London-based Gorkana Group is now in the hands of Cision, following on from other recent Cision acquisitions including that of Visible Technologies.

Gorkana has been bought, Cision says, to strengthen its offering to PR professionals as well as allowing it to better serve the international journalist community.

Gorkana provides media intelligence and data insights through services such as job postings, journalist requests and media monitoring, while Cision offers public relations software and is headquartered in Chicago.

Following the £200 million purchase, Gorkana CEO Jeremy Thompson will become EMEA managing director.

Thompson comments, ‘Cision shares our commitment to providing the best possible service to PR professionals, journalists and members of the media.

‘Joining forces allows us to better serve our existing customers while also enhancing our ability to rapidly expand into new international markets.’

Exiting investor Exponent Private Equity’s involvement with Gorkana began in 2006 when the firm bought Durrants. Following on from that £82 million deal, and the subsequent acquisitions of Metrica and Gorkana in 2009 and 2010, the combined business was renamed Gorkana Group in 2010.

Peter Granat, CEO of Cision, adds, ‘Our acquisition of Gorkana is the next step toward achieving Cision’s mission to be a global leader in PR and social software with the most advanced and comprehensive suite of solutions and services in the market.’

Going forward, the Gorkana brand will continue to be used – with additional features added to the company’s services.