BV Investment Partners Announces Sale of Northstar Travel Media - its fourth exit in 2012

BOSTON, July 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- BV Investment Partners ("BV"), a leading middle-market private equity firm investing in the information and business services and communications sectors, today announced the sale of its portfolio company Northstar Travel Media, a leading business-to-business information company serving the travel and meeting industries, to The Wicks Group of Companies LLC. This is the fourth exit in 2012 for BV Investment Partners.

Northstar is the leading business information and marketing solutions provider to the $964 billion global, travel, tourism, and meetings industries.  The company has become the market leader by providing information and marketing solutions through a branded portfolio of information, events, research and content products, delivered online and offline. The Northstar assets include leading brands that have been serving the travel industry for over 30 years, including Travel Weekly, Meetings & Conventions, Travel Age West, Successful Meetings, Business Travel News, Incentive, Meeting News, and PhoCusWright.

Andrew C. Davis, a Managing Director of BV, said, "Northstar's superb management team led by CEO Tom Kemp, whom we recruited in 2009, did an outstanding job of growing this company and strengthening its leadership position in its served markets. The company has been transformed from a print publishing business to a multi-dimensional cross platform business information and marketing services company as a result of continued investment in strong leadership, innovative new product development, and complementary acquisitions. We are pleased with this successful outcome and believe the company will continue to thrive under The Wicks Group."

Thomas Kemp, Chairman and CEO of Northstar, said, "BV's expertise in the business and information services sector proved pivotal as we worked together to pursue new avenues of growth over the past several years.  We are proud of the way we have grown and transformed the business under BV's ownership and we look forward to working with our new partners at The Wicks Group to begin our next stage of development."

About BV Investment Partners
BV Investment Partners is one of the oldest and most experienced sector-focused private equity firms in North America.  Since its founding in 1983, the firm has invested over $2.6 billion in over 75 companies, actively targeting investments in the information and business services and communications industries.  For more information, please visit www.bvlp.com.

Contact: Chris Tofalli
Chris Tofalli Public relations
914-834-4334

SOURCE BV Investment Partners