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This article was published on July 12, 2012

Japanese advertising giant Dentsu buys UK-based Aegis for $5 billion


Japanese advertising giant Dentsu buys UK-based Aegis for $5 billion

Japanese advertising giant Dentsu has continued to ramp up its global focus after agreeing to a $5 billion (£3.2 billion) deal to acquire fellow advertising player Aegis, according to a statement from the UK-headquartered group.

The move will rapidly accelerate Dentsu’s plans to further expand its presence overseas, as Aegis is particularly strong in Europe, but it has operations across the world. Its business have recently won clients as far and wide as China and Latin America.

“Dentsu and Aegis will be the market leader in the Asia-Pacific region, enjoying a strong presence across Europe and the fastest growing agency network in the US,” said Tadashi Ishii, president and CEO of Dentsu.

Dentsu has been busy expanding its worldwide presence and areas of work, which have seen it launch Dcloud, its cloud-based services platform, and a 30 staff-strong Singapore-based digital media consultancy to cover opportunities in the emerging Southeast Asia market.

Established in 1901, Dentsu has more than 21,000 employees across 29 countries, which will soon have Aegi’s 12,000 employees (in 80 countries) added to it.

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Dentsu already has 30 percent of Aegis’ stock, and it plans to pay £2.40 for each share – a deal that the British firm’s board is set to recommend.

All we need now is someone to joke about how many Instagrams that’s worth…or is Yammer the new model for comparing billion dollar deals?

Image via Shutterstock / EDHAR

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