Dentsu acquires explido to form explido-iProspect
Fraser has acted as exclusive financial advisor to explido GmbH & Co. KG, the leading performance agency in Germany, on its acquisition by Dentsu Aegis Network (TSE: Dentsu).
With offices in Augsburg, Hamburg and Frankfurt, explido provides a full range of capabilities in search marketing, affiliate marketing, display advertising, web development and conversion optimisation. On completion of the transaction, explido will be integrated into the existing iProspect business, forming part of Dentsu Aegis Network in Germany.
London – February 27, 2014. Dentsu Aegis Network today announces that it has signed an agreement to acquire explido GmbH & Co. KG (“explido”), a high profile and top tier performance agency in Germany. Completion of the acquisition is subject to regulatory approval. On completion, explido will be integrated into the existing iProspect business and iProspect brand, forming part of Dentsu Aegis Network in Germany.
Founded in 2002, explido has grown significantly since then to become a leading performance and search agency in Germany. With offices in Augsburg, Hamburg and Frankfurt, explido provides a full range of outstanding capabilities in search marketing, affiliate marketing, display advertising, web development and conversion optimisation as well as social media services. Led by the senior management team of Dirk von Burgsdorff, Matthias Riedle and Andreas Rüttinger, the 135 experts at explido provide full-service performance expertise to clients such as Postbank, Gelbe Seiten, Grohe, Messe Frankfurt, Steiff and Brita. As part of the integration process, the combined iProspect business will be managed by a joint board under the leadership of the existing explido management.
Dentsu Aegis Network Germany continues to strengthen its full-service approach with high quality performance capability in iProspect as well as powerful media, creative digital and out of home expertise in Carat, Vizeum, Posterscope, Isobar and mcgarrybowen.
Nigel Morris, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network, Americas and EMEA said “Germany is an extremely important market for us and our clients, and is Europe’s economic engine room. With this and the continuous growth in digital and online media spending, there are huge opportunities to drive our innovative, collaborative and integrated approach at Dentsu Aegis Network. “ Explido is a great business which enables us to leverage exciting opportunities for our business in Germany and to further enhance iProspect's position as the leading global performance agency network. The acquisition of explido will extend our services and strengthen business collaboration delivered on a global scale”, added Ben Wood, Global President, iProspect.
Dr. Andreas Bölte, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Germany & Central Europe added “We are delighted to welcome the explido family into our German team, to pursue our mission of providing clients and the market with top-performing service, technology and solutions that generate true business value. The acquisition of explido strengthens our approach and enables us to further enhance our digital profile becoming the No. 1 search and performance agency in Germany.”
Dirk von Burgsdorff, Managing Director explido, added “We are excited to be joining the innovative Dentsu Aegis Network and building the new combined iProspect. Sharing the same vision and strategy as iProspect - to apply data and technology and create smart campaigns for customers in digital marketing, we are confident the new combined iProspect will be the catalyst to further extend our digital media capabilities and to generate the benefits of greater scale in Germany.”
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