Tag: Acquisition

Singapore – Southeast Asian used car platform Carro has announced its acquisition of Beyond Cars, effectively expanding its reach towards the Hong Kong market. 

With Hong Kong under its belt, Carro is now present in a total of 7 markets, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, and Taiwan.

Through this partnership, Carro will be working towards expanding Beyond Cars’ network of partnerships, and further develop ancillary services across insurtech, financing and aftersales in Hong Kong.

Furthermore, the Beyond Cars team will continue to helm the business in Hong Kong, and will integrate Carro’s data-driven platform and its full-suite tech, including proprietary technologies and AI capabilities across pricing, inventory management, and inspection process.

Talking about the acquisition, Aaron Tan, Carro co-founder and Group CEO, said, “We have our sights set on big things in Hong Kong – beyond buying and selling cars. With Carro’s strong expertise in automotive technology and Beyond Cars’ wide network and trusted reputation in Hong Kong, I have no doubt that we can scale operations and take the brand to new heights.”

Meanwhile, Garry Yu, co-founder and CEO of Beyond Cars, commented, “Since our launch in 2016, our mission has always been to give our customers a seamless and transparent car-buying and selling experience. With Carro in the mix, I am sure we’ll be able to transform Hong Kong’s used car market and become the number 1 choice for customers in their used car ownership journey.”

Manila, Philippines – Holding company Aboitiz Equity Ventures (ABV) and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) have officially completed the acquisition of Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines (CCBP), following subsequent announcements made by the two companies in August and November 2023, as well as in January this year.

Through the acquisition, CCEP and ABV will be managing a 60-40 ownership structure of CCBP, with CCBP confirmed to be valued at US$1.8b on a debt-free, cash-free basis. Additionally, the shareholders’ agreement between CCEP and AEV with comprehensive governance terms will take effect at the official closing. Both companies have said that the acquisition has been cleared by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC).

“The acquisition would build on AEV’s portfolio diversification into the branded consumer goods space. AEV is well-positioned to support CCBPI’s growth ambition through the synergies which could be generated from AEV’s other business interests in the country,” AEV said in a press statement.

Said acquisition also aligns with CCEP’s expansion into Australia, Pacific & Indonesia (API) which began in 2021.

It should be recalled that The Coca-Cola Company acquired Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines from San Miguel Corporation back in 2007 for US$590m. Through the acquisition back then, The Coca-Cola Company has acquired San Miguel’s 65% shareholding in Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines.

Manila, Philippines – PLDT and ABS-CBN have jointly announced that it will cancel the proposed acquisition of Sky Cable, a cable television service provider owned by ABS-CBN. The announcement was made via Sky Cable’s official media channels.

Both parties have not mentioned the reason for this cancellation. MARKETECH APAC checked both stock disclosures of PLDT and ABS-CBN for further information, but no other details of the reason for the acquisition cancellation have been disclosed as of this writing.

With this, Sky Cable will continue its broadcasting operations beyond February 26, the supposed final broadcast date for the cable TV service provider. Its broadband operations remain unaffected as well.

“We thank all our SKY subscribers for their continued patronage and support. We remain committed to providing the same level of customer experience and service for both our cable and internet services,” the company said.

It is worth noting that both the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have already approved the acquisition deal earlier this year.

Details about the merger first came into light when ABS-CBN, the parent company of Sky Cable, signed an agreement with PLDT back in March 2023 to sell off fully the business to PLDT. It is also worth noting that Cignal, the media firm under PLDT’s MediaQuest affiliate, had already a 34.99% stake in Sky Cable, which materialised back in 2022.

Singapore –Singapore-headquartered e-commerce platform Qoo10 has come into agreement to acquire former e-commerce giant Wish from its parent company ContextLogic for approximately US$173m in cash. 

In an announcement made by ContextLogic, the parent company revealed it will sell substantially all operating assets and liabilities associated with Wish to Qoo10, an e-commerce platform with localised online marketplaces across Asia. 

With an acquisition cost amounting to roughly $6.50 per share, the deal still indicates an approximate 44% increase over ContextLogic’s closing stock price on February 9, 2024, the day before the transaction announcement.

ContextLogic further revealed that it will be using the proceeds from the transaction to help monetise its $2.7b net operating loss carryforwards and certain retained assets. 

The transaction is expected to be completed around the second quarter of 2024, during which the Wish brand and platform will then become part of Qoo10’s family of businesses. Also, part of the agreement is for ContextLogic to begin trading under a new ticker symbol 30 days following the closing of the sale. 

