Joelson, a leading London law firm, is delighted to have advised the team behind one of the world’s leading platforms for assessing marketing effectiveness, WARC Limited.

The shareholders and founder, who established WARC some 30 years ago, have agreed to dispose of the entire share capital to Ascential plc.

The deal see’s Ascential plc, a global specialist information company, acquire WARC – a leader in providing information and insight to understand and measure multi-channel advertising.

WARC saw its revenue grow by around 10 per cent in the year to 31 March 2018, which along with its unique offering, attracted Ascential plc to the successful and well-established business.

The deal will strengthen Ascential’s digital product offering in marketing to span both creative excellence and marketing effectiveness. Part of this will see WARC combine with Cannes Lions’, The Work, to form a comprehensive digital subscription service for marketers.

Reflecting on the deal in a company statement, Duncan Painter, CEO of Ascential said: “Ascential enables its customers to win in the digital economy. WARC is an important step forward as we continue to grow our digital offering, adding breadth and depth to our marketing proposition.

“Alongside Cannes Lions’ The Work, our recent digital product launch, we will now have a digital subscription product of scale encompassing both creative excellence and marketing effectiveness.”

Throughout the transaction Joelson’s Corporate and Commercial team, led by Chairman Sheldon Cordell and Partner Phil Hails-Smith, worked on behalf of WARC’s shareholders to secure the deal. The Joelson team working on this transaction also included fellow Partner, Philippa Sturt, as well as solicitor Maria Michael.

“We are delighted to have helped WARC Limited and its shareholders with this important step in their company’s history,” said Phil.

“By combining their expertise with Ascential plc and its Cannes Lion offering, they have created one of the market’s most influential businesses and I am sure that this acquisition will put the firm in an excellent position to further strengthen its place within the sector. It has been a challenging timetable of just three weeks from start to finish, but a very successful outcome for our clients.”