Cision's IPO – Enabling "The Art of the Possible" for Earned Media Professionals
CommPRO Editorial Staff
CommPRO caught up with Cision CEO Kevin Akeroyd during opening day festivities at the New York Stock Exchange as Cision began trading under the ticker symbol CISN, marking the completion of its $2.4 billion initial public offering, making this the second largest tech IPO of 2017 and following the completion of its merger with Capitol Acquisition III, a publicly traded investment vehicle. According to Akeroyd, "now, as a publicly listed company, we have beefed up our financial ability to continue to invest in rapid innovation and deployment to our global customers the enabling technology in the Cision Communications CloudTM , Cision ID, and Cision Influencer Graph, that empowers communicators to do just that." Akeroyd talked about the pivotal role earned media is playing today to global business, government and education. But ironically, it is simply not getting its just due when it comes to measuring its impact. Akeroyd's focus is about enabling his global client base to explore "the art of the possible" for earned media professionals, including communications and traditional PR, to catch up to their peers in advertising and marketing. This catch up is focused on Cision's role as a global industry leader in enabling data, tech, and measurement. This IPO provides the resources to support Cision's growth in a variety of areas.Akeroyd told CommPRO that Cision must continue to be a thought leader and driver of this industry transformation, not just a technology and best practices enabler. They are committed to providing the platform that delivers a strong "comms ROI" to the c-suite. Akeroyd added, "Cision's Communications Cloud is transforming the way companies communicate with media, influencers and their customers through the application of data-driven technology to enable targeted and measurable earned media campaigns."
As previously announced, Cision's management team, led by CEO Kevin Akeroyd and CFO Jack Pearlstein, will continue to run the combined company. In connection with the transaction, Capitol's stockholders elected seven directors to serve on the board of the combined company: Mark M. Anderson who will serve as Chairman, Mark D. Ein, who will serve as Vice Chairman, as well as Kevin Akeroyd, Philip A. Canfield, L. Dyson Dryden, Stephen P. Master, and Stuart Yarbrough, who will serve as directors.
Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Credit Suisse served as financial and capital markets advisors to Capitol. PJT Partners served as financial advisor to Cision. Latham & Watkins LLP and Graubard Miller acted as legal advisors to Capitol and Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as legal advisor to Cision.
