Independent ad agency 303 has sold 51% of its business to Interpublic-owned Lowe Australia, in a deal that will see the two agencies merge to become 303Lowe.
303’s management team, led by chief executive Nick Cleaver, will become the management team of the new agency. Lowe Sydney chief executive Stephen Pearson has left the role and moved to New Zealand.
The new management team consists of Sydney managing director Jon Mckie, executive creative director Simon Langley, Perth managing director Alan Taylor, Perth creative director Lindsay Medalia, media director Clive Bingwa and head of planning Derry Simpson.
Cleaver said: "It's a rare opportunity to partner with a resurgent international agency. We have been impressed by Lowe’s work in overseas markets, particularly in the US and the UK where similar partnerships with Deutsch and DLKW have seen the Lowe agency once again beginning to fire."
Interpublic has been using acquisition to strengthen its local offering. Last month, Interpublic-owned business McCann Worldgroup bought indie operation Smart.
In August, AdNews signalled that Lowe was intending to buy 303, although at the time Cleaver was tight-lipped about the deal.
The newly formed agency will have about 140 staff. Its client list includes Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Aussie, Harley-Davidson, PepsiCo, Fujitsu, Red Rooster, Ikea, Cash Converters, Cerebos and Fairfax Digital.
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