Dentsu Inc. (Tokyo: 4324; ISIN: JP3551520004; President & CEO: Toshihiro Yamamoto; Head Office: Tokyo; Capital: 74,609.81 million yen) announced today that its global business headquarters Dentsu Aegis Network Ltd.*, has reached an agreement to acquire a 100% stake in Namics AG (Head Office: St. Gallen, Switzerland; CEO: Bernd Schopp; hereinafter: Namics), a leading full-service digital agency in Europe. The completion of this acquisition is subject to regulatory approval by the German Competition Authority.

Founded in 1995 Namics is a leader in digital transformation with operations in Switzerland and Germany. Headquartered in St. Gallen, the agency's team of 550 digital specialists, based across offices in Zurich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich and Belgrade, offers a comprehensive suite of digital marketing services ranging from strategic consulting, concept development and creative, as well as technical implementation, with a strong focus on customer experience to its portfolio of B2B and B2C clients.

Moreover, Namics' partnerships with leading platform providers allow it to analyze and integrate individual customer data thereby adding to its ability to create integrated personalized experiences across multiple channels.

Following the acquisition, Namics will align with Merkle, the Dentsu Group' global data-driven, performance marketing network, and be rebranded 'Namics - A Merkle Company'. Namics will add further scale and depth to Merkle's people-based marketing capabilities, and in so doing expand the Group's presence as well as data marketing services in the EMEA market.

The impact of this transaction on Dentsu's consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2018 is expected to be minimal.

* Dentsu Aegis Network Ltd., the Dentsu Group's global business headquarters based in London, is expanding the Group's business worldwide through ten global network brands--Carat, Dentsu (Dentsu Brand Agencies), dentsu X, iProspect, Isobar, mcgarrybowen, Merkle, MKTG, Posterscope and Vizeum--as well as through several specialist/multi-market brands.

Profile of Namics
Company Name: Namics AG
Location (HQ office): St. Gallen, Switzerland
Date of Establishment: 1995
Shareholding Ratio*: Dentsu Aegis Network 100%
 *After acquisition has been completed
Revenue: CHF 65.54 million (year ended December 2017)
Key Management Personnel: Bernd Schopp, CEO
Number of Employees: 550
Line of Business: Customer Experience Management (CXM)


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