Aegis buys US digital agency in deal that could cost $360m

Aegis has acquired US company Roundarch in a deal which could cost up to $360m (£228m) if the digital agency's management can hit tough targets to trigger maximum earnout payments. The UK media buying group, which is putting to use a significant chunk of the £528m from the sale of research business Synovate last summer, has paid an initial $125m to buy Roundarch. Aegis has agreed a five-year earnout structure through to 2016 based on Roundarch hitting a series of profit targets which it expects will result in the business costing $250m. However, Aegis admitted that if Roundarch "significantly outperforms" projections it could pay more, up to a limit of $360m. Roundarch, which has clients including Avis, HBO and the US air force, will be merged with Aegis's Isobar digital network in the US. Aegis said the deal will push Aegis Media's proportion of revenue from digital to 40%. Roundarch employs 250 staff and has offices in Chicago, Denver, Boston and New York. Aegis made £528m from the sale of Synovate to French research giant Ipsos and pledged to use about £300m for acquisitions and return £200m to shareholders via a special dividend. Aegis share price was up 3.2p, or 1.89%, to 172.2p at 4pm. Last month Aegis won the $3bn-a-year General Motors ad account , the third-largest global advertiser, in what analysts called a game changing win for the UK-listed company. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook .