Latitude sold to Callcredit
WARRINGTON-based digital marketing agency Latitude has been bought by Callcredit Information Group for an undisclosed sum.
Latitude was founded in by Dylan Thwaites and grew rapidly in the early part of the last decade. Thwaites sold the bulk of his stake via a £55m management buy-out backed by Vitruvian Partners in December 2007 and left the business a year later.
Vitruvian later had to enter into a restructuring deal which saw the bank which backed the acquisition, Barclays, write off millions of pounds in loans as part of a pre-packaged administration deal in which Vitruvian bought the company back for a mere £1.08m.
The deal represents the second acquisition for Leeds-based Callcredit in a month, following its recent purchase of marketing data agency The Trading Floor.
Latitude currently employs 95 people in Warrington and London and has clients in more than 150 countries in the gaming, retail, telecoms and insurance sectors, among others.
Alex Hoye, chief executive of Latitude, said: “We have long been focused on delivering intelligent, integrated marketing.
“Combining with Callcredit enables us to be at the cutting edge of the online marketing data revolution in progress, benefiting our clients in ways that stand alone advertising agencies cannot achieve.”
Chris Savage, managing director of Callcredit Marketing Solutions, said: “We provide our clients with a wide range of innovative marketing solutions and this acquisition helps us to deliver an even more comprehensive range of digital services.
“Organisations are devoting more of their marketing budget to digital marketing, increasing their spend to develop the channel fully and improve cross sell opportunities.
“By combining our extensive consumer data with Latitude’s digital services we’re confident that we can offer ground-breaking, highly targeted integrated campaigns.”
Latitude is the third acquisition by Callcredit Information Group since the management buyout of the business in December 2009.
The Leeds office of Squire Sanders Hammonds advised Callcredit. Results International acted as advisor to Latitude.
