Private equity and investment advisory firm CVC Capital Partners (CVC) and investment group Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) have reached an agreement with BlueFocus Intelligent Communication Group to secure a majority stake in its international group of agencies.
The three main agency groups in question are We Are Social, fuseproject, and Vision7 International, managed by BlueFocus International.
BlueFocus International currently has more than 2,500 employees across 12 countries in North America, Europe, APAC and the Middle East.
The new agreement will “create a digital-first, technology-enabled global advertising and marketing services group of companies” and “provide the new group with the capital to invest in its growth strategy, focused on market expansion, building its next generation of tech and data capabilities and expanding its talent base.”
According to Vision7 International’s president and CEO Brett Marchand (pictured), “our partnership with CVC and CDPQ, will allow us to advance our expansion and transformation strategy.”
“This investment in geographic and capabilities expansion and next generation technology and data offering will provide leading-edge services for our clients and unparalleled development opportunities to our talented people all around the world.”
Marchand will be CEO of the combined entity.
“CVC is impressed by the opportunity for accelerated growth,” said Scott Chen, Managing Director at CVC Capital Partners.
“We couldn’t pass up the unique opportunity to invest in this group of leading, tech-enabled agencies and we look forward to working with their talented management teams to take each of the businesses to the next level.”
