Havas to acquire Riverorchid to broaden footprint in SE Asia
HAVAS, a French multinational advertising and public relations company, yesterday announced its planned acquisition of Riverorchid, a communications-agency network based in Indochina with specialist operations in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vie
Targeted for completion by the end of the year, the acquisition will be a significant expansion for the global agency across Indochina.
Havas Worldwide Southeast Asia is part of Havas Worldwide, an integrated marketing communications agency and the first to be named Global Agency of the Year by both Advertising Age and Campaign magazines in the same year.
The Havas Worldwide network is made up of 11,000 employees in 316 offices in 120 cities and 75 countries.
In Southeast Asia, Havas Worldwide has a presence in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. It provides advertising, marketing, corporate communications, and digital and social media solutions to clients including Air France, Tokio Marine, Coca-Cola, Credit Suisse, Danone, Far East Organization, Merck, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Reckitt Benckiser and Sanofi.
This strategic move will see Havas become the only global group with operations in all five countries of Indochina, strengthening its physical presence across nine out of 10 Southeast Asian economies.
Riverorchid brings a team of about 250 people offering integrated solutions including advertising, media, PR, research and digital. Riverorchid has won the Campaign Asia Pacific Creative Agency of the Year Award Gold Trophy for Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar for three years running. It also won both the Gold and Silver Awards for Media Agency of the Year for Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar in 2014.
With its fully integrated servicing structure and offer, Riverorchid already mirrors the Havas Village concept that is being set in place in all Havas offices globally. This concept is a competitive advantage for Havas, which allows teams to collaborate across agencies and capabilities, providing the highest level of expertise and the most creative integrated offering possible.
This expansion is significant in that Havas will now have new operations in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, while boosting its operations in Thailand and Vietnam.
Present at the signing ceremony in Phnom Penh was Yannick Bollore, chairman and chief executive officer of Havas, along with the founding partners of Riverorchid, Pick Pimolsaengsuriya and Warwick Olds.
“With over 230 million people in one of the world’s fastest-growing and most dynamic regions, Indochina is a tremendously exciting market for Havas and its clients,” Bollore said.
