SingTel has moved to bolster its digital advertising offshoot Amobee by buying up US marketers Adconion and Kontera Technologies for a combined US$385m.
The Singapore incumbent moved into the sector in 2012 when it acquired Amobee for US$321m, and last…
SingTel has moved to bolster its digital advertising offshoot Amobee by buying up US marketers Adconion and Kontera Technologies for a combined US$385m.
The Singapore incumbent moved into the sector in 2012 when it acquired Amobee for US$321m, and last year made another smaller purchase in the shape of Gradient X for an undisclosed fee.
SingTel is paying an enterprise value of US$235m for Adconion, which is a cross-channel digital advertiser. It is spending a further US$150m on Kontera, which is a digital content intelligence and marketing technology company.
The telco believes that digital advertising has significant potential for mobile operators as they are able to provide brands with solutions across their customers’ smartphones and feature phones.
Both acquisitions are subject to certain conditions being satisfied and approvals being obtained before they can close. Providing the deals complete the two targets will be absorbed into Amobee, which is based in Redwood City, California.
Amobee’s CEO, Mark Strecker, said in a statement that the digital advertising business is about scale and capitalising on market opportunities by differentiating the company through technology.
“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,” Stecker said.
Singtel, controlled by Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek, has moved to diversify from its core quad play offering in its domestic market. It has minority holdings in a number of regional operators and 100%-owns Australian operator Optus.
It has also has tech subsidiaries including a content portal, an IT engineering service company and a number of ISPs.
