- H.I.G. Ventures Leads $5 Million Round for Batanga financing. Batanga announced today the completion of a major strategic round of financing. H.I.G. Ventures led the $5 million round. "We are extremely excited to get the backing of such a strong investor," said Rafael Urbina, Batanga's Chairman and CEO. "The resources and connections H.I.G. Ventures brings to the table, coupled with the momentum achieved through our recent merger of Batanga, give our company a great boost toward becoming the premier online destination for young Hispanics."
Batanga publishes Batanga.com, a site that offers quality content to the U.S. Hispanic market in the form of 25 online radio stations, thousands of on-demand videos and multimedia content across channels including Latin Music, Sports and Autos. The funds raised will support Batanga's growing Hispanic advertising business as well as its entry into new distribution, marketing and content channels. “Online entertainment consumption within the U.S. Hispanic market is growing exponentially and Batanga has put together a very attractive set of media offerings for this audience,” said John Kim, Managing Director for H.I.G. Ventures. “Batanga has the right management team in place and a proven sales engine that will make this company a dominant force in online and wireless Hispanic media. We look forward to helping them achieve this kind of market position.”
- Enlace Buys Los Angeles' El Directorio. Enlace Spanish Yellow Pages, an independent Spanish-language directory company has agreed to acquire El Directorio, the premier Los Angeles Spanish Yellow Pages directory. The Los Angeles area is the largest Hispanic market in the United States, with over 9 million Spanish-speakers. Enlace will publish directories for Orange County, Los Angeles, Riverside and the San Fernando Valley, reaching close to 1 million in distribution annually. The first Southern California directory under the Enlace name will publish this fall. The former owner and team of El Directorio will join Enlace and add over 13 years of Spanish Yellow page experience. This group will continue to oversee the Los Angeles area directories.Enlace now publishes 21 directories in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee.With the acquisition, Enlace will publish and distribute close to 2.5 million directories annually. Enlace also announced that Neil Boyles recently joined the Enlace team to oversee several East Coast markets. Boyles brings 14 years of directory experience from BellSouth Yellow Pages, Alltel Yellow Pages, and Magnolia Publishing.
- Megazines Publications Joins Forces with Grupo Editorial Armonia. Miami, Florida based Megazines Publications and Grupo Editorial Armonia, currently headquartered in Mexico City. Spearheaded by the NAFTA Fund of Mexico, LP through a private equity investment, the partnership unifies the competitive strengths of Megazines Publications, a Hispanic magazine publishing company in the U.S., together with those of Armonia, one of the top three magazine publishers in Mexico. It also brings together quality editorial content, a wide sales and distribution network, adept financial resources and business acumen to more effectively meet the media needs of the growing U.S. Hispanic market.
Megazines, having launched such popular magazines as Sobre Ruedas, offers the strength of its U.S. distribution network in the top eight U.S. Hispanic markets and established relationships with leading Hispanic newspapers, Fortune 500 advertisers and their agencies. Armonia, with more than 30 years of editorial experience and a wide portfolio of titles in Mexico, provides an extensive content database and proven success in addressing the needs of today's Latin woman. "We are highly committed to furthering the growth of these two companies," said Luis Perezcano, Principal of NAFTA Fund, adding "they both have the required ingredients needed to pursue a successful U.S.-Mexico business relationship, offering complementary expertise and resources toward the generation of regional growth and long-term sustainability." Liliana Moreno, CEO of Armonia, sees a bright future ahead for the partnership. "We consider this a very important opportunity as it leverages Editorial Armonia's expertise in publishing magazines for women, families and children in Mexico and Latin America with Megazines Publications' commercial strength and U.S. Hispanic distribution model." Roberto Sroka, VP of Sales for Megazines, added: "While we have enjoyed strong growth in the past, this investment allows us to provide an even higher quality product and make an even greater contribution to the cultural and economic growth of the U.S. Hispanic community."
