CentralNic Group PLC (LON:CNIC) said it has agreed to acquire two businesses, Zeropark and Voluum known collectively as Codewise, for US$36mln (£28mln) in a move it says will expand its monetisation segment.
In an announcement after the close on Thursday, the internet domain name specialist said the Codewise companies provide services to domain name owners and website operators so that they can generate recurring income from the monetisation of traffic to their websites, as well as tools for online marketers to acquire traffic and customers and to manage and optimise their online marketing activities.
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More specifically, Zeropark is an ad exchange platform offering real-time-bidding solutions, connecting marketers with domain investors and publishers via its marketplace, while Voluum is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) online marketing management suite for businesses and brands, enabling online ad analytics, tracking, and media buying, using artificial intelligence-powered optimisation.
CentralNic said the acquisition will help it build market share and is expected to be “significantly earnings enhancing with immediate effect”.
“Codewise is a leading competitor to CentralNic's Team Internet business and the acquisition substantially increases CentralNic's market share in this attractive sector and considerably broadens its network of domain investor customers, monetisation partners and publishers”, the company said in a statement.
To help finance the acquisition, CentralNic said in a separate announcement on Friday morning that it has successfully raised £30mln in a “significantly oversubscribed” private placing of 40mln shares at a price of 75p each, a 6% discount to its closing price on Thursday.
"We are delighted that Zeropark and Voluum platforms and technology, expert staff and business relationships are becoming part of CentralNic, boosting not only our recurring revenues and profits, but also our market share and competitiveness. Added to our existing capabilities, the acquisition makes us a clear global leader, combining two of the most technically advanced monetisation platforms in the domain name industry, and the formidable teams that built and ran them", CentralNic chief executive Ben Crawford said in a statement.
