Publicis Groupe Acquires Epsilon to Boost Its Creative, Media, and Technology Wings
Publicis Groupe announced the completion of the acquisition of data-driven marketing company, Epsilon Data Management LLC, on July 2nd, 2019 , vide a press release on its website. Epsilon offers marketing analytics, strategic consulting, database, predictive modeling, proprietary data, digital marketing services, and email and loyalty marketing technology across the globe.
With this acquisition, the Publicis Groupe is employing its extant expertise, technology, and talent to complement Epsilon’s current offerings in creativity, media, and business transformation to bring about added benefits for their clients. Publicis, a French Advertising and PR multi-national company, is recognized as one of the largest marketing and communication organizations globally.
Coming to the commercials, the acquisition occurred on successful placement of 2.25 billion euros bonds in three tranches on June 5, 2019, combined with a term loan and the use of 650 million dollars of cash on the Publicis Groupe’s balance sheet. The group plans to start consolidating Epsilon’s financial results as of July 1, 2019 and is anchored on its current dividend payout of 45%.
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Some key aspects of the acquisition include:
- Publicis Groupe is bound to become the industry leader in delivering personalized experiences at scale.
- The transaction has had a positive impact on the shareholders. Based on pro-forma 2018 numbers, it is 12.5% accretive to the headline EPS and 18.3% to Free Cash Flow, excluding any transaction-related synergies.
- Epsilon will be an intrinsic arm of the Publicis Group and turbocharge its creative, media, and technology operations to accelerate growth.
Epsilon will be headed by the current CEO Bryan Kennedy, who will be a part of the Executive Committee at the Publicis Group and would report directly to Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and, CEO of Publicis Groupe.
“We are very pleased to have finalized the closing of the Epsilon acquisition in record time, at a very compelling price, creating immediate value for our shareholders. This acquisition completes our sets of assets harmoniously, with data capabilities that are second to none, and propels the Groupe as the global leader of personalized experiences at scale,” stated Arthur.
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He additionally remarked that in a data-led and digital-first world, the addition of Epsilon’s capabilities in data to their existing creative, media, and technology firepower will provide them with all the necessary assets and talent required to help their clients leapfrog their competition and grow profitably. He revealed that the company’s focus for the next few months would be to complete the integration successfully while implementing their model, ‘Power of One’, with their clients.
What’s in there for the clients?
The clients at Publicis would benefit from the seamless access to end-to-end service that would help them solve all their marketing and transformation challenges across creative, media, data, and technology domains. They would be able to build more relevant campaigns, segment audiences better, and generate higher ROIs in the fields of PR, Communication, Healthcare, and a lot more. Effective immediately in the US, every Publicis client can now access Epsilon through their Groupe Client Leaders, while those outside the US may need to wait for a few more months to use the all-in-one “Power of One” platform.
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