STRAT7 Buys Incite from Kin + Carta

London-based holding company STRAT7 has acquired Kin + Carta's strategic consultancy Incite, in a deal valued at £18m.

Incite, founded in 2000, has three practices - Research, Planning and Strategy - and aims to blend specialist insight with management consultancy. The firm has offices in London, New York, San Francisco and Chicago. Kin + Carta, then known as St Ives, acquired the company in 2012 for £11.4m.

The deal comes less than a year after the acquisition of cultural trend specialist Crowd DNA, and makes Incite the sixth brand under the STRAT7 umbrella alongside its initial divisions, Bonamy Finch, Life and Researchbods; and STRAT7+, which deploys customer-centric strategies to drive business transformation.

STRAT7 CEO Barrie Brien says: 'Incite is a highly respected, award-winning consultancy with an impressive client roster, an incredibly experienced management team and a history of delivering consistent growth. It's a great fit for STRAT7. The deal gives us a stronger footing in several industry verticals, including healthcare, technology, FMCG and financial services, plus we'll have a much stronger presence in the US market, the world's largest for market research, trends and insights. And, most importantly, our clients will benefit from a team of the world's best strategists, forecasters, researchers and analysts, who blend intellect & imagination to solve commercial challenges and drive growth'.

STRAT7 says the buy also gives it an impressive client roster including Novartis, Gilead, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Nestle and PepsiCo; and a pro-forma revenue of approximately £35m. It already has offices in Leeds, Amsterdam, New York, Singapore, Stockholm and Sydney.

Incite Global MD Peter Kneale (pictured) comments: 'We're really excited to be joining STRAT7. As soon as we met, it was clear that it is the perfect home for Incite. We're joining a bigger community of like-minded researchers, planners and strategists and the combination of our strengths and the existing STRAT7 businesses will bring real benefit to our clients. In particular, STRAT7's expertise in customer analytics, cultural insight and research technology platforms are highly complementary and will provide an immediate boost to our offer and ability to innovate to meet client needs'.

Web sites: www.strat7.com and www.incite-global.com .