US firm buys large stake in Ogilvy SA

Johannesburg - International advertising, marketing and public relations agency Ogilvy & Mather on Thursday announced its agreement to acquire a majority stake in Ogilvy SA, subject to obtaining regulatory approvals.

If completed, the deal will increase Ogilvy & Mather's ownership of the agency from a 49.9% to 59% stake.

The value of the acquisition was not disclosed.

"Obtaining majority share of our South African operations was an inevitable next step for our growth strategy in Africa, which I passionately believe is one of the last great frontiers in global communications. It is one of our network's strongest performers in terms of creativity and business growth," said Miles Young, global chief executive of Ogilvy & Mather.

Ogilvy SA was established in 1984 and employs more than 700 staff across 12 companies.

It has offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, and provides a diverse range of services to clients including advertising, digital and interactive, activation, promotions, internal marketing, CRM, shopper marketing, PR, channel planning and relationship marketing.

Clients include a mix of local and multinational companies including BP, Cell C, KFC, MultiChoice and SABMiller.

This further investment in Ogilvy SA comes on the heels of a joint venture completed by Ogilvy & Mather last April with African marketing services giant Scangroup.

"Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide has been an extremely supportive partner over the years and this investment reflects their commitment to our company, our people, our clients, our country and the African continent. We look forward to an even closer working relationship in the future," said Nunu Ntshingila, Ogilvy SA CEO.

Ntshingila was appointed to the Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide board last week.

Ogilvy & Mather is one of the largest marketing communications companies in the world.