Incepta seals 40m Citigate deal
Incepta Group, the publicly-listed marketing services group run by Graham Green, has bought one of the City’s leading PR companies, Citigate Communications.
The all-shares deal, worth up to 40m, is expected to treble the size of Incepta.
David Wright and Kevin Steed, chief executive and group finance director of Citigate respectively, will hold the same positions in the enlarged company. Green, chief executive of Incepta, will become deputy chief execu-tive and Bob Morton remains non-executive chairman.
The aim of the deal is to create a broader-based marketing services group geared to rapid expansion.
“The deal gives Incepta critical mass, geographic spread and access to other below-the-line areas: in a word, credibility,” says Green. “City and corporate PR is one of the few disciplines that offers boardroom-level contact.” According to Wright: “It has always been the long-term objective of Citigate to obtain a listing.”
Citigate, which is privately-owned, was set up in 1988 and consists of 11 companies employing 350 people, operating in several countries. It focuses on PR, advertising, design (including Lloyd Northover) and publishing. For the year to Sep-tember 30 1996, it is expected to record pre-tax profits of 2.15m on a fee income of 17.4m. Citigate claims compound growth of 40 per cent over the past six years.
Incepta, formerly WMGO Group, has three main oper-ations: LGM, a leading sales promotion and direct mark eting consultancy; Park Avenue, a presentation company; and Mediamix, which specialises in contract publishing. Incepta shares will be suspended until March 3.
