Manhattan Communications acquires majority stakes in Mediamorphosis and Ethnocast

Manhattan Communications has acquired a majority stake in Mediamorphosis LLC, a 360 degree full service communications agency based in New York. According to sources, it has acquired another 78 per cent stake in Mediamorphosis.

Manhattan Communications (India) is a marketing solutions company that provides advertising, branding, PR, marketing (including media, interactive, ATL and BTL) and event management services both across the country as well as outside India. Till now, it had 10 per cent stake in Mediamorphosis. Bennett Coleman & Co. and Pay Pod Inc. are also equity holders in the agency, apart from other promoters.

Manhattan Communications plans to increase its equity holding in Mediamorphosis to 100 per cent within this year, says Shantonu Aditya, director and chief executive officer, Manhattan India.

Aditya says, "With the acquisition of Mediamorphosis LLC and Ethnocast Inc. by Manhattan India, all business activities of the company will now consolidate under a single entity. This shall help us build scale across markets in South Asia, Europe and the USA. We have aggressive growth plans and are actively looking at various growth opportunities that are being offered."

The company has also acquired a majority holding in Ethnocast Inc, the subsidiary company of Mediamorphosis which owns the B2B portal Ethniconlinenetwork.com (EON).

EON is an online ad network dedicated to serve online ads targeted towards South Asia based consumers on the Internet. It was acquired by Mediamorphosis from the US based technology company, PayPod, in 2009.

Adris Chakraborty, chairperson, Manhattan India, says, "With Manhattan acquiring a majority stake in an international agency, the company shall have a truly global business presence and consequent business opportunities."