KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 4): Axiata Group Bhd (Axiata) announced today that it will acquire an 80% stake in a Singapore-based digital marketing company for US$9 million (RM31.01 million).

According to the telecommunication conglomerate’s filing to Bursa Malaysia this evening, its wholly owned subsidiary Axiata Digital Advertising Sdn Bhd (ADA) has entered into a subscription and shareholders’ agreement with Adknowledge International Inc (ADK) and Adknowledge Asia Pacific Pte Ltd (AAP) for the stake acquisition in AAP, a wholly owned subsidiary of US-based ADK.

AAP’s principal activities are digital advertising in the Asia-Pacific region (APAC).

Axiata said the acquisition will enable it to capture the fast-growing digital marketing space through a synergistic combination of its core strengths, competencies and market assets.

“ADK brings to the partnership its solid brand reputation, industry leading technology platforms, domain expertise in digital advertising, and an already seeded APAC (Asia Pacific) customer base,” the filing read.

Axiata said the acquisition will be funded through internally generated funds and that it will not have any material effect on its earnings, gearings and net assets for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2014.

Its counter shed 15 sen or 2.16% to close at RM6.79 today - with 20.72 million shares done - giving it a market capitalisation of RM58.27 billion.