 0600
E-mail: mervyn@kagisomedia.co.za
Mint
Mint Management Technologies partners with leading companies to automate complicated business processes resulting in strong business returns and improved customer satisfaction and loyalty. We have more than a decade of proven track record in building sustainable end-to-end solutions. Mint's focus is on sales and field service automation. What differentiates Mint from its competitors is the implementation of strong management and governance processes to ensure sustainable results.
Mint specialises in the following technology areas:
o Mobility Applications (.net & Microsoft Dynamics CRM )
o Customer Relationship Management ( Microsoft Dynamics CRM )
o Content Management ( Microsoft SharePoint )
o Convergence - the combination of multiple services from separate providers to a single provider to enjoy cost and efficiency benefits.
Mint contact:
Penny de Sousa
Tel: +27 11 856 4400
E-mail: penny.desousa@mint.co.za
Knowledge Factory
Knowledge Factory is a customer and marketing insight services company. The company identifies and maps relevant demographics and behaviours to measurable micro-markets creating an evidence-based understanding of consumers across various market segments in South Africa.
Knowledge Factory's core business is providing customer and market insight to its clients thereby empowering them to make informed decisions on their customers, markets and channels. This insight is gleaned through the use of detailed data mining, analytical and statistical modelling procedures applied to information sets internal to Knowledge Factory's clients, overlaid with external information sets assimilated by Knowledge Factory.
Knowledge Factory contact:
Geraldine Mitchley
Tel: +27 11 445 8100
E-mail: geraldinem@kf.co.za
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