Taptica to buy RhythmOne for £135m

Mobile video advertising company Taptica International has agreed to buy RhythmOne for approximately £135m in shares.

Under the terms of the offer, RhythmOne shareholders will receive 28 Taptica shares for every 33 of their shares. This would see Taptica own 50.1% of the enlarged group, while RhythmOne would own the rest.

Taptica also said on Monday that Ofer Druker, the head of its US business, will become the chief executive officer of the new, enlarged group.

Taptica's non-executive chairman, Tim Weller, said: "The enlarged group is expected to create one of the leading video advertising platforms in the United States and will therefore be well-positioned to exploit the growing demand for OTT and CTV.

"The enlarged group will be able to offer a comprehensive technology platform to its customers with a full demand side and supply side offering to create interesting global opportunities. This, coupled with the enlarged group's global scale of operation, is important to retaining and gaining customers and will enable it to compete with other market leaders in the video advertising space."

The deal already has the backing of 46.6% of Taptica shareholders of 50.95% of RhythmOne shareholders.

RhythmOne's non-executive chairman, Eric Singer, said the deal best positions the company for the future.

"As we look into and plan for our next fiscal year, combining RhythmOne and Taptica addresses the importance of scale in our industry. The transaction also leverages each company's respective capabilities to provide a more comprehensive product offering, which will, we believe, offer significant revenue synergies, to the benefit of our shareholders and employees."

At 1335 GMT, RhythmOne shares were up 13% to 192.20p and Taptica shares were 13.6% higher at 225p.