WPP boosts its empire with I&E French buy
ADVERTISING giant WPP yesterday kept up its blistering acquisition-fuelled growth pace with the purchase of French firm I&E for an undisclosed sum.
The communications consultancy business will become part of WPP’s wholly-owned subsidiary Burson-Marsteller.
Paris-based I&E – which specialises in reputation management, brand marketing and change management – employs around 110 people.
France is WPP’s seventh biggest market, with annual revenues of just under £550m, and is home to nearly 5,000 of the company’s employees.
I&E generated revenues of €13m (£10.4m) in the year to 31 December 2011 and reported gross assets of €5m.
The I&E acquisition comes just days after WPP announced its biggest deal in years with the purchase of a significant majority stake in top global marketing agency AKQA.