J.L. Halsey Corporation JLHY announced has acquired Web analytics leader ClickTracks Analytics, (www.clicktracks.com), of Santa Cruz, and emarketing Web content management company Hot Banana Software (www.hotbanana.com), of Ontario, Canada.
With more than 13,000 clients now, these acquisitions make J.L. Halsey one of the largest providers of marketing technology solutions to mid-market businesses. To finance these acquisitions, the Company closed a $10 million subordinated bridge loan.
The acquisitions of ClickTracks and Hot Banana are significant steps in the strategy of J.L. Halsey -- to become the leading provider of software solutions for digital marketers at mid-size businesses. The company is building on its existing portfolio of email marketing solutions, with an eye toward providing the key technologies that mid-size marketers need to produce greater return on investment from online marketing budgets. It acquired email marketing leaders Lyris Technologies (www.lyris.com) and EmailLabs (www.emaillabs.com) in May and October 2005 respectively.
"J.L. Halsey is acquiring award-winning, innovative companies that specialize in sophisticated, but highly-usable marketing tools for mid-sized businesses," said David Burt, CEO, J.L. Halsey. "The acquisitions of ClickTracks and Hot Banana further our goal of providing a complete emarketing toolset that directly increases the effectiveness and ROI of organizations' emarketing spends. At the same time, by adding Web analytics and Web content management solutions we are extending our commitment to bringing distinct, best-of-breed marketing technologies under one roof for the benefit of the marketing community."
At the closing of the ClickTracks acquisition, Halsey paid the security holders of ClickTracks approximately $7.6 million in cash, issued to the security holders of ClickTracks who are "accredited investors" approximately $2.9 million worth of Halsey common stock (valued at a 30-day trailing average of Halsey's closing sale prices), agreed to pay to the security holders of ClickTracks who are not "accredited investors" a total of approximately $100,000 in cash, and agreed, in the event that certain milestones are reached over the next two years, to pay the owners of ClickTracks an additional $3,300,000 in earn-out payments. An additional $510,000 will be paid subject to working capital adjustments.
At the closing of the Hot Banana acquisition, Halsey paid the owners of Hot Banana approximately 1.9 million Canadian dollars in cash and will make installments totaling up to approximately 750,000 Canadian dollars if Hot Banana achieves specified revenue and technology integration targets in the first and second year following the closing. An additional 500,000 Canadian dollars will be paid subject to working capital and other adjustments.
ClickTracks was voted "Best Web Site Analysis Tool" in ClickZ's 2003, 2004 and 2005 Marketing Excellence Awards, and received a Computerworld Innovative Technology award in the Web site management category. ClickTracks has reported two consecutive record quarters for revenue in 2006.
Hot Banana is available directly, or from 21+ Channel Partners Worldwide, either on-demand (software as a service), or installed software. Clients include InsureMe, Algoma Steel, Bell Industries, Parents Action for Children, Archdiocese of New York, Ansell Healthcare Europe and Johns Hopkins University.
All four companies will continue to develop and sell standalone products.