SingTel’s Amobee buys Adconion Australia

UPDATED: Adconion Australia will be acquired by Optus’ parent company SingTel as part of two acquisition deals worth more than $US350m.

SingTel’s digital advertising arm Amobee is handling the acquisitions which include Adconion and big data content marketing platform, Kontera Technologies.

Amobee will acquire Adconion Australia and Adconion Direct North America at a valuation of US $235m. Kontera’s acquisition comes with a price tag of approximately $US150m.

Adconion is not commenting on the news.

SingTel has “made a good bet” with the acquisitions, according to Forrester’s senior analysts Clement Teo.

“Mobile/digital advertising are the engines of growth for advertisers. As more users get locked in a ‘contextual mobile moment of need’, the opportunity to insert highly personal, contextualized advertising will be the goal for all brands,” Clement Teo said.

“SingTel has made a good bet, but it remains to be seen how it will use the new digital tools to add value for its clients.”

See the full release below:

“SINGAPORE and REDWOOD CITY, California, June 11, 2014 – Amobee, the company defining digital advertising, today announced that it has signed agreements to acquire Adconion Direct North America and Adconion Australia (together, Adconion) as well as Kontera Technologies, Inc. (Kontera).

The acquisitions will strengthen Amobee’s position as the leading provider of mobile-led digital marketing technology and solutions across all channels and screens for global brands. With the combined capabilities, Amobee is positioned to better capitalize on the fast growing global digital advertising market.

Adconion will be acquired at a valuation of US$235 million. The consideration payable is approximately US$209 million, excluding debt. The valuation and consideration payable for Kontera is approximately US$150 million. The acquisitions are subject to certain conditions being satisfied and approvals obtained. Amobee is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel).

Adconion, a cross channel digital advertising company, offers digital advertising solutions to Fortune 500 brands across key marketing channels – display, video, email and social – on all devices from a unified technology platform. This gives advertisers and publishers a one-stop shop for all their digital advertising needs.

Kontera is an Israeli-based digital content intelligence and marketing technology company with offices in the US and UK. Its real-time digital content analysis platform analyzes data across mobile, web and social networks, and enables advertisers to use its native advertising capabilities to serve the most relevant ads to consumers. The intelligence and actionable insights derived from the Kontera platform allows advertisers and agencies to make real-time decisions about their brands and marketing campaigns to achieve better returns.

Mr. Allen Lew, CEO, Group Digital L!fe and Chairman of Amobee, said: “The SingTel Group has significant scale and customer relationships with over 500 million mobile customers, as well as intelligent networks, billing capabilities and extensive touch points. Together with Amobee’s advanced digital marketing technology and solutions, we will create relevant and innovative marketing campaigns across multiple channels for brands and advertisers. These acquisitions will further differentiate Amobee and help solidify its position in the digital advertising market.”

“We are excited to join forces with Adconion and Kontera, two companies that have led the industry with innovative marketing solutions and cutting edge technology to achieve outstanding returns for Fortune 500 companies,” said Mr. Mark Strecker, CEO of Amobee. “Amobee offers the most advanced mobile advertising technology and solutions to large advertisers and publishers on a global scale.”

Mr. Strecker added: “The digital advertising business is about scale and capitalizing on the market opportunities with technology as a core differentiator. With these two acquisitions announced today, we have extended our product offerings, increased our sales footprint and reinforced Amobee’s leadership position in the fast growing digital advertising market.”

“We have admired Amobee’s strong mobile technology capabilities and expertise and are thrilled to combine our two companies to become the undisputed leader in the global digital marketing space,” said Ms. Kim Perell, CEO of Adconion Direct and President of Adconion Media Group. “With Amobee, we can now offer our customers a complete suite of digital marketing solutions combined in a single platform.”

“Data has become the essential ingredient to successfully reach the right customers with the right message at the right time”, said Mr. Yoav Shaham, CEO of Kontera. “Being a part of Amobee, we can more fully leverage our real-time content analysis platform across the entire digital ecosystem, enabling CMOs to measure and evaluate the success of their brand in ways never possible before.” ”

Main Picture: Flickr Creative Commons by tomscy2000