UK - August Equity sells Durrants to Exponent for £82m

Durrants is the UK’s leading media monitoring and evaluation agency. It provides services to PR professional managers who need to follow coverage of their organisation in the media. Durrants monitors around 6,000 print, broadcast and online sources to service 2,300 clients across a broad range of sectors including corporate organisations, public relation agencies and governmental bodies.

August Equity backed Stephen White in the £14m management buy-in of Durrants in 2000. Durrants, which was founded in 1880, has seen its revenue increase from £7m to over £20m whilst profits have grown almost six-fold since the MBI. In 2001, August Equity helped Durrants raise £2.5m to fund the development of its main technology platform which enables clients to receive rapid and accurate information tailored for their use in digital form.

Led by CEO Stephen White, the company has also added new services between 2000 – 2004 including evaluation of press comment/coverage on its clients’ activities and marketing campaigns. In 2004, Durrants acquired Xtreme News for £7m - a transaction that has established Durrants as market leader in the UK media monitoring industry.

The £82m transaction represents a cash multiple of 6x investment cost for August Equity. The transaction completes on 12 April 2006.

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