Case Blog

In one of my earliest postings in September of ‘07, Global Brands, I wrote: “As we transition to a digital world, managing our brands becomes ever more demanding. Microsoft, which has done wonders with the Windows and Office brands, stumbled as they tried to rebrand Hotmail, IM and Search under the Windows Live brand. I am certain that with their unlimited resources they employed several of the best branding agencies in the business, but they still struggled through this transition. Those of us who come to this with much less in the way of outside assistance must clearly understand that we need brands that can travel globally…All of us in the B2B or B2C space tasked with transitioning to the digital world are looking for the Holy Grail, an umbrella brand that inspires confidence and trust and at the same time can support many vertical channels. Strategy sessions and market tests play an important role in this process. Marketing dollars invested in branding will yield significant returns, although without strong digital brands there is not much chance of survival for print brands, even those with storied histories.”

In the fall of ‘07, my partners at Austin Ventures and I were still in the search mode to find a platform that we could acquire and grow.  It was almost a year later when we zeroed in on the institutional financial sector, with a focus on asset management. In fairly short order, we acquired Asset International, The Trade, and Strategic Insight.

We decided that we would operate under the Asset International name, as it provided a very clear brand and would allow us to add significant brands under the Asset International umbrella. Today we have established a new London office for Strategic Insight to support the Simfund Global database and analytics platform. In the next several months we will open a comparable office in Hong Kong for our expanding client base to support these well-known business intelligence products and services. This client base historically has been composed of mutual fund companies, but recently we have seen it expand in the U.S. to include other business sectors, including private equity firms that have a strong interest in the financial sector.

In addition, this past spring we launched Plan Sponsor Europe out of London. With this very strong retirement-focused brand and its print, online, research reports, and conference components, Plan Sponsor Europe is offering longtime clients like State Street (STT) a known brand to support their defined contribution efforts in the United Kingdom and on the continent. They have reserved our prime real estate, our back cover, to deliver their message for the balance of the year. In ‘11 we will launch Plan Sponsor Asia/Pacific edition. Recently, Global Custodian released its 2010 Prime Brokerage Survey, which received wide coverage in the business press and was quickly established as the standard for this segment of the industry. This brand, along with Strategic Insight, has had a global impact for more than 20 years.

The TRADE expanded its business several years ago by launching The TRADE Asia and this year launched The TRADE Growth Markets. They also expanded their global web presence with www.thetradenews.com. Finally, ai5000, which focuses on the professional information needs of the Chief Investment Officers of the largest global assets owners, launched their Chief Investment Officer Summit (CIOS) in New York and will hold the second summit in London on October 7th and 8th.

We will continue to expand our business by investing in our core brands on a global basis and serving the needs of our client base in the major markets they operate in.

You can learn more about our global brands and how they can assist you build your global market share by going to www.assetinternational.com.

Last week Michigan Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Permanent Investigations, brought Goldman Sachs’ (GS) Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein and a number of his colleagues to Washington, D.C. to hold a hearing on the fabled Abacus derivative deal. The cast from the Goldman side included Fabrice Tourre — Tourre is also known as “Fabulous Fab” in the press — who structured the transaction with input from John Paulson. (Paulson is no relation to Hank Paulson, the former Treasury Secretary in the Bush administration and Blankfein’s predecessor at Goldman Sachs. John Paulson is the founder of the hedge fund Paulson & Co.) The 11 hours of hearings provided countless news clips on broadcast newscasts and across numerous websites, along with cute headlines for the tabloid press. In the end it amounted to political theatre, with the Goldman Sachs team, led by Blankfein, vigorously defending their transactions. While many of us may prefer the old image of the sage investment banker providing advice and counsel to their clients, it is clear that the current leadership team at Goldman Sachs is led by former traders that view deals that have counter-parties as the normal course of business.

In the end I find myself joining with former President Bill Clinton and the Sage of Omaha, Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA). Speaking at a conference on April 28th, Bill Clinton raised the question: did the Abacus transaction  break any law? Clinton did this in the context of the current civil suit against Goldman Sachs and the possibility that had been raised of criminal charges. (CNN: April 28, 2010) Buffett came to the staunch defense of both Goldman Sachs and Lloyd Blankfein at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholders event in Omaha, Nebraska over the weekend. While the press and hearings have provided political theatre, it has not gotten us any closer to a solution on how to avoid another subprime mortgage debacle in the future.

