Writtle Holdings acquires Loewy Group

Writtle says the move will create a group with revenues of around £100 million a year. It says it has acquired Loewy in an all-share deal and raised more than £4.5 million from existing Writtle and Loewy shareholders to fund further growth.

Writtle already operates consultancies including 20/20 and Arken, and this move will bring them together with Loewy’s consultancies to create a group of 16 companies working across design, branding, digital and PR.

Loewy chief executive Iain Johnston is leaving the group as part of the move, while Writtle says the recently launched Loewy Unlimited collaborative offer will continue ’in a lighter form’.

Writtle chairman Robert Essex says, ‘It is rare to find such a complementary mix between two marketing services groups. We will combine Loewy’s renowned brand and excellent operating companies with Writtle’s business model of decentralised growth and equity involvement for key directors to fuel further growth. It is a strategy that has served us well to date.’

Loewy chairman Will Whitehorn says, ‘As marketing services continue to develop at the same rapid pace as digital technologies and social media, we believe that the winners will be those organisations in the industry that can invest for the future while remaining entrepreneurial in their outlook. Bringing together these two complementary groups creates precisely this environment.’