Meanwhile, Wish merchants and users are expected to benefit from an integrated platform. The acquisition promises new cross-border e-commerce opportunities and a more diverse selection of goods at competitive prices.

Wish was among the online shopping powerhouses in 2020. However, it has been in constant decline as market competition becomes tighter. 

Tanzeen Syed, chairman of the board at ContextLogic, said, “The board conducted a thorough review of strategic alternatives with the assistance of outside financial and legal advisors. We evaluated a variety of potential outcomes and determined that the proposed sale of our operating assets and liabilities, while preserving significant NOLs, represents the best path forward to maximise value for shareholders. We also believe there is significant upside potential to obtaining a long-term aligned capital partner that would support future value creation.” 

Syed continued, “The Board believes the transaction will effectively reduce the cash burn in ContextLogic to near zero, monetize its operating assets at the highest value possible, and preserve significant value for shareholders. At the same time, we believe this is a compelling opportunity for shareholders to directly benefit from the approximately $2.7 billion value of our NOLs as profitable operations are targeted by the continuing business.”

Speaking on the deal, Joe Yan, CEO of ContextLogic, also shared, “Integrating the Wish platform into Qoo10 will create a true global cross-border e-commerce platform to support the massive market demand. Upon closing, we expect the new Wish platform will have an improved customer experience through increased product assortment and merchant selection. And for our merchants, we will be able to offer fully integrated logistical capabilities to deliver unmatched cost-efficient services with high quality control and transparency. I would like to thank all of our employees for their exceptional work on behalf of Wish.”

Meanwhile, Young Bae Ku, CEO and founder at Qoo10, commented, “Wish has innovative technology that provides highly entertaining, personalised shopping experiences for its users while serving as one of the largest global e-commerce platforms. By combining our operating expertise and Wish’s technology and data science capabilities, we expect to drive greater success for merchants while providing an even greater marketplace for consumers globally.” 

“With the acquisition of Wish, Qoo10 and Wish will offer a comprehensive platform for merchants, sellers, buyers, and customers globally to realise the potential of a truly global marketplace. With the strong commitment from Wish’s employees and staff combined with the Qoo10 family group of companies, we are well positioned to realise our long-stated goal of being a leading cross-border e-commerce marketplace,” he added. 

Singapore – Customer service software company Zendesk has announced that it has completed its acquisition of AI-powered quality management platform Klaus, following its initial announcement back in January.

The acquisition of Klaus is the latest addition to the company’s existing workforce engagement management solutions which includes ‘Tymeshift’, a modern workforce management tool built exclusively for Zendesk.

With digital agents resolving more service inquiries without human interaction, having a QA solution that analyses both human and digital agent performance is crucial to maintaining quality control and providing enhanced customer service.

Taking this role, Klaus pinpoints conversations with positive or negative sentiment, identifies outliers, churn risk, escalations and follow-ups across all conversations – even those done by outsourced teams.

It also spots knowledge gaps and coaching opportunities that can be used to improve agent performance and productivity, all of which results in higher customer satisfaction.

Talking about the acquisition, Adrian McDermott, chief technology officer at Zendesk, said, “With Klaus as part of our WEM portfolio, we can empower businesses with the best AI-powered automated quality assurance in the market. By automatically assessing support using AI to pinpoint and fix gaps, AutoQA gives businesses 100 percent coverage of their customer conversations and a clear view of opportunities to improve, while removing the burden of manual review.”

Meanwhile, Kair Käsper, co-founder of Klaus, commented, “While most QA software can only score up to 5 percent of CX interactions, Klaus automates QA across 100 percent of customer support interactions. It uses AI to identify patterns, predict issues and suggest solutions making it a vital tool that improves service quality, enriches the customer experience, and ultimately enhances the reputation and success of the organisation.”

New Zealand – Global commerce marketing company The Mars Agency has officially acquired New Zealand-based brand activation agency The IN Group, broadening its operations in experiential marketing across the ANZ region.

The IN Group provides a home base for client activation, creating and executing brand experiences that satisfy customers and drive results for brands such as Woolworths, Nestlé, and Clorox.

With this acquisition, The Mars Agency will have limitless opportunities for expansion across ANZ as they bring their full complement of connected commerce capabilities to New Zealand. By partnering with The IN Group, The Mars Agency is expecting to apply their successful formula in New Zealand as well.

The acquisition also solidifies the company’s status as an ideal partner for both local market and regional brand activation. After its successful procurement of Australia-based XPO Brands in 2022, The Mars Agency has shown significant growth in less than two years, having rapidly expanded their commerce marketing capabilities in Australia beyond shopper and experiential to encompass retail media, ecommerce, and analytics.