The primary focus of this blog has always been to offer my perspective on specific deals and the overall deal climate in the B2B space. However, the events of the past year required most of my commentary to focus on the terrible economic climate we found ourselves in, with very few significant deals taking place. Yesterday, before the market opened, Pearson (PSON.LN) announced that they were selling their stake in Interactive Data Corporation (IDC) to two private equity firms. Pearson had stated in mid-January that they were exploring strategic options for IDC, a financial market data provider in which they hold a controlling interest of 61 percent.  Silver Lake & Warburg Pincus will be paying $33.86 per share, which represents a 33% premium over IDC’s January 14 share price, which is the day before they announced their strategic review. (WSJ: May 4, 2010)  When a financial services firm is once again in demand, it’s clear that the deal climate has improved dramatically.

Another such deal is Salesforce.com’s (CRM) announcement on April 21st of a definitive agreement to acquire Jigsaw Data, the cloud-based data services company in Silicon Valley. Jigsaw was backed by El Dorado Ventures, Norwest Ventures and Austin Ventures. I am pleased to note that I had the privilege of serving on the Jigsaw Board over the past 3 years and working closely with the other board members and Jim Fowler, the founder of Jigsaw. Together with Jigsaw senior vice president and COO Kevin Akeroyd, Jim built a compelling crowd-sourced data company that grew significantly right through the Great Recession and exceeded every growth metric the board established. I cannot think of a better outcome than Jigsaw joining Salesforce.com. This acquisition was exceptional for all involved and I applaud the entrepreneurship displayed by the Jigsaw team.

Mary Claire and I are off to London next week and I trust that I will have some special insights to share with you on tomorrow’s U.K. election upon my return.

I spent the past week in London. While it was colder than normal, I missed the February blizzard that blanketed the northeast U.S. on Wednesday. Over the past several years, Mary Claire and I have managed to be in New York City for each of the major February snowstorms. This time she got to enjoy the winter wonderland without me.  It was hard to gauge on this trip if the Labour Party was bouncing back in time for the spring election or if the Tories had peaked too early, and no one I spoke with seemed ready to make a prediction.

Speaking of predictions, The Field General lost to the clever Sean Payton and the Drew Brees lead Saints. Congratulations to all those long-suffering Saints’ fans and the city of New Orleans. I trust that Peyton Manning and the Colts will get at least one more shot at another Super Bowl before Manning ends his stellar career.

While in London my meals were distinctively French. We had lunch with Dominic Hobson and the management team of Global Custodian at L’Oranger on St. James’s Street. This classic restaurant never disappoints. One evening we had dinner with John Lee and his senior team from The Trade at The Bleeding Heart Restaurant in Bleeding Heart Square, just off Hatton Garden. The ambience, service and cuisine were, as always, superb.  Both groups continue to build upon the strong momentum they established in the fourth quarter.  Finally, I got to try a new restaurant, for me, The Orrery Restaurant on MaryleBone High Street.  Orrery is located with Conran’s and is a superb restaurant, again French, with enough room between tables for one to truly enjoy a special meal with colleagues or friends.

On the M&A front in London, the announcement by Pearson (PSON/PSO ADR) in January that they were exploring options for their majority-controlled public company Interactive Data Corporation (IDC) brought out a long list of potential bidders. IDC is a global provider of financial market data & analytics for financial institutions and traders and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company was formed in 2000 when Pearson merged FT Interactive Data Corporation with Data Broadcasting Corporation and gained the majority position. It is clear that with the amount of interest this auction has attracted, with bids due shortly, the winner will need to pay at least $3B for this trophy. The list of suitors according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ, 2/3/10) and the Financial Times (FT, 2/10/10) includes many of the major private equity funds: Apax, Apollo, Bain, Blackstone, Carlyle, Hellman Friedman, KKR, Permira, and Providence. McGraw-Hill and Thomson-Reuters were listed as the two interested strategic acquirers. The FT also reported that Bloomberg, which recently purchased Business Week but does not have a history of large acquisitions, was not intending to bid.

