Nielsen Sells Claritas to Investors

Asset management firm The Carlyle Group has joined up with former leaders of Nielsen Catalina Solutions to buy consumer segmentation division Claritas from Nielsen, for an undisclosed sum.

The Carlyle Group, whose more than 1,625 people in 35 offices oversee $169 billion of assets worldwide, is one of the investors who as Valcon took Nielsen holding company VNU private in 2005, and its representative James A. Attwood, Jr. replaced David Calhoun as non-executive Chairman of the Nielsen Board of Directors, a year ago. The Group also bid for Informa in 2008,and was discussed as a potential suitor for dunnhumby two years ago. Incidentally, fellow Valcon member Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) is the firm currently poised to buy a large chunk of GfK.

For the latest deal, Carlyle has partnered with the Indian Hill Group, a small team led by former Nielsen Catalina Solutions (NCS) Chief Executive Mike Nazzaro and comprising other senior execs from the shopper insights specialist.

Claritas was founded in 1971 and its core product is PRIZM Premier Segmentation, which helps marketers understand where their consumers live, work, play and shop. The company has a Reseller Agreement with Nielsen which maintains Claritas' proprietary data feeds, used to differentiate its offer.

Nazzaro (pictured) will be CEO of the new company, with a team including COO Dr. Karthik Iyer, Chief Revenue Officer Jay Stockwell; and R. Chase Miller, who will focus on strategy and corporate development. This group will 'complement and work alongside' the existing team at Claritas.

Nazzaro, who began his career with Procter & Gamble, says of the deal: 'We have long shared a belief with the Carlyle team in the growth potential of data-driven marketing and have long sought the best platform to capture this market opportunity. Claritas' heritage, powerful products and talented team are the perfect platform to lead the innovation of this space... As a standalone organization, we will drive enhancements to marquee products like PRIZM and power broad innovations with behavioral data and predictive analytics'.

Carlyle MDs Adam Glucksman and David Stonehill said in a statement: 'The big data revolution has created rising demand for consumer insights and Claritas is benefitting from that trend... Mike and his team have a long track record of driving cutting-edge solutions for marketers, and we expect this to continue through Claritas'.

Karthik Rao, President of Expanded Verticals at Nielsen, says the consumer and media data giant was 'proud of Claritas' accomplishments' and believes the new firm is 'well-positioned to capitalize on future growth opportunities'.

Web sites: www.claritas.com and www.carlyle.com .