Media services firm Zoo Digital has raised nearly £12.5m ($15m) in a share placing to fund the acquisition of a Japanese partner.
The Sheffield-based provider of subtitling and media localisation services expects to close the deal in the third quarter of this year. Zoo says the target firm has worked on its cloud based services for some time and the move will give it the ability to provide Japanese language services which it has so far done through outsourcing.
The fundraise came through an oversubscribed share placing with support from existing and new shareholders. In an update to investors explaining the rationale for the acquisition, Zoo said Japan is a leading growth market in global media streaming services and Japanese subtitling is charged at the highest rate of any language with Japanese dubbing as the sixth most expensive.
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Stuart Green, CEO of Zoo, said: "The proposed acquisition of our trusted partner in Japan is highly complementary to our existing activities and will cement our position as a leading provider of media localisation services across South East Asia. It brings a high quality team together alongside strong relationships with major clients. Importantly, the acquisition adds specialist capability in Japanese language titles and extends our capacity in another fast-growing market.
"This is the next step in our proven strategy to grow a global connected network through acquisitions and partnerships in markets strategically aligned with our customers. As demonstrated by the success of our Indian and South Korean businesses, regional hubs add significant strategic value to the group by providing access to specific expertise and local talent.
"This strategy has supplemented our strong organic growth, enabling Zoo to increase its annual revenues by 32% over the past four years and EBITDA by 55% to $12m on a CAGR basis (expected revenue and EBITDA adjusted for share based payments). We are confident of further growth in the future as more global content providers adopt our cloud-based platform."
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