Tremor International to buy Adtech firm Amobee for $239 million

Digital advertising company Tremor International Ltd. said it has agreed to acquire advertising technology firm Amobee from Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. for total consideration of $239 million.

Tremor said the deal includes a combination of cash and a $100 million debt facility that it expects to obtain prior to closing. The company said it expects the deal to close in the third quarter of 2022.

Singapore Telecommunications, or Singtel, acquired ad technology platform Amobee for $321 million in 2012. Amobee went on to acquire a string of other ad-tech companies.

But last year, Singtel said it had booked noncash impairment charges of $438 million and $250 million against its investments in Amobee and cybersecurity company Trustwave, respectively, for the second half of the financial year ended March 31, 2021.

Singtel Group Chief Executive Yuen Kuan Moon said at the time that there was a need to review those investments, saying Amobee experienced a nearly year-long decline in ad spending by some major agencies and marketers in North America following the arrival of Covid-19.

Singtel did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Tremor said the acquisition of Amobee includes the firm’s advanced TV platform and its demand-side platform but doesn’t include its email marketing platform.

Tremor has been working to provide a full range of technology to advertisers in the areas of video, data and connected TV, CEO Ofer Druker said.

The company is buying Amobee to add capabilities including the ability to plan ad campaigns across traditional TV and digital channels in the same platform, Tremor said.

Amobee also will help it add global scale and growth to its demand-side platform, which advertisers can use to place ads. The addition could drive more ad spending to its supply-side platform, Unruly, which is used by media companies to receive and process advertising demand, Tremor said.

Amobee’s focus in the area of performance video, referring to video ads that can track sales or more specific business outcomes, will also benefit Tremor, Mr. Druker said. Tremor has focused primarily on brand advertising, or the kind of marketing generally designed to achieve goals like generating awareness or improving perceptions. He said the ability to measure more specific business outcomes from video has been an area of interest among marketers.

Amobee has about 900 employees, according to Tremor. Mr. Druker said industry expertise and talent was part of its decision to acquire Amobee, but the company said it does not yet know how many Amobee employees will join Tremor.

“We’re excited about the significant synergies between the companies and will continue to review our structural alignment post-acquisition. At the moment, however, we’re focused on closing the transaction,” a Tremor spokesperson said.

Despite economic headwinds, marketing industry mergers and acquisitions have largely continued unabated so far, with M&A advisory firm Ciesco Ltd. saying deals in the marketing sector grew 38% in the first half of 2022. M&A more broadly has dropped in the same period, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. The Wall Street Journal