May 17 (Reuters) – French advertising group Publicis Groupe has agreed to acquire U.S. data collaboration company LiveRamp for a total enterprise value of about $2.2 billion in an all-cash deal, it said on Sunday.
Under the terms of the agreement, Publicis will pay $38.50 per share for LiveRamp, a 29.8% premium to the U.S. company’s closing price on May 15, the last trading day before the announcement. The transaction represents a total equity value of $2.546 billion and includes acquired net cash of $379 million.
The deal, unanimously approved by both companies’ boards, is expected to be earnings-accretive from the first year of consolidation, Publicis said.Â
The French group raised its 2027 and 2028 constant-currency growth targets to 7%-8% for net revenue and 8%-10% for headline earnings per share, from previous guidance of 6%-7% and 7%-9% respectively.
LiveRamp connects more than 25,000 publisher domains and over 500 technology and data partners across 14 markets, and employs around 1,300 people.
(Reporting by Ruchika Khanna in Bengaluru and Mathieu Rosemain in Paris; editing by Barbara Lewis)
