Publicis has bought Dutch ad agency LBi International for €416m, as the French marketing giant continues on the acquisition trail to boost its digital advertising reach.
The deal follows a spate of mergers and acquisitions amongst agencies as larger groups buy up the few remaining faster growing digitally-focused smaller shops.
Back in June, Martin Sorrell’s advertising giant WPP bought digital agency AKQA, while in July, Japanese ad giant Dentsu agreed to buy marketing group Aegis.
“The acquisition of LBi is another step forward in further strengthening our digital operations” Publicis Chief Executive Maurice Lévy said in a statement.
Publicis’s existing digital units include Digitas, Razorfish and Rosetta.
