Acxiom to Acquire Claritas Europe
Acxiom Corp., Little Rock, AR, announced an agreement yesterday to purchase fellow data provider Claritas Europe from Netherlands-based VNU. Acxiom will pay approximately $40 million in cash and the sale is expected to close in 30 days.The firm said it anticipates the revenue from the acquisition to be $100 million for the 12 months ending Dec. 31, which is three times Acxiom's annual European revenue.
After the sale is complete, the company will rebrand Claritas Europe with the Acxiom name. Claritas Europe is the largest source of European consumer lifestyle and behavioral data, according to Acxiom.
"These expanded operations will allow Acxiom to provide a full complement of services for the Pan-European market," said Acxiom company leader Charles D. Morgan
Claritas Europe has offices in locations such as Paris; Frankfurt; Warsaw; Madrid; Lisbon; Teddington, England and Leiderdorp, The Netherlands. Acxiom's European operations are in London, Leeds and Sunderland, England and Paris.
The VNU-owned Claritas Inc., which operates in the United States, is not part of the deal.
