Following news last month that Awin will be merging with affilinet, the two performance marketing networks have received “all mandatory approvals” for the transaction to go ahead.
In an announcement on affilinet’s blog, Awin CEO Mark Walters has said he looks forward to touring the affilinet offices and putting the “best minds from both companies onto the task of building the network of the future”.
Following antitrust approval, the acquisition is in shape to complete early next month (October), according to the blog post attributed to Marius Wolf, head of international business development & sales communication in affilinet’s Munich office.
“The merger is now set to complete in early October 2017 and the management teams of both businesses can begin the process of building the new, unified company,” said Wolf.
The combined company, based in Berlin, will operate under the Awin brand with joint shareholders; European publisher and current Awin parent company Axel Springer will own 80%, while United Internet, affilinet’s owner, will take 20%.
The result of the merge will be a combined “global entity”, according to the announcement, “providing unrivaled service, sophisticated technology and increased international reach for its partners.”
Last month in an interview for PerformanceIN, Walters shunned concerns that the acquisition could lead to a monopoly, stating, “Competition drives us so, like others, we would consider a monopoly to be a bad thing for the industry.
“We recognise our responsibilities as market leader more than ever and promise to use our influence and position for the good of all our partners.”
Following the merger’s approval today, Wolf stated that any changes affecting Awin’s partners will be communicated “well in advance”, pointing at the network’s track record for successful mergers and acquisitions.
Affilinet CEO, Christian Würst added, “It is great that we will be able to start the collaboration with our colleagues from Awin so quickly. This is a unique opportunity and we are looking forward to exchanging ideas to drive future growth and innovate the industry.”