Primis Marketing Group has acquired MarketModels, an analytics, modeling and data integration firm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition marks the third in as many years for Primis. It purchased Hyphos360, a database development and hosting company, in 2004 and AccuData America, a marketing data and services provider, in 2003.
Primis has tended to operate companies it acquires independently, although it encourages them to share competencies–and clients–between operations. Brad Mitchell will stay on as president and general manager of MarketModels, and will report to Primis CEO John Healy. MarketModels will continue to be based in Wickford, RI.
Primis continues to search for acquisition candidates. The company is in the “more than a passing look phase” with an average of ten companies at any given time, and consistently has three letters of intent under consideration, Healy told Direct Newsline.
Look for Primis to announce another acquisition, possibly by the end of the year, but certainly by the end of first-quarter 2006. Healy said the next likely candidate would be an e-marketing firm with affiliate marketing and search optimization offerings, as well as e-mail services that would augment the deployment engine his firm gained as part of the MarketModels acquisition.
As a general rule, likely firms are in the $5-$25 million range in annual sales. MarketModels was right in the middle of that range, Healy said.
In addition to the services it offers, Healy noted that three vertical segments MarketModels serves – higher education, consumer packaged goods and technology – were new additions to Primis’s customer base. Marquee MarketModel customers include LendingTree.com, AC Nielsen, J.P. Morgan Chase, Sun Microsystems, The Tribune Company, Comscore Networks, Dime Savings Bank, Experian, Equifax and a number of companies in the broadband and credit card processing industries.
