IW acquired by Knowledge Asset Media, Shore-Varrone

IW (Camden, ME) and DIIME (http://www.diime.com) show acquired from Cardinal Business Media (Fort Washington, PA, http://www.cardinal.com) by Knowledge Asset Media, Inc., a new company formed by IW founder Bruce Taylor and Shore-Varrone, Inc. (Atlanta, GA, http://www.svi-atl.com)

Camden, ME and Atlanta, GA, June 2, 1997-IW, formerly known as ImagingWorld, the leading news journal serving the fast-growth markets for document imaging, document management and workflow systems, and the Document Image and Information Management Exposition (DIIME) have been acquired by newly formed Knowledge Asset Media, Inc., Camden, ME from Cardinal Business Media, Inc., Fort Washington, PA.Knowledge Asset Media was formed by IW's founder and publisher, Bruce Taylor, in partnership with Shore-Varrone, Inc. of Atlanta, an investment of the media group of Boston Ventures, a highly respected private equity firm. SVI publishes eight business-to-business periodicals and companion trade shows.

The new company will remain based with IW on scenic Camden Harbor, its home for its six-and-a-half-year history. IW and DIIME "are the foundation building blocks for a new information-providing enterprise," said Taylor. "Our plan is to grow by carefully defining and developing new-business opportunities in our core areas of interest. Specifically these are business process and performance improvement through the use of electronic document, information content and workflow management technologies. There's an important information need in helping organizations learn how to use all of their knowledge assets-regardless of where they are in the enterprise or in what form-to improve business performance. The information technologies we will center our business on are those that underpin any notion of business process design or reengineering."

The new company will operate as a subsidiary of Shore-Varrone, said SVI chairman Douglas Shore. "The forming of Knowledge Asset Media with Bruce Taylor marks our company's first step into information technology publishing," he said. "We're excited about the market IW and DIIME serve, the publication's reputation and position in it, the management and ownership team that will run it and that will help us develop a strong presence in this arena."

Cardinal Business Media president and CEO Robert N. Boucher, Jr. said of the sale, "IW has been one of our company's top performers since we acquired it from Bruce in 1994. We're proud to have had a hand in helping it become as successful as it clearly has. And we're particularly pleased that its founding publisher has the opportunity to continue to lead it on its growth path."

IW will publish 18 issues in 1997, with a circulation of 90,000 executive- and management-level subscribers in such pivotal industries as banking, insurance, financial services, manufacturing, government, healthcare, legal, transportation, utilities, communications and pharmaceuticals, as well as the service and distribution channels to those markets. IW also publishes IW.Online on (http://www.iwmag.com), a twice-a-year IW Buyer's Guide plus a series of special-interest "white papers."

The 1997 DIIME show will be produced at McCormick Place, Chicago, October 15 to 17. This year, DIIME teams with the Association for Image and Information Management, the leading trade organization serving this field, to produce a conference called the AIIM Technology Forum at DIIME. More than 15,000 visitors will see the new-technology business solutions exhibits from more than 150 leading document technology companies. All key management and staff of both IW and DIIME are continuing with Knowledge Asset Media, said Taylor.

Cardinal Business Media, Inc. was represented in the sale by The Jordan, Edmiston Group, a 10-year-old New York investment banking firm specializing in publishing and information companies. Concord Ventures, Inc., Concord, MA, represented Mr. Taylor and assisted in the introduction to Boston Ventures and Shore-Varrone, Inc. CVI is an investment banking firm specializing in book and periodical publishing and communications media.