21 June 2010
Olswang LLP has advised long-standing client M&C Saatchi plc on its acquisition of Inside Limited (trading as Inside Mobile), a leading mobile marketing agency. As part of the M&C Saatchi group, the company will trade as M&C Saatchi Mobile globally and will continue its successful strategy in assisting brands in engaging with their customers using creative mobile solutions. Inside Mobile already has a sought after list of international clients including Reebok, Yahoo! Europe, HSBC and Sky.
By making this acquisition M&C Saatchi will enhance its already strong market presence and offer new solutions to its clients by becoming prominent in the high growth market for marketing via mobile devices at a time when mobile internet browsing has grown by 700% in the last year and mobile devices are increasingly becoming a more popular method of accessing the internet.
Inside Mobile was formed in 2006 by James Hilton and Dusan Hamlin who, as part of the transaction, have each retained a 20% interest in the business and will be staying on to work with M&C Saatchi to further grow the business and take advantage of M&C Saatchi's considerable sector expertise.
Moray MacLennan, Worldwide CEO of M&C Saatchi said "The growth of mobile marketing will be dramatic over the next five years and will be central to many of our clients' communication plans. The acquisition of Inside Mobile and the launch of M&C Saatchi Mobile globally will strengthen our differentiation from other networks."
Mark Bertram, M&C Saatchi relationship partner at Olswang, commented: "We were delighted to assist M&C Saatchi, a client of several years, on this important acquisition in the sector. There have been a few false dawns with Mobile but smart-phones are now changing behaviour, at both an individual and a corporate level and this looks an area of significant opportunity".
Corporate associate Nick Crosbie also led an Olswang team further comprising Marc Dautlich and Jessica Loden (Commercial and Telecoms), Andrea Motbey (Employment), Ben Shore (Real Estate) and Siddharth Kusumakar (Intellectual Property).
BP Collins advised the Sellers.
