Marketing software providers Affinitiv Inc. and AutoLoop have signed a definitive merger agreement, with the combined company able to provide automakers and dealerships a wider range of technology products.
The deal, subject to regulatory approval, would result in a company with $200 million in annual revenue and more than 800 employees. Combined, Affinitiv and AutoLoop have relationships with 10 automakers and more than 6,500 dealerships.
The merged company would operate under the Affinitiv name, but continue to use the AutoLoop brand across its product line. The companies would maintain their respective headquarters offices in Chicago and Clearwater, Fla., with Chicago being the main office.
The merger was led by CIP Capital, a New York private equity firm that owns the bulk of Affinitiv and would be a majority owner of the combined business.
"For us, our vision is to provide an end-to-end solution across all channels in retention marketing," Affinitiv CEO Scot Eisenfelder said. "While we have a pretty broad solutions set, we see tremendous complementarity of what AutoLoop brings to the table."
Some of this includes areas such as equity mining and newsletter solutions, Eisenfelder said. The deal also gives the companies greater scale, particularly in service-lane technology business, he said.
AutoLoop CEO Steve Anderson said, "We believe we can experience a lot more growth and get our great products to market by teaming up and getting scale," adding that the companies already sell to several of the same automakers.
"We really believe that we can be the largest player in the space," Anderson added. "And that's where we want to go."
