Kenya's Scan Group, Ogilvy & Mather Agree to Form an Ogilvy Africa Venture

Scan Group Ltd., East Africa’s biggest advertising company, said it entered into a partnership with Ogilvy & Mather Group Holdings Ltd. to form a new unit known as Ogilvy Africa.

The companies “agreed to create a pan-African joint venture via a share-swap transaction, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals,” according to a joint statement published in the Nairobi-based Daily Nation newspaper today.

Ogilvy South Africa will exchange its holding in its operations outside South Africa for a combination of Scan Group shares and cash. In addition, Koome Mwambia, the chief executive officer of Nairobi-based Ogilvy East Africa, will exchange his stake in Ogilvy Kenya for cash and shares in Scan Group, the companies said.

Ogilvy Africa, which will become the largest advertising and communications company in East Africa, will appoint a CEO. Mwambia will remain head of Ogilvy East Africa, according to the statement.

In October, Scan Group, which is 27.5 percent owned by London-based WPP Plc, the world’s biggest communications company, started a digital marketing unit known as Squad Digital, a joint venture between it, India’s Smile Interactive Technology Group and Quasar, a unit of WPP Digital.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Ombok in Nairobi at eombok@bloomberg.net.