Halyard Capital Teams Up with Industry Executives to Acquire Harte Hanks Market Intelligence and The Aberdeen Group

NEW YORK CITY, April 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Halyard Capital, a New York-based private equity fund, announced the acquisition of Harte Hanks Market Intelligence and The Aberdeen Group from Harte Hanks, Inc. Harte Hanks Market Intelligence is the technology industry's most trusted resource for data to drive marketing and sales. The Aberdeen Group provides research and content marketing solutions that technology industry marketers leverage to provide thought leadership and to drive demand with their target customers. The acquired businesses will be branded as The Aberdeen Group. Financial terms were not disclosed.  

Halyard's investment will allow the companies to take advantage of the growing technology market opportunity around big data and content marketing and it follows other successful Halyard investments in digital and database marketing services. Dr. Charles Stryker, Chairman of VDC, the leading advisory service regarding data and information services, will invest alongside Halyard and will serve on the board of directors of the new company. Gary Skidmore, the former President of Harte Hanks, Inc. will also invest alongside Halyard and will become Chief Executive Officer of the company. 

Commenting on the acquisition, Gary Skidmore stated, "I am thrilled to be teaming up with Halyard Capital and Charlie Stryker for this exciting opportunity. Both Market Intelligence and Aberdeen are uniquely positioned, creating a fantastic opportunity to transform the vibrant technology data and content marketing space with a combined offering. Our platform will provide marketing and sales professionals with proprietary intelligence on who their ideal audiences are, what they are interested in now, and how to connect with them. And our integrated content marketing capability will allow companies to maximize this audience intelligence with improved content and storytelling tools."

Jonathan Barnes, Partner of Halyard Capital added, "We're confident that with our added support and investment, the combined entity will drive significant additional value for both current and future customers. We are pleased to be partnering with a seasoned leader in Gary Skidmore and with Charlie Stryker, a talented executive with whom we have partnered successfully in the past. We look forward to building upon the impressive accomplishments of these two organizations and to accelerating their growth together."

Market Intelligence will continue to build and expand the Computer Intelligence Technology Database ("CiTDB") with installed technology, buying intentions, decision maker data and unique predictive analytics. Significant investment is planned across both businesses to drive several key product and service enhancements, including:

• Real time integration of incremental public and partner data sources
• The creation of an "always-on" content marketing subscription
• The creation of a SaaS platform that will allow companies to seamlessly integrate and order Market Intelligence data and Aberdeen content on a real-time basis
• Customer communication, rebranding and a renewed services approach that will allow customers superior access to a rich inventory of data attributes and aligned, original technology content.

The combined company will have operations in Boston, San Diego, London, Paris and Madrid.   

For more information on the Aberdeen and Market Intelligence current offerings, please visit www.aberdeenservices.com.

About Halyard Capital

Halyard is a lower-middle market private equity firm focused on creating value within companies in high- growth sectors.  Halyard's sectors of focus include technology-enabled Business and Information Services, Digital Marketing and Data Analytics, IT Security and IT Infrastructure and Communications.  Halyard specializes in growth equity, leveraged buyouts and structured equity investments. Halyard's investment philosophy rests upon its deep understanding of its targeted industries, the development of its investment theses, and its network of executive relationships.

SOURCE Halyard Capital