Within the past two weeks it was also announced that the Financial Times had purchased Medley Global Advisors as FT continues to look for subscription-based data products to lessen their dependency on advertising. This relatively small acquisition is along the lines of Money-Media, another subscription-based business FT purchased two years ago.

It is clear that as global financial markets continue to recover the companies that have both the financial data and analytical tools that provide transparency will see significant EBITDA multiples offered when they come to market in an auction environment.

We will be announcing, shortly, the appointment of a managing director for Strategic Insight, who as part of the Global SI team will manage our expansion in the UK and the rest of Europe from our new London office.

The recent news in New York has been positive for the institutional financial services sector. Two weeks ago Bank of America (BAC) surprised most analysts by announcing that they had worked out an agreement to pay back the $45B of TARP funds they needed to carry them through the Great Recession. Greg Curl, one of the internal candidates to take over from Ken Lewis as CEO, negotiated the arrangements with the government. Shortly after the announcement Bank of America sold new shares, which gave them the capital base they needed to pay back the Treasury. It is becoming clear that the government will get their desired return on the TARP funds, as they predicted. The Merrill Lynch acquisition by Bank of America is starting to look better each quarter as trading profits improve dramatically. Citigroup (C) and Wells Fargo (WFC) remain the two money center banks that have not yet repaid the TARP funds, but they are inching closer to an agreement each week.

I flew to London on Wednesday to spend time with our two U.K. subsidiaries, Global Custodian and The Trade. I found the overall mood to be positive and The City looking very festive for the holiday season. I was greeted, though, by headlines in the Financial Times that Chancellor Darling was imposing a new 50% tax on bankers’ bonuses to be paid by the institutions. Prime Minister Gordon Brown was able to quickly get the support of the French President Sarkozy, while the Germans demurred. It seems like we will have to live for a while with the idea of taxing an industry in recovery from the worst downturn since the Great Depression.

Finally, on the media side of the equation, Springer Science & Business Media was sold, not to a strategic buyer like Informa, who had been evaluating a deal, but to EQT, a Swedish private equity firm controlled by the Wallenberg family and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. (Telegraph, 12/11/09) The sale was driven by Candover’s and Cinven’s need to exit this investment, with loans coming due next year. Derk Haank, a former colleague at Reed Elsevier and a very able publisher, will continue as CEO. This deal is another sign that the private equity media market is starting to emerge from a very slow ‘09, with leverage returning to the market.

This is a guest blog post by Jason Cassidy, Asset International’s Senior Vice President of Strategy and Development.

By Jason Cassidy

In the past few weeks we have seen the busiest IPO market all year with IPOs from high-growth companies like A123 Systems in the alternative energy sector and Shanda Games in the Chinese gaming sector. More recently, Blackstone Group announced it would take some of its investments public. Private equity and venture capital firms finally have a public exit alternative again. At the same time, we have also seen some large strategic deals like Xerox and Abbott Laboratories acquiring large companies, and even in an out-of-favor sector like newspapers Gannett was able to take on debt in its recent bond deal. Thus, the M&A market for large corporations with access to cash seems to be open again.

At first glance, the availability of exits and acquisition demand from large strategics may mean that higher valuations will follow. Add to these new demands the pent-up supply of companies looking for an exit, one might expect a flood of deals to hit the market. In addition to providing current exit potential, the IPO market opening gives venture investors in high-growth sectors and private equity investors with a focus on larger companies a reason to invest again. Add to that strategics with cash and a need to acquire to boost growth, and the world seems right again for deals.

The one area we may still have to wait to return is private equity deals for smaller, lower growth companies without the prospect of an IPO exit. With the debt markets still somewhat expensive and less generous, PE investors may not be able to see their way to strong returns yet. However, this too will open up soon and we will be back to strong deal flow across the board (with perhaps a bit more conservative leverage for a little while at least).

About Jason Cassidy, Asset International’s Senior Vice President of Strategy and Development.

