AgriBriefing, provider of agricultural commodity pricing benchmarks, analytics, and market data, announces today that it has sold its UK agriculture division to Arc.
The information assets which will transfer include Farmers Guardian, Dairy Farmer & Arable Farming alongside all related digital platforms plus events brands LAMMA, CropTec and the British Farming Awards.
Arc is a global events, data and media platform backed by investment funds managed by Eagle Tree Capital.
Commenting on the transaction, Rory Brown, CEO of AgriBriefing said:
“While we are pleased to announce the next evolution of AgriBriefing, in many ways today is a bittersweet day. The acquisition of Farmers Guardian from UBM in 2012 represented the original pillar around which we have built our company and we are enormously proud of the job our teams have done over the past 10 years.
“In 2012 we acquired two hugely respected magazine brands – Farmers Guardian and Dairy Farmer. 10 years later we are passing on a truly user-centric, multi-platform, media, events, and digital powerhouse that has greater depth and reach into UK farming than at any time in its history.
“We love the business and are hugely grateful to everyone we have worked with over the years.
“Following discussions with the team at Arc we quickly realised that they shared a similar underlying belief in the future of successful media and community platforms. We do not feel we could have found a better home for our transferring brands, and the teams who work on them. We will continue to cheer their future success from the sidelines as the UK agriculture business enters its next stage.
“It has been a lot of fun, but our strategic focus has now changed.
“Increasingly AgriBriefing – through its global pricing, analytics, forecasting, market data and consulting units – has evolved into a very different type of company. Our premium digital enterprise subscription services Urner Barry; Feedinfo; Stratégie Grains; Agrimoney; Foreign Trade Data; Seafood News; Foodmarket & Obsono provide proprietary data and intelligence on the estimated US$5tn global trade in agricultural commodities, food and biofuel.
“It is a dynamic and under-served market segment with a great growth trajectory. This is the business we will continue to build both organically and through further targeted acquisitions. We are excited for the future as we grow the largest pureplay independent agribusiness price reporting agency (PRA) and market data business globally.”
