Daiko Advertising Inc, a full-service advertising company headquartered in Osaka, Japan has acquired a majority stake in New Delhi-based creative advertising agency From Here On Communications Pvt. Ltd (FHO) for an undisclosed amount.
Post this acquisition, FHO will be rebranded as Daiko From Here On Communications, or Daiko FHO. Corporate Catalyst India Pvt. Ltd acted as the sole financial advisor to Daiko for the transaction.
FHO was founded in 2011 by veterans Rajesh Aggarwal and Sabyasachi Sen. Aggarwal is currently the chief executive officer of the company while Sen is the chief creative officer. Sabyasachi Sen and Rajesh Aggarwal had 47.79% stake each in the FHO. The remaining 4.42% stake was held by Shivanand Mohanty, creative partner at the agency. Sen and Aggarwal will continue to manage Daiko FHO in the same role after the acquisition too.
Commenting on the acquisition Sen said, “We see this as a great opportunity to learn from each other, and explore new dimensions in communication”. Aggarwal added, “This will allow us to use international tools and learnings, to take Daiko FHO to the next level. We will now look at expanding into new markets.”
FHO provides artistic & innovative advertising services for digital & print media as well as for television in India. They have done extremely well in works related to web designing, content creation, social media handling & promotion, digital advertising, branding and others. Company currently has a team of 44 and its clientele includes bike maker Yamaha, cricket news portal Cricbuzz.com, bathroom fittings brand Grohe, Tilda, Emaar, American Standard, Kenstar, MensXP, Reliance, Videocon, Escorts, ET Money, Prince Pipes and others.
FHO has grown at an express pace as an independent full service advertising agency. According to VCCEdge, the research arm of VCCircle, the net sales of FHO increased almost 21% to INR 21.3 crore in 2016-17. The net profit of FHO has almost doubled to INR 2.53 crore on a year-on-year basis.
Before the naissance of FHO, both Sabyasachi Sen and Rajesh Aggarwal were associated with some Japanese Company named, Dentsu. Sen was the head of Indian operations and worked as the executive vice chairman and chief creative officer while Aggarwal was group president of Dentsu India group. Sen also had stints with Rediffusion DY&R, Mudra, Trikaya Grey and JWT. Rajesh has worked with Panasonic India and Rediffusion DY&R in the past.
Daiko manages advertising for domestic and overseas newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, outdoor, traffic and movie media, direct mailing, public relations, among other services. It handles works related to design, management, planning, production, and publishing. The company has overseas bases in China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, and Indonesia.
Hiroshi Ochiai, president, Daiko Advertising, said, “We found FHO to be the most compatible partner, as they have a lot of experience handling not only Japanese brands, but other big brands as well.” Daiko may have planned to acquire the Indian based creative advertising agency considering the growth opportunities available here to expand & strengthen its base in India as well as pan-Asia.
