S&P Global Market Intelligence provides a wrap-up of European media and communications deal announcements, completions and updates from March 18 to March 22.
TOP NEWS
* Dentsu Aegis Network Ltd. has agreed to fully acquire Vietnam-based digital creative agency Redder Advertising Co. Ltd. The acquisition will help expand Dentsu's Vietnamese business while boosting the capabilities of fellow Dentsu-branded agencies including Dentsu One, according to a March 20 statement. Redder will be renamed Dentsu Redder after completion of the deal. Dentsu Aegis Network is the global business unit of Japanese advertising giant Dentsu Inc.
* French private equity firm InfraVia Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in Celeste SAS, a provider of fiber-optic internet and telephony services for businesses. The acquisition will help support Celeste's planned expansion of its fiber network across France.
* Triton Bidco, a new joint venture formed by a consortium that includes private equity firms Apax Partners LLP and Warburg Pincus International LLC, has entered into an agreement to acquire British satellite operator Inmarsat PLC for about $3.3 billion in cash.
Other stories
* Venture capital and private equity firm Synova Capital LLP sold its financial information business, Defaqto Ltd., to The SimplyBiz Group PLC for £74.3 million. The purchase by SimplyBiz will enable Defaqto to develop new technology and continue to develop products for its clients in the financial services sector, according to a March 20 news release. SimplyBiz provides business support to users operating in the financial services market.
* Polish IT group R22 SA has agreed to acquire 3TS Capital Partners Ltd.'s 28.5% stake in H88 SA, a web hosting and domain registration company in central and Eastern Europe, for €13.6 million. The deal represents an exit for 3TS Capital Partners, which first invested in H88 in 2016. The investment enabled H88 to acquire six local peers in Poland until 2018, when it teamed up with R22 to purchase three more companies in Romania and other countries, according to a statement.
* 3i Group PLC made a US$179 million equity investment in Magnitude Software Inc., reflecting an enterprise value of $340 million. The U.K.-based midmarket private equity and infrastructure investment manager is investing alongside Magnitude Chairman and CEO Chris Ney, who will keep a significant stake in the business. Magnitude, which develops enterprise information management software, will use the investment to support its global expansion.
* Ardian bought a minority interest in Eloquant SA as part of the latter's owner buyout, alongside its current investors and management. Ardian's investment will aid in the company's active growth strategy in France and in its international expansion, Eloquant CEO Laurent Duc said in a March 18 release. Eloquant, a software-as-a-service software publisher with a focus on multi-channel customer relations management, spun out of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.'s global telecommunications center.
* NII Holdings Inc. struck a deal to sell its 70% stake in Nextel Brazil to América Móvil SAB de CV via the sale of one of the company's Luxembourg-based subsidiaries. América Móvil will buy all the equity interests in Nextel Brazil for $905 million less net debt and subject to certain adjustments at closing. The sale represents the disposition of NII Holdings' sole remaining operating asset, the company said March 18.
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