The last 18 months have shown a flurry of activity in relation to mergers, acquisition, JVs and partnerships for UK agencies with a digital focus.
Some recent examples include:
09/14: WPP (Salmon) acquires e-commerce agency, Neoworks (35 people, revenue £3.9M)
07/14: WPP (Kantar) acquires site design and development agency, GDA (13 people)
07/14: Private Equity firm, Lake Capital, buys Engine Group for £100M
07/14: PCD acquires SEO agency Whole9Yards to form Ewe Agency
06/14: Communisis acquires The Communications Agency (cash plus shares £8M deal)
06/14: Omnicom (Rapp) acquires brand and digital agency Haygarth
05/14: Lewis PR acquires digital agency Purestone (20 people)
05/14: St Ives acquires digital agency Branded3 (50 people, cash and shares £10.7M deal)
05/14: Merger between Fat Media & Motive Technology (creating a 90 strong team)
05/14: Havas acquires digital agency Work Club (100 people, £6M turnover)
04/14: Communisis acquires video & digital agency Jacaranda (valuation of £1.5M)
03/14; St Ives acquires digital agency Realise Holdings (cash plus shares £21.7M deal)
03/14: WPP (Wunderman) acquires digital content agency, Fusepump (50 people, revenue £3.0M)
09/13: Publicis acquires digital agency Poke (85 people)
The interest levels in digital agencies shows no sign of slowing in 2015. With digital ad spend outstripping all other forms of media and the profile of those vendors interested in providing digital services expanding, there’s never been a better time to start the conversation.
If you’re thinking about your investment or exit strategy and wondering how to proceed or you’re just interested in the engagement process, what goes into a deal book or possible valuations, get in touch, we’d love to support you in moving your growth plans forward.