SingTel is diving deeper into the digital advertising market. The company's Amobee subsidiary has announced plans to acquire Adconion and Kontera for a combined $385 million.
Adconion is a cross-channel digital advertising company, consisting of Adconion Direct North America and Adconion Australia. SingTel will pay $235 million to buy the company, including a $209 million payment and the assumption of $26 million in debt.
Kontera is a digital intelligence and marketing technology company with offices in the US, UK and Israel. SingTel has arranged to pay $150 million for this acquisition. Both deals are contingent on regulatory approvals and other conditions.
Amobee CEO Mark Stecker said the company plans to use the acquisitions to improve its mobile-led digital advertising capabilities.
“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 [and] increased our sales footprint,” he said.
Forrester Research senior analyst Clement Teo said SingTel has “made a good bet” with the acquisitions, “but it remains to be seen how it will use the new digital tools to add value for its clients.”
He noted that mobile and digital advertising are the current 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,” he said.
SingTel acquired Amobee for $321 million 2012, as part of an effort to break into the mobile and digital advertising market.