SECAUCUS, N.J. -- Northstar Travel Media, the leading business-to-business information company serving the travel and meetings industries, has been acquired by the Wicks Group of Companies. Wicks is a New York-based private equity firm that invests in the media, education and information industries.
Northstar serves the retail travel, meetings and conventions, corporate travel management and incentive markets with leading brands including Travel Weekly, TravelAge West, Meetings & Conventions, Successful Meetings, Meeting News, Business Travel News, Travel Procurement and Incentive; database-driven electronic publications Hotel & Travel Index, Official Cruise Guide and M&C Facilities Search; and online subscription services The Beat, travel42, Weissmann Reports, Intelliguide Corporate, BTP24 and Star Service Online. Northstar also produces more than 20 face-to-face events in the served markets of retail travel, corporate travel and the meetings industry. In addition, Northstar owns PhoCusWright, the leading research and event producer serving the fastest growing segment of the travel industry, online travel distribution.
“We are very impressed with the growth of Northstar Travel Media over the last few years during challenging economic conditions,” said Dan Kortick, a managing partner at Wicks. “The management team has done an excellent job of migrating its core business to an integrated information and marketing solutions company. We are excited about partnering with the current management team to continue to grow the company through product development and strategic acquisitions.”
“We are very pleased to welcome Wicks as our new partner to provide the capital and investment experience to help Northstar achieve its full potential as an information company that serves one of the largest and most dynamic industries in the world: Global travel and tourism,” said Thomas Kemp, chairman & CEO of Northstar. “BV Investment Partners has been a great partner of the company. Wicks possesses many of the same qualities as BV with their depth of experience and success investing in the media and information industries.”
“We are very pleased to complete the sale of Northstar to Wicks,” said Andrew Davis, managing director of BV Investment Partners. “The growth of the company and the aggressive diversification of revenue channels the past few years created much interest among investors for Northstar. We congratulate Wicks on closing the transaction and partnering with a great management team to continue to grow the business.”
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.