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Bigmouth Media/Global Media merger goes ahead
Online advertising company Bigmouthmedia has struck a merger deal with German search firm Global Media, the Financial Times reports.Details remain undisclosed but it is known that private equity company Carlyle Group steered the deal and provided the newly-merged business with additional equity funding through its European technology fund.
Steven and Heather Leach, who own Bigmouth, have apparently reinvested a significant amount of the proceeds in the enlarged company, which will be valued at just over £100 million. Carlyle, and the founder owners of Bigmouth and Global Media, will have a roughly equal stake in the business.
Under the deal, Mr Leach will become chief strategy officer and will run the UK and US businesses, which will still be known as Bigmouth. Global Media head Thomas Gerteis will become chief executive of the combined group.
The prospects for Bigmouth, which offers advice to those wishing to advertise on search engines such as Google, were recently underlined in Deloitte's Fast 50 rankings for 2006. The study named Bigmouth as the fastest growing technology company in Scotland (the Leaches are based in Edinburgh) and the 18th in the UK overall.
The FT echoed the sentiment, noting that search marketing companies have a lucrative future since more than half of the UK's internet advertising revenues are derived from Google and its ilk.
Bigmouth's diverse client portfolio includes Samsung Electronics UK, Sony Playstation, Hilton and Kodak.
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Search Marketing news posted on 01 December 2006
