WPP's GroupM To Buy Major Stake In Vocanic Pte; Terms Undisclosed

(RTTNews) - Advertising giant WPP Plc. (WPP.L, WPPGY), Tuesday said its wholly-owned global media investment management arm, GroupM, has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Singapore-based Vocanic Pte Ltd., a social media marketing business in Asia. The financial terms of the deal were not divulged.

This deal is in line with WPP's strategy of strengthening the Group's capabilities in digital media. WPP's digital revenues for 2012 were about $5 billion , and represented 33 percent of total group revenues of $16.5 billion. Established in 2005, Vocanic has offices in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. For fiscal 2012, reveneus were SGD 4.3 million, with gross assets of SGD 2.1 million. Vocanic's client list includes blue chip business partners such as StarHub, Axis, EDB, SAP, Astro, Unilever, Dell, Symantec, Mead Johnson, Danone, WingTai Retail, MHD, and Standard Chartered Bank.

Recently, WPP raised its targets from 35-40 percent for each of fast-growth markets and new media to at least 40-45 percent, over the next five years.