Prior to joining Asset International, Mr. Cassidy was Vice President of website solutions for Register.com, where he oversaw sales, operations, customer service, marketing and product management with the primary focus on small business customers. Previously, as Vice President of Reed Business Information, he was actively involved in global strategy and development, including M&A initiatives and international development, and managed a portfolio of websites. Mr. Cassidy earned an M.B.A. from Duke Fuqua School of Business (2007) and an A.B. from Harvard University (1998). Originally from Boston, he and his family reside in Staten Island, New York.

As we celebrate Labor Day in the Bay Area, it is clear that summer is coming to an end. I returned to Blackhawk from a week in London, where Gordon Brown and the Labour Party continue to surprise me by still surviving. It looks like Brown will make it until he must call for an election in the spring.

We are evaluating several acquisitions for further expansion in London. In addition, organic growth through global expansion is also a priority. Information needs around pensions are still significant, as plans continue to recover from last year’s stock market debacle. Under Nevin Adams’ editorial leadership we will launch the well-respected Plan Sponsor brand in the United Kingdom and continental Europe. I sense that New York and London will remain the primary global money centers and we need to have a significant presence in each market. Commercial real estate offers similar opportunities to New York and we plan to consolidate our presence in a new headquarters in The City.

Many of London’s private equity players and their bank sponsors are working on restructuring plans. I was interested to see that the Royal Bank of Scotland and Apax have reached an agreement to split Incisive Media. RBS will take a controlling interest in the UK assets of Incisive, while Apax will still control the U.S. based ALM, which was under a separate financial structure with very different covenant requirements. The media industry will continue to be deleveraged throughout the fall, particularly in the newspaper sector.

Mary Claire and I will enjoy several last rounds of summer golf this weekend, and then she will return to New York while I head to Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai. In Hong Kong we will attend SWIFT’s Sibos 2009. It is a large conference and exhibition and for many it is one of the financial services industry’s major events. Last year in Vienna it drew over 8,000 attendees. We will be introducing Asset International’s growing portfolio of products and services, including our most recent acquisition, Strategic Insight. Charlie Ruffel and Dominic Hobson will host the event during this 20th anniversary year for Global Custodian.  The Trade’s editorial team (we acquired The Trade in June) under John Lee’s leadership will be producing the show dailies, which they have done for close to 10 years.  We will be looking for opportunities to further expand our footprint in this fast-growing region, which appears to be recovering at a faster pace than the west.

Fall has also given us the return of the football season in the U.S. The biggest upset of this inaugural weekend of college football was the #20 Brigham Young Cougars beating the #3 Oklahoma Sooners, who with their Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford had their eye on a national championship before last evening. Max Hall, the talented quarterback of BYU, clearly established the Cougars as a contender for a major BCS bowl game, in spite of playing in the Mountain West conference, one that is not insured of BCS Bowl representation.

This article was originally written for BtoB Media Business at BtoBonline.com.

We have been in the middle of the perfect storm since last September. Beginning with the demise of Lehman Brothers through February of this year, all of the markets were in free fall. The only other period that I can compare this to is after 9/11 in the fourth quarter of 2001, when the economies of the world ground to a halt and Herculean efforts were required to jump-start the world stock exchanges. While the wheels of commerce ground to a halt during both of these periods, this recession has been much deeper and cut a wider path of destruction.

After the collapse of Bear Stearns and the demise of Lehman Brothers, all eyes turned to Merrill Lynch. As we have recently learned, Treasury Secretary Paulson and Fed Chairman Bernanke were not taking anything for granted, and Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of America, could not walk away from the Merrill Lynch deal even after he learned the extent of their losses in December.

While the bailout of the financial industry was getting underway, all attention then turned to the automotive industry. Could anyone have predicted that the American automotive industry would be brought to its knees, or that two of the Big Three, Chrysler and General Motors, would end up in bankruptcy and need to be bailed out by the United States Treasury?

We were not looking at run-of-the-mill businesses, but rather American icons that once were the envy of competitors around the world. The events of the past year will have a lasting impact on how we conduct business and will shape our information industry for years to come.

What will the markets we serve look like in 2010 and 2011? I sense that we will initially emerge as a smaller and more focused industry. Many of the venerable B2B names will not survive intact. Some of these have been part of the industry since the beginning of the 20th century, but they have not evolved and have lost focus with unwieldy portfolios, serving too many markets. Others that were acquired when money was cheap are now overleveraged and will need to go through a deleveraging process. In many cases their new owners will be their former lenders.

