• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, November 9, 2012

Epsilon parent Alliance Data Systems on Friday said it has agreed to buy digital marketing services agency Hyper Marketing for $460 million.
 
Through its various units -- including Ryan Partnership, CatapultRPM, SolutionSet and Getmembers.com -- Hyper Marketing provides various digital services, from Web site design and social media integration to mobile strategy and customer relationship marketing.

Owned by private equity firm Lake Capital, Hyper Marketing clients include Unilever, The Home Depot, Kellogg and Mars. “We’re each a highly client-centric culture,” said Zain Raj, CEO of HMI.
 
Per the deal -- which is expected to close by year's end -- Alliance Data Systems plans to combine Hyper Marketing with its Epsilon direct-to-consumer marketing business.
 
For Epsilon, Hyper Marketing is expected to add scale and digital capabilities to existing verticals, including consumer product goods, telecom, retail and financial services, as well as new verticals, such as energy, fitness, quick service restaurants, and technology.
 
In the words of Bryan Kennedy, president of Epsilon, Hyper Factory will provide “critical mass across the entire digital asset spectrum.”
 
Alliance Data Systems expects Hyper Marketing to generate about $300 million in revenue in 2013, strengthening the company's annual earnings. With Hyper Marketing, Alliance is predicting that Epsilon’s 2013 revenue will reach $1.3 billion.
 
Epsilon firmly rooted itself in permission-based email marketing with the acquisition of Bigfoot Interactive for $120 million in 2005.
 
In early 2006, Epsilon acquired DoubleClick's email business for an estimated $90 million. Later that year, it acquired Abacus, which manages databases for catalog companies, from DoubleClick for $435 million.