September 2015
Consulting sector merger and acquisition specialist Equiteq is pleased to announce that its client, online marketing agency Internet Advantage, has sold its Dutch subsidiary to independent digital agency, NetBooster SA. Equiteq acted as the lead adviser. The deal was completed on 15 September 2015.
Both Internet Advantage and NetBooster/metapeople are focusing on performance driven digital strategies. The acquisition is a perfect fit for both organizations to grow the businesses. Clients of Internet Advantage will benefit from metapeople’s extensive expertise in performance-driven marketing, as well as the international data and analytics footprint. With a strong focus on innovation, Internet Advantage is a leading search and performance marketing agency in the Netherlands. The agency was voted best Search Marketing Agency in The Netherlands in 2013, and is working with a multi-lingual in-house team in the Dutch, Belgian and German markets. Internet Advantage Group’s CEO, René de Jong says: "We are a Spanish online marketing agency, founded in 2004. We are extremely pleased to have closed this deal as it represents a big increase in career opportunities for the team of our Dutch office, that will operate under NetBooster Group’s popular German brand metapeople and will be fully integrated into the global NetBooster Group service offerings. Furthermore this deal brings us very close to the next strategic move we plan to make." Tim Ringel, CEO of NetBooster Group, adds: "We are very excited to have found such a complementary and ambitious boutique agency in the Dutch market. Internet Advantage’s management, employees, clients and services fit perfectly into our vision of growing in size and knowhow with entrepreneurially managed companies and create the biggest independent worldwide digital network agency. Our top clients are keen to expand into more regions with NetBooster/metapeople and we are answering that demand by cherry-picking the best local players with highly involved entrepreneurs and integrate them onto our unique international platform. The acquisition of Internet Advantage is the first step in our strategy to triple our size by 2018, creating a global agency thanks to buy & build and organic growth." Bruce Ramsay, who led the deal team at Equiteq, added: "René and his Dutch CEO, Lennert de Rijk, created a valuable, focussed and well-respected business that will enable NetBooster to rapidly extend their operations into the Netherlands." Rene adds, "It has been very helpful for us, to have Equiteq assist us in the process, as their experience helped us to stay focussed on the completion of the deal, to summarize key points to be solved, to keep calm and be patient, their immediate availability when required and last but not least their strategic point of view and diplomatic capabilities". To see all of our deals, please click here. ©Equiteq 2015