DeSilva + Phillips, Media Investment Bankers, Announces Completion of Wicks Business Information Sale to Summit Business Media

DeSilva + Phillips, Media Investment Bankers, announced the sale of its client Wicks Business Information, a publishing and professional education company serving financial services, accounting and legal professionals in North America, to Summit Business Media, LLC, a leading business-to-business media and information company serving the insurance, financial and professional services markets.

New York (PRWEB) July 14, 2007 -- DeSilva + Phillips, Media Investment Bankers, announced the sale of its client Wicks Business Information, a publishing and professional education company serving financial services, accounting and legal professionals in North America, to Summit Business Media, LLC, a leading business-to-business media and information company serving the insurance, financial and professional services markets.

As a result of the acquisition, Summit Business Media now publishes Investment Advisor, Credit Union Times, InsideCounsel and Treasury & Risk magazines, as well as websites, custom publishing projects and an array of live events. Its Executive Enterprises seminar unit also produces more than 100 courses each year, serving the specialized continuing education and training needs of accountants, lawyers and tax professionals.

"As advisors to Wicks Business Information and the Wicks Group of Companies, we have been privileged to watch and often advise on the building of a great b2b media company," said Roland A. DeSilva, Managing Partner of DeSilva + Phillips. "Now Wicks Business Information has an owner that will take its media properties to even greater growth."

"We welcome our new employees to the Summit Business Media family," said William F. Reilly, Chairman and CEO. "They will be an important part of our company as we move to implement our growth strategy in business-to-business media."

The acquired operations will join Summit's Highline Media unit, led by Andrew L. Goodenough, President of Highline. John Whelan, the Vice President and Group Publisher of WBI, will report to Thomas A. Fowler, Executive Vice President of Highline's Magazine Division, while the EEI and events businesses will report to James M. Keefe, Senior Vice President of Highline's Conference Division. Douglas J. Manoni, WBI's CEO, will be leaving the company after a transition period.

About Summit Business Media
Summit Business Media was formed through a partnership between William F. Reilly, former CEO of PRIMEDIA, and Wind Point Partners in an acquisition of Highline Media and Pfingsten Publishing in November 2006. Summit Business Media serves the insurance community with venerable assets such as Highline's National Underwriter Property/Casualty and Life/Health weeklies and SB Media's Life Insurance Selling and American Agent & Broker. Summit Business Media serves the financial services and insurance industries via magazines like Wealth Manager, Research and Futures magazines, reference tools like TaxFacts and Fire, Casualty and Surety Bulletins, and 150 other books, electronic products and conference events. It is also the leading data provider of financial and market information on insurance companies as well as the premier information source to the retail mortgage market via Mortgage Originator magazine. Additional information about Summit Business Media is available at www.summitbusinessmedia.com. Additional information about Highline Media and SB Media, LLC is available at www.highlinemedia.com and www.sbmediallc.com.

About DeSilva + Phillips, Media Investment Bankers
DeSilva + Phillips is a New York-based investment bank specializing in the media and digital media industries. We provide M&A services and private placements of debt and equity to the medical and healthcare media, magazine, Internet, newspaper, book publishing, trade shows & events, information, educational, and marketing-services industries. DeSilva + Phillips has completed more than 165 transactions since 1996, including Prism Business Media Holdings's $530 million acquisition of Penton Media, Inc. and IMAS Publishing Group's acquisition by NewBay Media, a portfolio company of The Wicks Group of Companies. DeSilva + Phillips Corporate Finance LLC is a member of NASD and SIPC. For more information visit Mediabankers.com.

Contact:
Sam Schulman
DeSilva + Phillips, Media Investment Bankers
(212)651-2604

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