UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Schedule 13D

Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

(Amendment No. 1)*

CISION LTD.

(Name of Issuer)

Ordinary Shares

(Title of Class of Securities)

G1992S 109

(CUSIP Number)

Canyon Holdings (Cayman), L.P.

c/o GTCR Investment X AIV Ltd.

300 N. LaSalle Street

Suite 5600

Chicago, Illinois 60654

Attention: Jeffrey S. Wright

(312) 382-2200

(Name, Address and Telephone Number of Person Authorized to Receive Notices and Communications)

COPY TO:

Dennis M. Myers, P.C.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP

300 N. LaSalle Street

Chicago, Illinois 60654

(312) 862-2000

November 3, 2017

(Date of Event which Requires Filing of this Statement)

If the filing person has previously filed a statement on Schedule 13G to report the acquisition that is the subject of this Schedule 13D, and is filing this schedule because of §§240.13d-1(e), 240.13d-1(f) or 240.13d-1(g), check the following box. ¨

Note: Schedules filed in paper format shall include a signed original and five copies of the schedule, including all exhibits. See Rule 13d-7 for other parties to whom copies are to be sent.

* The remainder of this cover page shall be filled out for a reporting person’s initial filing on this form with respect to the subject class of securities, and for any subsequent amendment containing information which would alter disclosures provided in a prior cover page.

The information required on the remainder of this cover page shall not be deemed to be “filed” for the purpose of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Act”) or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section of the Act but shall be subject to all other provisions of the Act (however, see the Notes).

This Amendment No. 1 amends and supplements the Schedule 13D filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on July 6, 2017 (the “Original Schedule 13D”). Except as set forth herein, the Original Schedule 13D is unmodified and remains in full force and effect. Each capitalized term used but not defined herein has the meaning ascribed to such term in the Original Schedule 13D.

Item 3. Source and Amount of Funds or Other Consideration.

Item 3 of the Original Schedule 13D is hereby amended and supplemented as follows:

The responses to Item 4 and Item 6 of this Statement are incorporated herein by reference.

Item 4. Purpose of Transaction.

Item 4 of the Original Schedule 13D is hereby amended and supplemented as follows:

The information set forth in Item 6 of this Schedule 13D is incorporated herein by reference.

Item 5. Interest in Securities of the Issuer.

Items 5(a) and 5(b) of the Original Schedule 13D are hereby amended and restated in their entirety as follows:

(a) The following information is as of the date hereof and assumes there are 122,634,922 Ordinary Shares outstanding, based on: (i) 120,634,922 Ordinary Shares reported outstanding in the the Issuer’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Commission on August 9, 2017; plus (ii) the 2,000,000 Ordinary Shares issued to the Reporting Persons in the transactions reported hereby.

Holdings is the direct beneficial owner of 84,137,133 Ordinary Shares and Warrants to acquire an additional 2,032,043 Ordinary Shares. The Ordinary Shares and Warrants held by Holdings represent approximately 69.12% of the Ordinary Shares outstanding as of the date of this Statement, assuming the exercise of all of the Warrants held by Holdings. The Warrants are currently exercisable and have an exercise price of $11.50 per Ordinary Share.

Canyon Partners, by virtue of its being the general partner of Holdings, may be deemed to possess indirect beneficial ownership of 84,137,133 Ordinary Shares and 2,032,043 Warrants. The Ordinary Shares and Warrants which may be deemed to be beneficially owned by Canyon Partners represent approximately 69.12% of the Ordinary Shares outstanding as of the date of this Statement, assuming the exercise of all of the Warrants held by Holdings.

GTCR AIV, by virtue of its being the sole shareholder of Canyon Partners, may be deemed to possess indirect beneficial ownership of 84,137,133 Ordinary Shares and 2,032,043 Warrants. The Ordinary Shares and Warrants which may be deemed to be beneficially owned by GTCR AIV represent approximately 69.12% of the Ordinary Shares outstanding as of the date of this Statement, assuming the exercise of all of the Warrants held by Holdings.

Decisions of GTCR AIV with respect to the voting and disposition of the Ordinary Shares and Warrants are made by a vote of a majority of its directors, and, as a result, no single person has voting or dispositive authority over such securities. Messrs. Philip A. Canfield, David A. Donnini, Collin E. Roche, Craig A. Bondy, Constantine S. Mihas, Mark M. Anderson, Aaron D. Cohen, Sean L. Cunningham, Benjamin J. Daverman and Lawrence C. Fey are each managing directors of GTCR LLC, which provides management services to GTCR AIV, and each disclaims beneficial ownership of the securities held by GTCR AIV, except to the extent of his pecuniary interest in such securities. The filing of this Statement shall not be construed as an admission that any such individual is, for the purpose of Section 13(d) or 13(g) of the Exchange Act, the beneficial owner of any securities covered by this Statement.

(b) By virtue of the relationship among the Reporting Persons described in Item 2 of the Original Schedule 13D, each such Reporting Person may be deemed to share the power to vote or direct the vote and to share the power to dispose of or direct the disposition of the 84,137,133 Ordinary Shares and 2,032,043 Warrants as set forth in rows 7 through 13 of the cover pages of this Statement.

Item 6. Contracts, Arrangements, Understandings or Relationships with Respect to Securities of the Issuer

Item 6 of the Original Schedule 13D is hereby amended by inserting the following as a new paragraph at the end of the disclosure set forth under the heading “Sponsor Support Agreement”:

On August 4, 2017, the Issuer completed a refinancing that resulted in the repayment in full of its existing Second Lien Credit Facility. As a result, on August 8, 2017, the Issuer issued 61,260 Holdback Shares and 62,202 Holdback Warrants to Holdings pursuant to the Sponsor Support Agreement. The Holdback Shares and the Holdback Warrants were issued for no additional consideration.

Item 6 of the Original Schedule 13D is hereby amended by inserting the following as a new paragraph at the end of the disclosure set forth under the heading “Merger Agreement”:

As of October 30, 2017, the price of the Issuer’s Ordinary Shares during the preceding 30 consecutive trading days exceeded $13.00 in accordance with the criteria set forth in the Merger Agreement. As a result, on November 3, 2017, the Issuer issued 2,000,000 additional Ordinary Shares (the “Earn-out Shares”) to Holdings pursuant to the Merger Agreement. The Earn-out Shares were issued for no additional consideration.

Item 7. Material to be Filed as Exhibits

SIGNATURES

After reasonable inquiry and to the best of each of the undersigned’s knowledge and belief, each of the undersigned certify that the information set forth in this statement is true, complete and correct.

Date: November 8, 2017

Exhibit 1

SCHEDULE 13D JOINT FILING AGREEMENT

In accordance with the requirements of Rule 13d-1(k) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and subject to the limitations set forth therein, the parties set forth below agree to jointly file the Schedule 13D to which this joint filing agreement is attached, and have duly executed this joint filing agreement as of the date set forth below.

Date: November 8, 2017