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Comms group Next 15 has acquired a digital rival for £5.9m

Digital communications group Next 15 has acquired B2B digital agency Velocity Partners Limited in a deal worth around £5.9m

The acquisition, which sees the publicly listed comms firm acquire the entire issued share capital of Velocity, will be satisfied with an initial £4.9m in cash with the remaining balance satisfied by the issuing of 251,966 new shares. With further payments in the pipeline based on profits targets over each of the next five years.

Founded back in 2000 by Doug Kessler and Stan Woods, UK-based Velocity has grown in the intervening years into a multinational operation with a particular focus on the US market where it boasts some high-profile clients including Sprint, Xerox and Informatica.

Tim Dyson, Chief Executive Officer of Next 15, commented: “Data-driven content marketing is the fastest growing part of the marketing mix right now. This is a key area of investment for us going forward.

“Velocity has built an impressive business with a strong B2B focus that means it will placed to achieve its ambitions in the US and UK markets.

“At its core is a strong management team that shares our vision and values. We are very excited to work with them to help them achieve their plans.”

Stan Woods, founder of Velocity, said: “Velocity has always been fiercely independent. But as soon as we met the team at Next 15, we could see that this was the right home for us. We’re thrilled to be a part of such a strong group.”