Dentsu Aegis acquires data analytics firm Cardinal Path, aim to grow outside Japan

Dentsu Aegis acquires data analytics firm Cardinal Path, aim to grow outside Japan

Dentsu Aegis

MUMBAI: Dentsu Inc.’s Dentsu Aegis Network has acquired digital analytics firm Cardinal Path, expanding its reach outside of Japan and expanding the data capabilities of the advertising company. 

However, the terms of the deal have not been disclosed even as the news has been revealed by Dentsu officials. However, it was stated that Cardinal Path’s compounded annual growth rate for gross revenues is greater than 30%.

Cardinal Path was created in 2011 following the merger of three Web analytics and digital firms: Ottawa-based PublicInsite, Vancouver-based VKI Studios and Tempe, Ariz.-based WebShare. The company, which is based in Chicago and Vancouver, counts Google, Intel and Bridgestone among its clients.

“Cardinal Path will allow us to leap forward our data strategy in North America,” Dentsu Aegis Network USA chief executive Robert Horler said in a statement to the media. Cardinal Path has 80 employees. 

Dentsu has been expanding aggressively outside of Japan following its $5 billion acquisition of UK-based Aegis in 2013, though its deals since then have been much smaller. Dentsu derived 54% of its business from markets outside of Japan in fiscal 2015, up from 15% in fiscal 2012.

Since it closed the Aegis acquisition, Dentsu has completed 76 M&A deals, totaling about £760 million (roughly $1.08 billion), according to a recent investor presentation. Dentsu signed 36 acquisitions in 2015, the highest number in a year by the company to date. Thirty-four of those deals were completed by Dentsu Aegis Network, and about half were digital businesses.