Kin and Carta Buys US Firm Spire Digital

London-based company Kin and Carta plc has agreed to acquire US-based Spire Digital, Inc. Both are specialists in digital transformation consulting.

Known until a year ago as St. Ives, Kin + Carta includes a number of marketing services businesses, including consumer and MR consultancy Incite, retail and consumer specialist Pragma, and digital marketing agency Realise. Last year the group merged three of its businesses - Response One, Amaze One and Occam - to create a new agency combining data science and marketing technology. Kin + Carta employs around 1,500 strategists and creatives across four continents.

The latest buy should enhance its client offering and expand its geographic reach to the western US, the company says, and is expected to be earnings-enhancing in the first full year of ownership. Spire is located in Denver, Colorado, employs more than 100 people and had revenues of $9.4m in calendar year 2018, with annual growth averaging above 20% for the last c.4 years. The firm is led by President Adam Hasemeyer and COO Nick Coppolo, who will remain as its senior management. Company founder and majority owner Mike Gellman (pictured) will remain an advisor to Spire Digital, which will be integrated into Kin + Carta's Innovation platform in stages.

The deal comprises an initial cash consideration of around $14.8m, plus earnouts based on EBITDA at the end of 2019 and 2020, with the total capped at £27m. Kin + Carta will finance the buy from the net proceeds of an underwritten equity placing announced separately today to raise approximately £13.6 million before expenses, representing approximately 9.9% of the Company's existing share capital; plus drawings under existing revolving credit facility and existing cash resources. The acquisition is conditional on the equity placing but does not require shareholder approval.

Kin + Carta CEO J Schwan says the buy 'delivers a strategic foothold in the western United States with a best-in-class software design and engineering capability that adds to [the firm's] fast growing Innovation pillar'. He adds: 'Spire has a strong reputation of delivering highly innovative solutions and building a winning culture that's hard to find'.

Hasemeyer comments: 'To realize our fullest potential, we recognized that we needed a partner with deeper resources and a broad geographic reach. We scouted the market from the largest global firms to niche players and decided on Kin + Carta as the perfect choice for Spire. We identify closely with the spirit of entrepreneurialism and agility that we found there and are excited to reach new heights as a part of this impressive organization'.

Web sites: www.kinandcarta.com and www.spiredigital.com .