As the recovery accelerates in 2010 and beyond, the debate will intensify over branding vs. lead generation. Over the past several years we have become expert at developing lead-generation programs that meet our clients’ needs. Lead generation will remain a high priority for B2B marketers and will continue to fuel the growth of all vertical sectors. We will continue to refine how to package and deliver those leads in a format that works best for our clients. The best marketers will restore the equilibrium between branding and lead generation. The difference now, though, compared to how we emerged from the 2001 recession, will be that the majority of branding dollars will be spent online. Print will be continue to be a part of that mix, but it will represent a smaller and smaller percentage of the overall marketing budget as we accelerate into the digital world. In addition, live and web-based events, together with rich data and analytics products, will command a larger share of marketing services budgets. Companies that have not invested in content management systems (CMSes) or had their editors tagging content for easy repurposing will not survive as strong competitors. There will also be less competition from our old competitors, many of whom have made deep cuts to stay afloat. However, nimble all-digital competitors will emerge very strong during this period. Many of these companies still reside in the portfolios of venture capital companies, where they have been nurtured during the downturn and are now positioned to grow quickly during the recovery. There is another Google waiting to emerge, as they did during the last recovery, demonstrating that the marketing and advertising spend has not disappeared, but that technology has provided more efficient solutions that will meet market demand.

I would love to hear from you which venture capital backed companies you believe will become the new market leaders in our industry. You can reach me at: jcasella@assetinternational.com.

At the start of this long Memorial Day weekend, it is clear that with spring we saw some “green shoots” and sensed that we had most likely touched bottom in this deep recession in February or March. Confidence has slowly returned with regards to our financial system and the strongest banks are in the midst of negotiating with Treasury Secretary Geithner on when they can repay the TARP funds. Our credit system has slowly defrosted as well. As we move toward summer, we will start to hear more and more about possible debt swaps, done at significant discounts, from overleveraged private equity deals that have survived but are still searching for a way forward. While my focus is on the media sector, this process has started across all sectors of the economy.

Back in October, I wrote in A Family’s & an Industry’s Conundrum about the depressed newspaper industry, with a focus on the New York Times Company (NYT) and the McClatchy Company (MNI), both family controlled, longtime publishers. Since that time both of them have seen their fortunes worsen as the advertising free fall from November to February left both of them in significantly worse financial shape than they were in the early fall.

McClatchy announced earlier in the week that they are pursuing a debt swap at a significant discount. (WSJ May 22, 2009) They have asked bondholders of $1.15B of their debt to take equity stakes that equate to a range of $.18-$.33 on the dollar, varying by issues they hold and how quickly they agree to the terms. If they are successful, McClatchy could lower its debt load by as much as $500M and, most importantly, gain three years to repay the bonds that currently come due in 2011. Together with the significant cutbacks in fixed costs they have already made, this “reset” could give them the breathing room they need to reinvent their news franchises across the country.

While radio appeared to be surviving as a medium better than the newspaper sector, the deepening recession showed us that this was not the case. Last year in a much-publicized deal, Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP finally took Clear Channel, a public company controlled by the Mays family, private. The deal was protracted, and in the end the company went private at a slightly reduced price per share with a debt load of $22B, compared to its $5.9B debt load when it operated as a public company. Clear Channel’s radio business experienced a 22% decline in advertising revenue in the first quarter of ‘09. (WSJ May 11, 2009) As part of their effort to reduce costs, they have had significant layoffs and suspended their 401K matching contribution. This has been a common response to the current recession by overleveraged companies across all sectors. Nevin Adams, editor-in-chief of PlanSponsor, has chronicled many of these 401K matching contribution suspensions in his daily, NewsDash. It has been widely reported in the business press that the two private equity sponsors are now trying to negotiate a debt swap to avoid violating loan covenants later in the year. The New York Post reported that the initial proposal has been rejected by two of the senior lenders. (NY Post May 22, 2009)

At the end of the day, I sense that both of these debt swaps will get done with some modifications. As the economic recovery takes place, both businesses will have bought some time to move from an analog to a digital strategy that will allow them to survive, although as much less dominant national players then they were prior to this recession. Advertising dollars are starting to be spent again, and we should not lose sight of the fact that Google emerged dramatically from the last recession. There is tremendous leverage in the advertising/marketing spend, but yesterday’s dominant players do not always emerge as the tomorrow’s leaders.

