International Marketing & Sales Group (IMSG), the Irish-based company that will soon take over Friends Advertising, is negotiating the acquisition of several Romanian advertising agencies, according to Chairman Greg Thain. "We are planning three or four transactions in Romania in the next 12 months. We are having active negotiations to buy several Romanian companies. Our plan is to announce another transaction in two or three weeks," he said.
IMSG is expecting the forthcoming Romanian operations to generate 5-8% of the overall profit. The company intends to keep the current management of Friends Advertising and make significant investments in its development. Negotiations started in September 2006, but the process will only end in 2011, when all Friends Advertising shares will have changed hands. IMSG operates in 20 cities in countries such as Russia, Turkey, Hungary, Ukraine and India.