Taptica looks to firm U.S. footprint with $177 mln RhythmOne deal
(Adds details on deal)
Feb 4 (Reuters) - Mobile video advertising company Taptica International Ltd said on Monday it agreed to buy U.S.-focused peer RhythmOne Plc for about 135 million pounds ($176.6 million) in stock as it looks to expand in the United States.
RhythmOne shareholders will receive 28 new Taptica shares for every 33 shares held, according to AIM-listed Taptica, which serves the likes of Amazon.com, Disney and Twitter.
Taptica had last week offered 16 new shares in exchange for 19 RhythmOne shares.
Taptica sees value in U.S.-based internet TV provider YuMe, owned by RhythmOne, working alongside Taptica's Tremor Video, a platform which matches advertisers with their desired audiences.
Taptica bought Tremor Video's Demand-Side Platform in August to push into the United States and Japan-based Adinnovation in July.
Taptica said the RhythmOne deal already had the backing of 46.6 percent shareholders of Taptica and 50.95 percent of RhythmOne.
The combined company plans to launch a $15 million discretionary share buyback programme immediately following completion of the offer. ($1 = 0.7644 pounds) (Reporting by Arathy S Nair and Devika Syamnath in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)