Ive Group buys into media with Motio acquisition

IVE Group is set to acquire Motio, a place-based and location intelligence media company, in a deal worth said to be worth $20 million.

The marketing and print communications company is moving to take out Motio via a scheme of arrangement, offering 6.0 cents per share in cash.

The bid represents a 15% premium to OOH company’s 18 September closing price, according to the announcement.

IVE on broadening Motio's offering

In the ASX announcement, Motio Chair Jason Byrne said: "The Board has carefully considered the proposal from IVE and believes the Scheme represents an attractive outcome for Motio shareholders.

“Motio has undergone a significant transformation over recent years, building a focused and increasingly valuable portfolio of specialist digital Out-of-Home media networks. The proposed transaction recognises that progress while providing shareholders with the certainty of an all-cash outcome."

Motio Managing Director Adam Cadwallader said: "We have spent the past several years building Motio into a very different business, simplifying the Company, improving its operating performance and establishing specialist media networks across a number of attractive environments; it’s an achievement that the team should feel incredibly proud of. 

“IVE is a highly regarded Australian business with significant scale, capability and complementary expertise. We believe there is a strong strategic fit between the two businesses and that IVE is well placed to support the next phase of Motio’s development.”

Matt Aitken, IVE Group Managing Director, said: 'Motio has developed a strong and differentiated set of capabilities across digital place-based media, media sales, ad-technology and owned media networks. These capabilities are highly complementary to IVE’s existing platform and provide a targeted entry into an attractive and growing segment of the media market.

"We believe the combination creates a strong platform to further develop Motio’s offering, broaden its commercial opportunities and continue the acceleration of IVE’s integrated solutions strategy."

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