S4 Capital to acquire Circus Marketing

S4 Capital, launched by former WPP chief executive Martin Sorrell in 2018, will merge Circus with its global content practice, built around MediaMonks.

Founded in 2005, Circus has around 350 staff in eight locations across the US, Latin America and Europe. The firm’s clients include Netflix, Uber and Facebook.

Following S4’s acquisition of São Paulo-based programmatic consultancy ProgMedia last year, the move bolsters the company’s presence in the Latin America region, and also adds a new office in Spain.

Sir Martin Sorrell, executive chairman, S4 Capital, said: “Bruno Lambertini, Ignacio Liaudat and Luis Alonso and their colleagues at Circus share our vision of focusing on purely digital content, unencumbered by analogue baggage.”

He added: “They are buying into our unitary model, combining seamlessly with our content and programmatic practices.” 

The deal is expected to add around $38m in projected revenues and $20m in gross profit. According to the company, consideration for the deal will be just over half in cash and the remainder in S4 Capital ordinary shares. Specific terms were not disclosed.