• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, April 17, 2017

COMvergence is out with a new advertising/marketing M&A report for the first quarter, which has found that WPP was the most acquisitive group during the period with seven acquisitions.

The WPP deals included the acquisition of Hispanic specialist Zubi Advertising Services and Chinese digital shop 3Ti Solutions. WPP’s acquisitions during the period added 640 employees to the firm.

The COMvergence report covers M&A activity by ad holding companies and top consultancies like Accenture on a quarterly basis.

Dentsu struck five M&A deals during the quarter, including the purchase of Swiss digital transformation specialist blue-infinity. According to the report, Dentsu added 1,400 employees via its M&A activity during the quarter, the most of any group.

Havas Group acquired four small- to mid-size agencies, including French digital shop Agence79, while Accenture bought a 62% stake in German digital agency SinnerSchrader.

According to the report, of the 24 agencies/groups acquired, 14 were digital-focused, while six were creative shops, two were media agencies and two were holding companies (in Indonesia and Sri Lanka) both acquired by Dentsu.