I spent most of last week in London, where Gordon Brown’s government remains under pressure from the Tories to call for a new election. The expense scandal that engulfed the House of Commons while I was there certainly has not strengthened Labour’s hand to resist. Just as we saw the Democrats and President Obama take over from eight years of Republican control of the White House, I sense that the Tories’ time is near after more then 10 years of Labour’s dominance during the Blair years and the current Brown term.

I have noticed during the past two recessions, where I have had a unique window into both the U.S. and UK advertising markets, that British companies do not move to cut their marketing spend as dramatically as their U.S. counterparts. I trust that this serves them well during the recovery, where the strongest companies can gain very profitable market share. There is a lesson for U.S. marketers in this strategy.

On Thursday March 12th in the Wall Street Journal, Peter Lattman wrote,  “The LBO is dead. Long live the EBO” (WSJ, “Lacking Leverage, Firms Embrace EBOs”).  In the article he quoted Scott Nuttall, a partner at KKR speaking at a private equity conference, “Opportunities abound right now. You don’t need to use leverage to buy companies when they’re trading at a 50% discount to their historic average multiples.”

The appeal of the EBO for the seller is there is not the risk of a transaction failing to close because of the credit markets. In the same article, an October deal by Advent was cited. Advent paid all cash for a card-processing business, later renamed Monext. This was a $260M transaction. “We were able to provide certainty, which is a scarce commodity these days,” according to  Advent’s Stephen Hoffmeister.

In the media space we will see more EBOs than LBOs this year — if deals are going to get done. The EBO does carry some risk for the private equity firm, though. In order for these deals to be successful in the long run, there needs to be realistic price expectations  on the part of the sellers and their advisers.

Earlier this week, Bill Cohan’s new book, “House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street,” was published by Doubleday.  The initial reviews have all been outstanding. Bill has clearly made the transition from investment banker to established author. This story of Bear Stearns’ demise, together with his first book, “The Last Tycoons,” has established him as a force to be reckoned with on Wall Street.

Later this afternoon, “Selection Sunday” will provide answers for the March Madness field of 65. There are always disappointments for the schools on the bubble, but on Monday morning the NIT selection extends their season.

Several readers have asked for some new wine recommendations to carry them from winter to spring. Here are several new ones from northern California that provide both value and very good quality.

Steel Plow Syrah
Landmark Vineyards consistently produces quality wines that represent real value. Most of their releases are priced between $20 and $40. One of my recent favorites is their ‘06 Steel Plow Syrah, which can be purchased on their website for $30.  I have had it several times recently in restaurants and find it to have depth. It is perfect when paired with a short rib on a winter evening.  The Wine Spectator recently rated it a 94 (WS 94). www.landmarkwine.com

Anagram
I was recently introduced to Rich Moran by my friend and former publishing colleague Stewart Alsop. Rich is a partner at the venerable venture capital firm Venrock. Rich and his wife Carol collaborate on producing limited (600 cases per year) Bordeaux-style blends, named Anagram. Their vineyard is located in Knights Valley. I ordered a mixed case of their ‘04, ‘05 and ‘06 releases. When we returned late on Friday night to New York City from Blackhawk, we opened the ‘04 Anagram with our favorite pizzas from Una Pizza Napoletana (www.unapizza.com). I was impressed with the balance, the wonderful nose and the nuances of this release. I could not find a review from either the Wine Advocate or the Wine Spectator, but I rated it an 89-90. At an average price of $40 this represents excellent value. Please let Rich or Carol know when you order that you have read this blog entry. Small wineries need viral, word-of-mouth marketing. It is nice to see someone from our industry have as many varied interests, all of which Rich does successfully. While Stewart introduced us, Rich and I must thank Tom Peterson of El Dorado Ventures for pointing out to us that we shared a passion for wine.
www.moranmanor.com

