Nielsen, WPP To Swap Assets
Transaction Expected To Close By Year-End
By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 11/11/2008 4:32:00 AM
The Nielsen Co. and WPP have signed a definitive agreement to swap certain assets, both companies said Tuesday.
Nielsen will now own 100% of AGBNielsen Media Research, an international TV audience media measurement business, by acquiring the 50% currently held by WPP. AGBNMR, Nielsen’s North American television measurement business and Nielsen’s media measurement businesses in online, mobile, advertising and radio measurement, will form the global foundation of Nielsen’s media product portfolio.
In return, Nielsen will transfer to WPP: SRDS, a provider of media rates and data to the advertising industry; PERQ/HCI, which provides a range of services to give insights into media planning, trading and post campaign effectiveness in the field of healthcare; and its 11% share in IBOPE PDM, IBOPE LA and IMI.Com, which are part of the IBOPE Group, a Latin American multinational firm, based in Brazil, specializing in media, market and opinion research. WPP already holds a 31% stake in IBOPE. These assets will be added to The Kantar Group, WPP’s information, insight and consultancy division.
The transaction is expected to close by year end and originates from a regulatory need for WPP to dispose of either its AGBNMR stake or TNS’s European television audience measurement business.
“In an increasingly digital world, it is essential for Nielsen to strengthen its global market position,” Nielsen chairman and CEO David Calhoun said in a statement. “As a fully integrated part of our company, AGBNMR will be an important part of our portfolio and better positioned to offer high quality measurement for its clients. We are confident that our AGBNMR colleagues and their clients will be an important asset to The Nielsen Company and we look forward to working with them more closely. At the same time, we appreciate the value that SRDS and PERC/HCI have created for Nielsen and we are confident our colleagues in those businesses will continue to deliver important insights for clients as part of the Kantar Group.”
