Sell-side mid-market M&A firm Cavendish Corporate Finance has advised on the sale British digital agency Dare to Oliver Group.
Founded in 2000 by Mark Collier, the former Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) joint managing director, Dare is one of Britain’s great digital success stories. Established as one of the first digital agencies in the UK, Dare quickly grew to become a leader in its field and was sold to Canadian marketing group Cossette in 2007.
Currently owned by EDC Communications, a group of marketing services companies backed by the US private equity firm Mill Road Capital, Dare has established itself as a ‘new digital’ agency providing a full range of creative digital services including websites and mobile apps, brand repositioning, content programmes, and advertising.
Dare, which was previously recognised as Campaign's Digital Agency of the Decade, works with companies across a wide variety of sectors from financial services to food, cosmetics to automotive and has led a number of innovative and well-known campaigns. Its clients include an array of global blue-chip brands, such as Investec, Nike, EE, Barclays and Ryanair.
Established in 2004, OLIVER has developed a revolutionary approach to marketing services putting tailor-made agency teams within their client organisations – currently operating more than 50 on-site agencies. This unique model enables the company to benefit from the intimacy and proximity of working inside their client companies, but with the benefit of an off-site hub agency supplying a wealth of resources and expertise in all areas of creative services, design and content.
With this acquisition Dare will remain a standalone agency brand operating within OLIVER and the transaction will enable both businesses to benefit through combining their unique areas of expertise – Dare with its strong digital offering and established brand and OLIVER with its disruptive industry model. All other EDC business and operations will remain unaffected by this acquisition.
With digital continuing to grow at a rapid pace, fuelled by the move towards mobile and demand for richer content, and digital advertising spend globally expected to reach USD170 billion this year, the market opportunity is significant for the enlarged group to continue its path of fast growth and market penetration internationally.
Cavendish’s media and digital team, led by Partner and Head of Media and Digital Linda Sullivan, has a wealth of experience in advising companies operating in the creative industries. Previous transactions include advising on the sale of many leading brands including: the recent sale of Rex Features to Shutterstock Inc, The Planning Shop International Limited, which was acquired by Adelphi Worldwide, part of Omnicom and the sale of The Communications Agency to Communisis Plc. Cavendish completed 20 transactions in 2014 and this is the firm’s 17th deal so far this year.
Linda Sullivan (pictured), Partner and Head of Media and Digital at Cavendish Corporate Finance, says: “For both Dare and OLIVER this deal was a great result, bringing together two unique companies both with established track records and robust client bases. More fundamentally, we are also seeing an industry shift towards the ground-breaking “agency-inside” model that OLIVER is successfully pioneering and this represents a significant opportunity for the enlarged group moving forward.
“The marketing services sector is buoyant with deal volumes increasing 17 per cent on 2013, and with the continued fast-pace digital evolution continuing to shape the landscape we expect M&A to be a route for a number of industry players looking to strengthen their market positions.”
Mark Collier, Non-Executive Chairman of Dare, says: “This is a hugely exciting opportunity for Dare to be part of such a progressive and fast growing marketing services group. The OLIVER model is genuinely unique and it is proving to be increasingly attractive to clients, both in the UK and internationally. Dare will now be able to work alongside OLIVER, with access to its global agency resources, whilst remaining an independent brand.”
Simon Martin, CEO of OLIVER Group, says: “Dare is an innovator in the digital space, creating hugely engaging digital experiences. We are excited by the possibilities of bringing them into the OLIVER Group and believe the synergies between the two companies innovative mindset’s will lead to an exciting future.
