Cheil Worldwide announced the acquisition of the controlling shareholdings of Centrade Integrated

Cheil Worldwide, one of the most important global communication networks, announced the acquisition of the controlling shareholdings of Centrade Integrated. The acquisition is part of the network’s strategy of growing the competitiveness on the global market and of building business platforms that would support the future extension through an intense activity of mergers and acquisitions.

Founded in 1993, Centrade Integrated, part of Centrade USA Group, advertising agency with the central office in Romania and with a significant presence in the South-East Europe, offers a large range of communication solutions at an European level, from ATL to BTL, up to digital or retail. Centrade Integrated has a solid portfolio of clients in  Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Hungary. The agency’s digital business registered a significant growth of 80% in the last two years that lead last year to a total revenue growth of 54%.

Cheil Worldwide announced for the first trimester of 2018 a 10% growth of the consolidated revenue, with a growth of the operational profit of 12%. Given this good moment for the network, Cheil is expecting that the acquisition of  Centrade Integrated will contribute to the extension of its business platform in Europe, but also to the consolidation of the global business that represents 75% of the global network’s total revenue.

Cheil Worldwide will continue its expansion process through mergers and acquisitions, having its eyes set on specialized agencies, with expertise in the aria of digital innovation on data analysis, marketing digital and e-commerce. The global agency will have different approaches, depending on the region – will concentrate on the business’ diversification and expansion on the developed markets, such as the American and British ones,while, on the emerging markets such as South-West Asia and Latin America, will work on becoming the market leader.

Cheil Worldwide took the commitment of transforming from a traditional advertising agency into a company that offers integrated digital and creative solutions. I am a big believer that the acquisition of  Centrade Integrated will contribute to the consolidation of our digital capabilities on the global market,” said Jeongkeun Yoo, president and CEO Cheil Worldwide.

On his turn, Radu Florescu, CEO Centrade Integrated, commented:

We are glad to be truly integrated in the Cheilnetwork. Our collaboration in the last two years produced important results for our clients and we wish that on the future we will become more and more visible in the region, in the digital marketing area”.

At the same time, Cheil Worldwide continued to make significant investment last year in digital media and B2B marketing, by buying PSL, a consultancy firm in B2B marketing B2B with the headquarters in Toronto, and Atom42, a British online marketing agency, via the agency Iris, member of the Cheil network in UK.