Coupled with its ongoing international expansion, The Mars Agency is showing aggressive global growth that benefits the agency, enabling it to support their roster of clients in a global fashion while also gaining new clients in each region.

Sally Tobin, managing director of The Mars Agency ANZ, said, “The In Group is well known for their relentless focus on results, their precise execution, and most of all for the passion they bring to everything they do. They are the perfect partner for building brand experiences that will resonate with shoppers at the local level while driving client success throughout the region.”

Chris Coffey, in her current role as founder and managing director of The IN Group, is also set to continue leading the agency’s local activities.

Speaking on the acquisition, she shared, “With the resources and expertise of The Mars Agency supporting us, we’ll be able to drive even greater success for our clients in numerous ways as we grow our business internally. I’m beyond excited to start this next chapter in our history.”

Meanwhile, Rob Rivenburgh, global CEO of The Mars Agency, commented, “We’re aligning ourselves with best-in-class organisations around the world to provide marketing excellence wherever our clients need it. The talent, passion, and relentless focus on results that have made The In Group New Zealand’s leading brand experience agency are exactly the foundation we need to launch our full suite of services in the region.”

Philippines – MullenLowe TREYNA (MLT) has officially acquired the full digital advertising business of digital creative agency Xiklab Digital, inclusive of its client roster and key talent.

The acquisition of Xiklab Digital aims to boost the agency’s services with expertise in digital strategy, performance marketing, and data-informed creativity.

Xiklab Digital is MullenLowe TREYNA’s third successful acquisition, following its joint venture with Quiddity Usability Labs in 2022.

The agency’s first strategic acquisition was ARC Public Relations in 2018, resulting in 30% year-on-year growth. Its succeeding acquisition of Quiddity added UI/UX, accessibility in design, and more to its roster of services.

MLT’s prior acquisition experience meant that the transition was completed in time for the new year, opening in 2024 with a significant expansion to its service offerings.

Mike Trillana, chairman and CEO of MullenLowe TREYNA, said, “We’ve nearly doubled in number of people since 2020. More importantly, we’ve multiplied the skill sets the agency group can bring to a client challenge while still believing in the power of breakthrough ideas in a complex landscape.”

Also speaking on the acquisition, Bingo Soriano, senior commercial adviser at MLT, said, “Current and future clients trust us to discover creative opportunities as we build their brands’ relationships with consumers. We’re excited to have all this potential for synergy in the services we offer and look forward to being part of the MullenLowe TREYNA group.”

Singapore – Media intelligence software and research services company CARMA has announced it has acquired mmi Analytics (mmi), a media communication and eTail measurement platform for beauty, fashion, and lifestyle brands.

This strategic acquisition marks a significant step in CARMA’s commitment to expanding its full-service offerings and strengthening its position in these key vertical markets.

It also brings together CARMA’s global reach, technology, and comprehensive services with mmi Analytics’ deep expertise and established presence in the beauty, fashion, and lifestyle sectors. 

Moreover, the combined entities will enable the optimisation of the customer journey by building targeted brand strategies and evaluation methodologies across retail media, influencer communities, and traditional media networks around the world.

Mazen Nahawi, CEO at CARMA, said, “I am delighted to welcome mmi to the CARMA family. The beauty and luxury goods sector is an exciting category. It is robust, innovative, and fast-moving and is growing double-digit across our strategic markets in Asia and the Middle East. Acquiring mmi means that we can now further optimise beauty clients’ digital communications strategies on a global basis.”

Meanwhile, Christian Eckley, CEO at mmi Analytics, commented, “This acquisition is great news for our team and our clients. It provides us with superior media insights technology, service, and capabilities while enabling mmi to enhance and scale its offering as part of a truly global organisation.”

mmi, headquartered in London, will operate as a brand within the CARMA group and be supported by CARMA’s global scale and award-winning client service, technology, and expertise. With 22 offices worldwide, CARMA’s acquisition will enable mmi to double down on its regional strength in the sectors while supporting clients in dynamic global markets.

Singapore – Genesys, a global AI-powered cloud platform, has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Radarr Technologies, which specialises in AI-based social and digital listening, analytics, and consumer engagement.

Through the acquisition, Genesys will integrate Radar Technologies’ public social media capabilities with the Genesys Cloud platform to enhance customer experience (CX). This partnership enables the development of proactive, prescriptive engagement tactics aimed at increasing loyalty in the AI economy.

With the help of Radarr Technologies, Genesys helps businesses naturally interact with customers on the social media platforms of their choice. This is done by providing rich, simple, contextual, and tailored social media experiences. 

