Dentsu Inc. (Tokyo: 4324; ISIN: JP3551520004; President & CEO: Tadashi Ishii; Head Office: Tokyo; Capital: 74,609.81 million yen) announced today that its global business headquarters Dentsu Aegis Network Ltd. has reached an agreement with the principal shareholders of full-service creative agency Grip Limited (Head Office: Toronto, Canada; hereinafter 'Grip') to acquire the company.

Founded in 2002, Grip offers a full range of creative services, including the development of advertising strategies and advertising production. With over 150 employees, it is currently one of the largest creative agencies in Canada. The main growth drivers are the company's creative capabilities and expertise in the digital domain, including social media, mobile and CRM. Grip has strengths in branded content, and its work recently won Gold at Cannes Lions. The quality of the value-added services provided by the agency has earned it widespread recognition from both local and global clients.

Following the acquisition, Grip will maintain its name and branding, and will work to create synergies with the other Dentsu Group advertising and media agencies in Canada.

In its September 2015 worldwide advertising expenditure forecasts, the Group's media communications agency Carat announced that advertising expenditures in Canada grew 2.5% in 2014. Digital ad spend, however, rose 12.9% and is expected to continue its double-digit growth, with 13.8% forecast for 2015 and 11.8% for 2016.

The impact of this transaction on Dentsu's consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2016 is expected to be minimal.

A profile of Grip is provided on the following page.

Profile of Grip
Company Name: Grip Limited
Headquarters Location: Toronto, Canada
Date of Establishment: January 2002
Shareholding Ratio*: Dentsu Aegis Network 100%
*After acquisition has been completed
Revenue: CAD 21.3 million (year ended December 2014)
Representative: Bob Shanks (Co-founder and Managing Partner)
Number of Employees: 150
Line of Business: Advertising focused on the digital domain, development of advertising strategies, branded content and creative services

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Dentsu Inc. issued this content on 2016-01-07 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 2016-01-07 04:18:04 UTC

Original Document: http://www.dentsu.com/news/release/2016/0107-008616.html