Cavendish Leads on the Sale of Leading ‘New Digital’ Agency Dare to OLIVER Group

Cavendish Media and Digital: Creative corporate finance for the media, digital, sport and creative industries

LONDON--()--Cavendish Corporate Finance, the UK’s leading sell-side mid-market M&A firm, has advised on the sale of Dare, one of Britain’s first and leading ‘new digital’ agencies, to OLIVER Group (“OLIVER”), the fastest growing independent agency in the UK.

Founded in 2000 by Mark Collier, the former Bartle Bogle Hegarty joint managing director, and currently owned by EDC Communications, Dare is one of Britain’s great digital success stories. Established as one of the first digital agencies in the UK, Dare quickly grew to become a leader in its field with clients including Investec, Nike, EE, Barclays and Ryanair.

Established in 2004, OLIVER has developed a revolutionary approach to marketing services putting tailor-made agency teams within its client organisations. This unique model enables the company to benefit from the intimacy and proximity of working inside its client companies, but with the benefit of an off-site hub agency supplying a wealth of resources and expertise.

With this acquisition Dare will remain a standalone agency brand operating within OLIVER and the transaction will enable both businesses to benefit through combining their unique areas of expertise - Dare with its strong digital offering and established brand and OLIVER with its disruptive industry model. All other EDC business and operations will remain unaffected by this acquisition.

Cavendish’s media and digital team, led by Partner Linda Sullivan, has a wealth of experience in advising companies operating in the creative industries, including the sale of: Rex Features to Shutterstock Inc., The Planning Shop International Limited to Adelphi Worldwide, part of Omnicom, and The Communications Agency to Communisis Plc. Cavendish completed 20 transactions in 2014 and this is the firm’s 17th deal so far this year.

Linda Sullivan, Partner and Head of Media and Digital at Cavendish Corporate Finance, commented:

“For both Dare and OLIVER this deal was a great result, bringing together two unique companies both with established track records and robust client bases. More fundamentally, we are also seeing an industry shift towards the ground-breaking ‘agency-inside’ model that OLIVER is successfully pioneering and this represents a significant opportunity for the enlarged group moving forward.”

Mark Collier, Non-Executive Chairman of Dare, commented:

“This is a hugely exciting opportunity for Dare to be part of such a progressive and fast growing marketing services group. The OLIVER model is genuinely unique and it is proving to be increasingly attractive to clients, both in the UK and internationally. Dare will now be able to work alongside OLIVER, with access to its global agency resources, whilst remaining an independent brand.”

Simon Martin, CEO of OLIVER Group, commented:

“Dare is an innovator in the digital space, creating hugely engaging digital experiences. We are excited by the possibilities of bringing them into the OLIVER Group and believe the synergies between the two companies’ innovative mindsets will lead to an exciting future.”

Contacts

For Cavendish Corporate Finance
Morgan Rossiter
Elizabeth Vincent, 0203 195 3240

Contacts

For Cavendish Corporate Finance
Morgan Rossiter
Elizabeth Vincent, 0203 195 3240