Scientific, technical, and medical publishing experts Joseph Esposito, Michael Clarke, and David Lamb have announced the formation of STM Advisers LLC ("STMA"), the first financial and strategic advisory firm dedicated to scientific, technical, and medical (STM) publishing, academic publishing, and scholarly communications. STMA represents clients in both acquisitions and divestitures as well as valuations and assistance with financings.
According to STMA partner, Joseph Esposito, the STM market is in the midst of a Cambrian explosion of digital products and services. In addition to the growth of online publications, there are new digital workflow tools, analytics platforms, discovery systems, education products, peer review support services, and much more. Navigating this landscape and assessing its opportunities is complex. The market has been without a specialized resource.
STMA recently represented one of its first clients, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals, in its acquisition of Peer Review Evaluation (PRE) from the Journal of Joint and Bone Surgery, Inc. (JBJS).
AAAS's acquisition of PRE closed July 1st. STMA initiated the transaction and assisted AAAS not only in the negotiations but also in valuation and refining the business case for the acquisition. STMA is continuing to assist AAAS with post-transaction transition and planning for PRE's redevelopment.
In addition to its capabilities for its commercial clients, STMA is particularly attuned to the mission-driven requirements of the many prominent nonprofit participants working in the STM market and the need to carefully assess each acquisition or divestiture to ensure fidelity to mission and fiscal responsibility. In this vein, and continuing the practices of its principals, STMA views content licensing arrangements as high-value, mission-critical transactions for the many learned societies that collaborate with third-party publishers for journal publication, and is actively developing its practice in this area.
Services provided by STM Advisers include acquisitions of companies, journals, lists, and start-ups; sales and divestitures; financings and valuations; and strategy.
STMA is based in Manhattan with offices in Washington, D.C., and Westchester County.
