Reed Business Information, a Surrey-based media group, has added a publisher of European gas, power and carbon market information to its portfolio with the acquisition of Heren Energy.

Reed Business Information, a Surrey-based media group, has added a publisher of European gas, power and carbon market information to its portfolio with the acquisition of Heren Energy.

Heren, which was bought for an undisclosed sum, will become part of ICIS, Reed Business’ commodity information subsidiary that focuses on the petrochemicals market.

The acquisition increases ICIS’ geographic coverage and will use its network to boost Heren’s sales.

ICIS’ publishing director Christopher Flook said the deal extends the company’s business into other energy markets. “There are strong synergies between ICIS and Heren driven by the later being the first to move into this market and ICIS’ core competencies of price reporting, online content delivery and web marketing.”

Heren was established in 1993 by chief executive Patrick Heren to provide independent price assessments to Europe’s wholesale gas and power markets. He said the sale is an exciting opportunity for the company.

“The global reach of ICIS will bring significant benefits to Heren and its customers as well as providing the framework of a large organisation to support organic growth,” he added.

The selling shareholders were advised on the disposal by Van Tulleken, a corporate finance adviser specialising in media, information and technology companies. The firm led the negotiations and structured to deal.

Van Tulleken’s London-based managing director Michael Doyle said: “Reed is a publisher of business critical information, and will give Heren added marketing and commercial muscle, allowing it to continue to grow as part of a company that understands the competitive value of quality data.”

Reed Business is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc and has a portfolio of web products, magazines, exhibitions, conferences and events. It has 18 brands operating in the UK, Europe, the US and Asia, generating annual sales of $500 million (£252.5 million).

ICIS has a team of 200 people in the UK, the US, Singapore, China, Russia and India.