Lucia Chardonnay, Lucia Pinot Noir
This is another brand from Pisoni Vineyards. The current releases include the ‘07 Lucia Chardonnay, $40 and the ‘07 Lucia Pinot Noir, $40.  It also includes the Gary’s Vineyard release for $50. I am just ordering this weekend, but since their introduction several years ago, all of the Lucia releases have represented excellent quality and value. www.luciavineyards.com

This past Monday morning as I was preparing for my evening flight to London and reflecting on the exciting Super Bowl win by the Steelers on Sunday evening, I received an email notifying me that my Virgin Atlantic flight from JFK to London had been cancelled because of snow. London had just been hit by its worst snowstorm since the early ’90s.  I turned on CNN and after a short time I heard London’s mayor, Boris Johnson, explain why snow plows were not justified when you did a cost-benefit analysis. Once every twenty years, you shut down for a day or two. The city ground to a halt. My trip was delayed for a day and London came back to life by the time I arrived on Wednesday morning.

I decided that I needed to read a football book on the flight over that reflected in some ways the tradition that the Steelers and the Rooneys have built.  I chose “WAR As They Knew It: Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, and America in a Time of Unrest” by Michael Rosenberg, which I had purchased as a Christmas gift on Amazon but realized that my list did not have anyone on it for whom it seemed appropriate. It went on to the bookshelf, while I waited for a long, round-trip flight.

The “ten year war” between Ohio State and “that school up north” began when Woody’s former protégé and former assistant, Bo Schembechler, became the head coach at Michigan. In their first meeting in November of ‘69, a game I still remember, the Buckeyes went into Ann Arbor with a 22-game winning streak on the line and lost to the Wolverines, 24-12. In ‘73 both teams entered that year’s match-up undefeated with a trip to the Rose Bowl in the balance. (In those days, only one school from the Big Ten could represent the conference in a bowl game and that bowl game was the Rose Bowl.) They fought to a 10-10 tie. The 10 athletic directors from the Big Ten voted and Ohio State was selected to go to the Rose Bowl.  This decision did not sit well with Michigan fans. After 10 years of war, Bo’s record vs. Woody was 5-4-1.

As we were landing back at JFK on Friday evening and I finished the book, I thought back to the IDG vs. Ziff-Davis battles in the ’90s, which I wrote about in Rivals this past June, and decided that Asset International is going to need a strong competitor to keep us focused as we look to grow the business on a global basis. We are having a sales meeting in several weeks and this clearly will be one of the breakout topics!

London is where we publish Global Custodian. Charlie Ruffel launched this brand 20 years ago in New York. As Asset International grew and he launched events and other publications, including Plan Sponsor, the leading resource for pension and retirement issues, Charlie turned to a former classmate from Cambridge, Dominic Hobson, to take over the editorial responsibilities for Global Custodian. Under Dominic’s leadership it has continued to distinguish itself as the leading information source covering the international securities services business. It has become the relied upon source for investment professionals around the world. And its annual surveys have established benchmarks for the entire industry.  This coming June we will celebrate this 20th anniversary milestone with the industry in London , and toast GC, Charlie and Dominic.

Before I end this column, there’s one more competition heating up I want bring to your attention. Just when I thought there might not be many deals to write about in the first quarter, along comes a potential battle between Mel Karmazin’s Sirius XM radio and the tenacious Charlie Ergen, who controls EchoStar.  Karmazin has been battle tested and scarred from losing his war with Sumner Redstone over the leadership of Viacom, but Sirius XM has significant debt that is maturing shortly. In an interesting strategy that may well reflect the times, Ergen has been buying up a substantial part of the bonds that are coming due.  In spite of the low level of new car sales (this is where most satellite radio subscriptions are sold) and the negative impact on subscriber growth, with the merger completed and costs being cut, this 19 million strong subscriber-based business is going to be attractive to Ergen, if he can take it over prior to bankruptcy or even in the bankruptcy process. Can John Malone, who now controls DirecTV through Liberty, sit on the sidelines and watch this battle unfold? Will Rupert Murdoch view this as an opportunity to re-enter the U.S. satellite business, after having traded Malone DirecTV in exchange for his News Corp position?  In the current market, we may see more media deals that involve over-leveraged assets from another time, with the bond holders controlling their fate.