Newsrooms were buzzing through the year with stories of high profile corporate buys. While a lot happened in terms of acquisitions and mergers, Brand Equity decided to consolidate, an extensive list of big buys of the year.
Dentsu Aegis Network’s big bets
Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) has been on a ‘shopping spree’ since the beginning of 2016. Under the leadership of Ashish Bhasin, the network is apparently closing in on its stated aim of being the No 2 by 2017. In order to scale up its services early this year it merged New York-based lifestyle marketing agency MKTG with Fountainhead Entertainment, an event management company that the agency acquired last year. The new unit is now called Fountainhead-MKTG.
Later in September, DAN added PR firm, Perfect Relations Group, in the kitty, but the biggest pick of the year for the agency was Happy Creative Services. The Bengaluru-based creative marketing agency, joined the global mcgarrybowen network of agencies, and was rebranded as happy mcgarrybowen, recently. This deal also marked the entry of the first mcgarrybowen agency in India. Early this month, DAN bought experiential design studio, Fractal, which is now Fractal Ink Design Studio.
Digital and technology companies’ consolidation play
This year, marketing technology company, Hansa Cequity, acquired a majority stake in analytics firm D-Square, and if sources are to be believed the company will be making more buyouts to build its new products and platforms business, soon.
In 2016, advertising technology startup Media.net, founded by tech entrepreneur Divyank Turakhia, was acquired for about $900 million by a group of Chinese investors. The deal is apparently the third-largest in the ad tech industry, after Google's acquisition of DoubleClick and Microsoft Corp's deal for aQuantive.
Mid-this year, Publicis iStrat, the digital agency acquired by the Publicis Groupe in 2012, was merged with Leo Burnett India's Indigo Consulting.
After half a decade of working together, consumer research company, Nielsen, bought Mumbai-based mobile usage measurer Informate Mobile Intelligence for an undisclosed amount, to improve mobile measurement globally.
Last month, we reported how Mumbai-based digital media agency GoZoop is shelling out money to bring more specialized SMEs under its brand. In October, the agency acquired an offline activation agency and syndicated content provider 56 Blue Lights in an all-cash deal. According to industry insiders, next year GoZoop may buy two more niche firms, as a part of its expansion plans.
In a bid to buttress its digital portfolio, Cognizant, recently acquired privately held Mirabeau BV, a digital marketing and customer experience agency specialising in industries such as travel and hospitality, financial services, retail, and B2B sectors.
The year when Yahoo was sold out…
2016 was a year when Internet pioneer, Yahoo, sealed a deal to sell its core online assets, ending a 20-year run as an independent company. US telecom giant Verizon Communications bought Yahoo's search and advertising operations for $4.83 billion. Post that, the company scrapped a lot of iconic features, and recently witnessed two massive data breaches. According to multiple publications, it is understood that Verizon has formed a legal team to explore a reduction in the purchase price or killing the deal altogether. 2017 certainly doesn’t look merry for Yahoo!
Microsoft Corp’s expensive purchase
Microsoft Corp’s LinkedIn Corp deal for $26.2 billion was the biggest surprise of the year. Considering Microsoft's history, experts feel that this time the company has spent wisely, and the deal will pay off, in the long run. Both the companies spent about six months as a part of the regulatory reviews process, and to get to know each other. The deal was finally closed early this month.
Indian brands that spent big monies
In April, Hindustan Unilever acquired Masons Group's flagship brand, Indulekha for Rs. 330 crore, its biggest buy of the year.
Tata group’s Titan acquired 62% stake in online jewellery player CaratLane for Rs 357.24 crore, which is again believed to the big move by the multinational conglomerate in 2016.
In July, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail bought global clothing brand Forever 21 in the Indian market for $26 million (around Rs 175.52 crore), making it one of the best deals of the year. Global cosmetics giant L'Oreal acquired a larger share of the leading online beauty store Nykaa, making it the smart buy of the year in the category.
Godrej was seen investing in home and personal care companies in Africa. Dabur, too, followed a similar strategy. Both the companies will continue to keep the momentum beyond national boundaries for expansion.
Makemytrip and Ibibo’s merger that happened this year, many believe is an impending consolidation in the country’s consumer internet sector.
Media deals that made headlines
AT&T's Time Warner acquisition sent the entire media industry into a tizzy. AT&T is America’s second-largest mobile operator while Time Warner is owner of prized content-generating powerhouses such as HBO and Warner Brothers. The deal signifies a growing trend of telecom giants going the whole hog for content, similar to the Reliance-Network 18 deal back home, believe experts.
In India, the sports-broadcasting sector saw a big shake-up in mid-2016 when Zee Group’s Ten Sports bouquet of sports channels was bought by Sony Pictures Networks India for a reported sum of Rs 2,600 crore.
It was also the year when Anil Ambani decided to sell his stake in his radio and TV business to Zee Group. Ambani, however, continues to own the business channel BTVi and continues to invest in film production and digital.
Zee snapped up Hum 106.2 FM—UAE's first Hindi and Urdu film and music radio station. India Abroad, one of America's oldest and most prestigious Indian community newspapers, was sold by Rediff.com to a US-based Indian-owned cloud computing company following a sharp drop in the weekly's circulation and revenue.
Recently, budding media startup ScoopWhoop acquired Touchfone Technologies. The buyout was the first for the Kalaari Capital-backed ScoopWhoop, which was founded in 2013.
The startup buys
Flipkart’s Myntra stole the show in 2016 from Snapdeal and others by buying Jabong for $70 million, which in 2013 had been valued at $508 million. Myntra, also, acquired a 51% stake in HRX, the lifestyle brand co-owned by Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan and Exceed Entertainment. The startup also bought Bengaluru-based firm Cubeit for an undisclosed amount to focus on content aggregation.
Another interesting development was online baby products seller, FirstCry, buying offline retailer Mahindra BabyOye for Rs 362.1 crore.
Food delivery startup Foodpanda, that was facing losses, also got acquired by Delivery Hero, recently. Online classifieds firm Quikr acquired five companies in five months, from Grabhouse to StayGlad. The company now is betting big on local services. However, CommonFloor was its biggest buy.
Online payments and e-commerce marketplace, Paytm’s sole purchase was Delhi-based Shopsity, in a bid to strengthen its offline retail network.
E-commerce giant, Snapdeal, acquired marketing and personalisation service company, TargetingMantra, for an undisclosed amount, in order to enhance its customer buying process.
In a sign of consolidation in the branded hotel room aggregation space, Oyo Rooms acquired rival Zo Rooms.
Resource: http://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/
Resource: http://grandiose.org.in/
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