Following the expected completion of the acquisition in the first quarter of 2025, Genesys intends to utilise Radarr Technologies’ social media insights as a critical component in building its 360-degree customer view to improve Genesys AI. This integration will allow for the collection of interaction, sentiment, and attitudinal data across the CX continuum.

Businesses utilising Radarr Technologies’ capabilities on the Genesys Cloud platform will be freed from limitations and silos, enabling them to provide customers with individualised experiences across many channels. Loyalty is eventually fostered by using insights and capacities to accomplish this freedom. 

Through the integration of Radarr Technologies, Genesys Cloud users will gain direct access to supplementary conversation streams that are derived from publicly accessible social media posts across several platforms, including the Apple App Store, Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, Google Play, Google My Business, and more. 

Together with the voice and digital capabilities of the Genesys Cloud platform—which includes its private social media messaging solutions—organisations will be able to interact with consumers on these channels that turn inquiries into loyalty-boosting dialogues.

By utilising Radarr Technologies’ response engine capabilities in conjunction with Genesys Cloud, the combined solutions will give agents access to customer journey context and tools, allowing them to interact with clients on the social media platforms of their choice.

This includes answering questions on open feeds or via direct messages. Furthermore, the Radarr Technologies solution’s unique AI-powered Multilingual Sentiment Models will improve the Genesys Cloud platform’s natural language processing (NLP) capabilities. 

Moreover, this extension improves an organisation’s ability to recognise regional slang and colloquialisms in more than 100 languages, including the top 10 languages spoken worldwide and more than 40 Asian languages and dialects. Consequently, this makes it possible for companies to comprehend client sentiment more thoroughly, which enhances their capacity to provide customised experiences on a large scale. 

Speaking about the acquisition, Tony Bates, Genesys CEO and chairman, said, “As consumers increasingly turn to social media platforms to connect with brands for support, these channels become a crucial and largely untapped opportunity for organisations to engage with customers and glean valuable business insights. Once the capabilities of Radarr Technologies are integrated into Genesys Cloud, Genesys can accelerate its transformation of the CX industry by helping organisations further connect every touchpoint into the end-to-end customer experience.” 

Meanwhile, Sheila McGee-Smith, president, McGee-Smith Analytics, said, “Organisations have struggled to tap into the potential that social media can play in delivering differentiated customer experiences — Genesys is now in a better position to change that. Connecting these public feeds with the orchestration of the customer journey will provide companies not only a more holistic understanding of consumer behaviour and sentiment, but the tools to take action through more enhanced personalisation and engagement.” 

She added, “In adding Radarr Technologies capabilities to Genesys Cloud, the company recognises the rising importance global enterprises are placing on social interaction management and analytics to achieve a complete unification of the customer experience.”

Manila, Philippines – Cable television service Sky Cable is set to make its final broadcast on February 26 following the approval of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) to PLDT to acquire Sky Cable.

In a text advisory sent out to its users, Sky Cable said that it will officially discontinue its cable TV business following its last broadcast day and in anticipation of the PLDT acquisition. Said advisory is also reflected in its official website.

“In anticipation of and pursuant to the closing conditions of the PLDT-SKY acquisition deal, SKY will now begin its transition into a dedicated internet service provider. With this deal, SKY will discontinue its cable TV operations effective February 27, 2024. The final broadcast and sign-off of SKYcable will be on February 26, 2024 at 11:59pm,” the company stated.

It is worth noting, however, that SKY Fiber will still continue operations, with the company promising that subscribers will be provided with the same level of service and customer experience.

“Thank you for your years of support and for making SKYcable a part of your home,” the company concluded.

Recent stock filings by ABS-CBN, the parent company of Sky Cable, and PLDT that the Philippine Competition Commission has already approved the acquisition, and is now subject to closing conditions and final approval through a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) by March 16.

Last week, PLDT clarified news about the acquisition following media reports suggesting that the Sky Cable acquisition had already been closed by both parties.

“Once the approval of the PCC is obtained, the sellers will continue to work on the other closing conditions which include, among others, the termination or cessation of Sky’s pay TV and cable businesses, obtaining all other applicable government approvals and clearances, and obtaining all required consents and corporate actions,” it previously said.

Details about the merger first came into light when ABS-CBN, the parent company of Sky Cable, signed an agreement with PLDT back in March 2023 to sell off fully the business to PLDT. It is also worth noting that Cignal, the media firm under PLDT’s MediaQuest affiliate, had already a 34.99% stake in Sky Cable, which materialised back in 2022.