Omnes Capital, a major player in private equity in Europe, sells its shareholding in plista, a leading digital media specialist in Germany, to GroupM.
Supported by Omnes Capital since 2010, plista employs approximately 100 people and specialises in innovative solutions for targeted real-time digital advertising and content marketing. The company currently operates in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, working for blue chip clients including Volkswagen, Sony, and Coca-Cola, among others.
« This marks the start of a new era for plista’s development in the targeted digital advertising market. As 2010 lead investor in Plista, and having contributed to the company’s key strategic decisions, we welcome the acquisition with GroupM » comments Michel de Lempdes, Partner and Co-Head of Venture Capital, Omnes Capital.
With thousands of premium websites using plista’s recommendation and advertising technology delivering billions of ads each month, plista is the leading recommendation and advertising platform in the German-speaking world. plista develops high-quality recommendation technology and uses it to deliver personalised reading recommendations and advertisements on websites and mobile devices.
« All of us at plista look forward to being part of the GroupM family and, by extension, part of WPP » said plista’s Matyka. « This agreement will allow us not only to realise our growth objectives, but more importantly to make substantive and forward-looking contributions to the marketing plans of our and GroupM clients across Europe ».
In addition to the global media agencies Maxus, MEC, MediaCom and Mindshare, GroupM’s global network includes digital specialist services such as Xaxis, Quisma and H-art. The acquisition also marks a further step towards WPP’s declared goal of developing its networks in fast-growth markets and sectors and continues WPP’s strategy of strengthening the Group’s capabilities in digital media.
Parties involved
Omnes Capital
Michel de Lempdes, Partner and Co-Head of Venture Capital
About plista
plista is a pioneer when it comes to innovative solutions for targeted digital advertising and content marketing. Starting in 2008 the Berlin-based company brings advertisers and publishers together via its data-driven content and advertising platform. Its specially developed targeting and real-time optimization technology enables plista to control both content and advertising based on the interests of the individual user. By using the plista recommendation and advertising technology, i.e. optimally delivering advertising and content, publishers benefit from prolonged visit durations and additional monetization of their mobile services and websites. The highly specialised plista platform makes it possible for advertiser to display scalable text/image advertisements, interactive proprietary video formats, and native advertising in an extensive network of partner websites. To do this, plista operates its specially developed, innovative advertising formats on exclusive inventory space. plista employs +100 people and operates its services in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
About GroupM
GroupM is the leading global media investment management operation. It serves as the parent company to WPP media agencies including Maxus, MEC, MediaCom, and Mindshare. Our primary purpose is to maximise the performance of WPP’s media communications agencies on behalf of our clients, our stakeholders and our people by operating as a parent and collaborator in performance-enhancing activities such as trading, content creation, sports, digital, finance, proprietary tool development and other business-critical capabilities. The agencies that comprise GroupM are all global operations in their own right with leading market positions. The focus of GroupM is the intelligent application of physical and intellectual scale to benefit trading, innovation, and new communication services, to bring competitive advantage to our clients and our companies.
About Omnes Capital (formerly Crédit Agricole Private Equity)
Omnes Capital is a major player in private equity, with a commitment to financing SMEs. With €1.8 billion in assets under management, Omnes capital provides companies with the capital needed to finance their growth and with key expertise in a number of areas: Mid and Small Cap Buyout & Growth Capital, Venture Capital in technology and life sciences, Renewable Energy, Mezzanine, Secondary Funds of Funds, Co-Investment. Omnes Capital, formerly Crédit Agricole Private Equity, was a subsidiary of Crédit Agricole until March 2012 when the company gained its independence. Omnes Capital is a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). Further information: www-rec.omnescapital.com
Press Contacts
Omnes Capital Martine Sessin-Caracci, martine.sessincaracci@www-rec.omnescapital.com – +33 1 80 48 79 15
Shan Caroline Babouillard, caroline.babouillard@shan.fr – +33 1 44 50 58 72