MIG Deal: Velti Speaks

DM: So Mike, congratulations on the acquisition, but where did that come from?

MW: This is part of our global ambitions. We are ambitious and in a hurry, and there was a feeling that we could not wait to get where we want to be through low organic growth, and we saw this as an opportunity to catapult us into a clear leadership position. Because with this acquisition, overnight, the Velti UK office becomes the second biggest office globally for us, and puts us on the map. And it’s important, because you need a strong UK presence to develop a strong European network, and we have an eye to that as well. 

DM: So what was the appeal of MIG in particular as your latest acquisition?

MW: Part of the appeal is in their strong, proven management team. At the moment, the Velti UK structure has been reporting into business unit managers outside of the UK and I have been acting as a surrogate country manager, but we have not had a classic management structure in place over here. Now we have a great opportunity to move in together, and we are already looking at a new location to house both our teams.

There is also a good fit between the two companies in terms of the brand assignments. There are  good synergies and expertise; we are very interested in the mobile payments stuff that MIG has  been developing, and once the technologists get together, we will see more synergies that will mean that our combined efforts on platforms will help us to deliver high quality platforms and campaigns for our clients more quickly.

DM: And I understand that MIG’s mobile ad business, 4th Screen Advertising, is not part of the deal. Why is that? Did you feel you were sufficiently covered with your own advertising business?

MW: Yes, we have our own mobile advertising business and 4th Screen is thriving independently, but we do some work with 4th screen anyway. Nothing is forever of course, but for now, it’s not part of the deal.

DM: And what happens to the MIG name and brand? Does it disappear?

MW: In the near-term, we will go with a transitional thing,  where we talk about MIG as being part of the Velti family, but our long-term ambition is that it becomes part of the Velti brand. But it would be silly to throw the MIG brand away right now, because it’s very strong in the UK; that’s why we bought it. How long it will be before the MIG brand goes is hard to say. I don’t think you should say that it will be in six months or in 12 months. It should be when it feels right in the market, when we have fully got to know each other’s clients.

DM: And what’s the future for MIG’s founders, Barry Houlihan and his team?

MW: I hope that Barry will look on me as a kind of non-executive partner; someone with 30 years’ experience running businesses - I ran EMEA for Ogilvy for 12 years - and an awful lot of contacts. But I won’t get in the way of what Barry wants to do, he’s going to run the show, and the way the deal is constructed is an earn-out, so he has to focus on delivering the best performance for himself and his team.

DM: And how long before they can cash in their chips and head for the beach?

MW: We hope never. I have done some 40 acquisitions in the past, and I’ve found that people like Barry don’t want to hang up their boots too early, and one of advantages of coming into a global company is you have a bigger stage to work from, but like anyone in an earn-out situation, they have to deliver to earn the maximum they can out of it.

DM: And how quickly will the two companies come together?

MW: Very quickly. Two months ago we appointed a facilities director in San Francisco who is just in the process of moving Velti into new offices in New York, and he has been over here already, and appointed the architect to work on the design and look at locations, so it’s all moving ahead.

DM: Exciting times, good luck with it all.

MW: Thanks.

Mike Walsh is SVP, business development manager, Europe, at Velti