WPP agency acquires 'demand generation' firm

Media megalith WPP has announced that its key Ogilvy & Mather agency has acquired a majority stake of Verticurl, a demand generation and marketing automation services firm in Singapore.Ogilvy's customer engagement division, OgilvyOne, will take control of a company that employs more than 160 people working across offices in Japan, China, Australia, Korea, India, Indonesia, the UK, Germany, the US and Canada.Verticurl made just over £3.0m revenues in the year to March, with gross assets of £1.4m.WPP said the investment was "a further step towards WPP's declared goal of developing its businesses in the fast growing economies of Asia Pacific, as well as Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe". The FTSE 100 group pointed out that its businesses in the Asia Pacific region, including associates, now generate revenues of $5.0bn and employ almost 50,000 people. Shares in WPP were down 0.1% to 1,192p at 12:10 on Tuesday.OH