Charles Russell Speechlys were pleased to advise TCC Global, a leading global retail marketing company on its acquisition of online retailing specialist, Summit Media Limited. TCC and Summit see this as a partnership set to create a new generation of digitally-led marketing programmes for retailers.
The deal sees TCC Global, which turned over €500m in 2015, bring in Summit’s expertise in online retailing to enhance its digital engagement capabilities. Summit, which turned over in excess of £47m in the same year, will retain its established brand and existing senior management team, who have worked in the business for many years.
TCC Global was founded in 1991 by Richard Beattie, the group’s Chairman. Today, TCC Global runs campaigns in more than 70 countries, operating from 34 offices around the world. As one of the biggest players in the loyalty marketing field, it is a global leader in creating campaigns that deliver sustainable sales growth and enhanced brand equity for its clients, including many leading international retailers such as Tesco, Carrefour, Lidl, Aldi, Woolworths Australia and 7-Eleven. TCC Global works with a diverse range of partners to bring its campaigns to life, including global brands such as Disney, MasterChef, Warner Bros., Pyrex and major FMCG suppliers.
Summit was launched in 2000, by CEO and founder Hedley Aylott, and has grown to over 160 staff in three locations across Europe. Summit received investment from Rcapital in 2015, accelerating the company’s growth. The retail specialist, which has transformed the online offering of a list of clients including Jaguar Land Rover, Peugeot, Argos, Reckitt Benckiser and Carpetright, brings with it state-of-the-art marketing intelligence platform Forecaster. Forecaster was developed by Summit in 2015 and draws data from a diverse range of sources and applies complex statistical models to predict the sales from any given online marketing spend.
Perry Valkenburg, CEO of TCC Global said, “TCC are adding more digital engagement platforms to TCC Global’s portfolio, so Summit’s expertise in online retail and data analytics will be hugely valuable. As a combined force we can deliver unrivalled expertise to the retail market. We were very pleased to work with Martin Wright and the team at Charles Russell Speechlys.”
Martin Wright, Corporate Partner at Charles Russell Speechlys said “We have worked with TCC since its creation by Richard Beattie twenty five years ago. We were delighted to be assisting them with this important acquisition. The cross border aspects of the transaction and the varied Summit shareholder base posed some interesting challenges as the deal advanced. It was a pleasure to work with Perry Valkenburg, Ton Schipperijn and the TCC team. We are very pleased that this has reached a successful completion and look forward to following the development of this exciting business within the TCC group.”
The Charles Russell Speechlys team comprised Martin Wright and Shilpa Dougall (Corporate), Helen Coward (Tax), Jaclyn Wilkins (Commercial and IP), Claire Timmings (Property) and Becky Lawton (Employment).
The sellers were advised by Livingstone (Daniel Domberger) and by Shakespeare Martineau led by partner Adam McGiveron and associate Emma Bryant.
