DemoPower, a member of Omni Marketing Global, the leading retail marketing firm operating predominantly in markets across Asia Pacific, acquires the share in POS Media Group from Genesis Equity Fund III (GPEF III). The synergies of POS Media and Omni Marketing Global are opening the way to a major expansion both on current and new markets. The controlling share remains in the ownership of the founder and CEO of the Company, Mr Richard van het Bolscher. The transaction marks the first successful exit of the Genesis’ latest fund.
GPEF III acquired a 47% share in POS Media Group, a provider of point-of-sale advertising and in-store communications solutions, in March 2017. The stake is now being acquired by DemoPower, a Thailand-based firm specialising in point-of-sale demonstration and brand awareness campaigns, which in turn is part of Omni Marketing Global, the leader in shopper marketing services in Asia and Canada.
“Partnering with Omni Marketing Global, POS Media as the European market leader in shopper activation solutions will join the market leader in Asia and become part of a global group with greater international ambitions to realise the Group’s potential outside of POS Media’s traditional European markets. I believe that OMG will be a great partner for our firm’s further growth,” says Richard van het Bolscher, the founder and CEO of POS Media Group, who retains the controlling interest.
“The acquisition in POS Media Group by Omni Marketing Global together with our publicly listed partner VGI Global Media, is very strategic for all involved. Among other things, it opens the door to the Central European markets and to Russia, where POS Media Group has a particularly strong position. The collective management teams have started to exchange best practices and proprietary technologies among the various country directors, and we believe this collaboration between the teams will produce tremendous growth opportunities in sales and profits in the European markets POS Media services today and in the future.“
“This aquisition expands the Omni Marketing Global footprint to 22 countries, and provides further areas of activation expertise, creativity-based solutions and technology to deliver better results for all our marketing and retail partners,” says Robert Mebruer, CEO of Omni Marketing Global, commenting on the acquisition.
The sale of POS Media Group becomes the first successful exit for the latest Genesis fund, Genesis Private Equity Fund III, already in the third year of its initial five-year investment period. The Fund has a total of over EUR 80 million in committed capital for investments into small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Austria, and will be actively investing until August 2020.
“POS Media is a strong regional player in a very dynamic field, and immediately from the moment of our investment it has attracted interest from global marketing groups active in retail media. The new partner will help POS Media build on its strengths and realise its international potential beyond its European markets. The deal with DemoPower offered a highly attractive return to the Fund’s investors already after a fairly short 14-month investment period. I am glad that Genesis’ bet on retail services industry has paid off,” said Jan Tauber, Managing Partner at Genesis Capital, an advisor to Genesis private equity funds.
About POS Media Group
POS Media Group was founded in Prague in 1998 as IMIGe (International Media Ideas Group), initially focusing on indoor media concepts. Later, the Company reoriented towards retail and in-store media in retail chains, dynamically expanding and establishing new subsidiaries in Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.
Today, POS Media Group offers a wide range of products and services in the area of point of sale advertisement in large retail chains, complemented by marketing solutions in the form of trade promotion, sampling, merchandising, mystery shopping, digital solutions, surveys and complex advisory services. The Company is active in six countries in Central and Eastern Europe with related subsidiary offices in two countries in Western Europe.
About DemoPower
DemoPower was established in 1996 and is the largest trial and demonstration service company in Asia, covering a nationwide network of stores in Thailand. The Company specializes in unique and highly customized total brand experience campaigns that create great brand awareness and drive brand engagement. DemoPower Thailand is a member of Omni Marketing Global.
About OMG Asia
Since 1993, Omni Marketing Global has been the leading strategic full-service partner in providing shopper marketing solutions working directly with leading retailers and marketers across Asia Pacific, extending to a total of 16 countries.Through our business unit portfolio
ActMedia, DemoPower, K2 Insight, Red Basket, StoreMinder, U-Marketing and Continuity Plus, we offer a comprehensive suite of shopper marketing services, such as interactive sensorial based in-store media, product demonstrations, merchandising, data mining and precision marketing programs.
About Genesis Capital
Genesis Capital provides advisory services to private equity funds offering access to financing for growth and development of small and medium-sized companies in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Since its foundation in 1999, Genesis Capital has provided consultancy to four private equity funds with a cumulative size exceeding EUR 170 million. These funds supported 50 firms, having invested over CZK 3 billion. Many of those firms became leaders in their respective fields also thanks to their cooperation with Genesis.
The current fund, Genesis Private Equity Fund III (GPEF III), with the size of over EUR 80 million has been actively investing since 2015. Similar to its predecessors, GPEF III focuses on investments into small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with the option to allocate part of the resources also to direct investments in Poland, Hungary and Austria.
Investors in GPEF III are mostly local and international institutions and investment firms such as the European Investment Fund (EIF), Česká spořitelna (member of Erste Group), Amundi Czech Republic (member of international group Amundi), Kooperativa pojišťovna and Česká podnikatelská pojišťovna (both members of Vienna Insurance Group), a Finnish fund-of-funds firm eQ Private Equity, a pension fund of a renowned global company, and a Czech family office.
Currently, the Genesis funds hold shares in the following companies: KS Klima-Service, GTH catering, Aranea, 3070, Quinta-Analytica HP Tronic/Datart, D2G, Sanborn and Stangl Technik.