B2B Construction Publisher is Sold

In a deal the companies describe as “the second largest business-to-business media transaction in the U.S.,” media merchant bank Veronis Suhler Stevenson is selling B2B construction industry publisher Hanley Wood to JPMorgan Partners. Hanley Wood, through its interactive subsidiary, Hanley Wood eMedia, runs a network of 17 Web sites and email newsletters.

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

The company as a whole publishes 22 trade titles, including Builder, Remodeling, Custom Home, Concrete Construction and Residential Architect. It also runs trade shows, offers marketing services and has a market research division.

“This is one of the great B2B media franchises in the U.S.,” said Mike Hannon, a partner at JPMorgan Partners, in a statement. “We are excited to work with the management team to accomplish the next phase of the company’s growth.”

The bulk of Hanley Wood’s online properties are Web versions of its magazines, including Builder Online, Remodeling Online and Custom Home Online. It also operates standalone sites like eBuild, an online guide to building products, and ePlans, a resource to help consumers with remodeling efforts. The company says it reaches 500,000 unique visitors monthly on the B2B side and more than 650,000 unique visitors on the B2C side.

Besides selling display advertising, Hanley Wood eMedia also carries contextual advertising through Google’s AdSense program and through Vibrant Media’s IntelliTXT program. It also sells placements in its email newsletters.