BRUSSELS (Thomson Financial) - Online search giant Google Inc said the Brazilian Secretariat for Economic Monitoring (SEAE) has recommended clearance for its proposed 3.1 bln usd acquisition of advertising and management technology company DoubleClick Inc.
The SEAE is one of three regulatory bodies in Brazil that is investigating the acquisition. The company still awaits the recommendation of the Secretariat for Economic Law (SDE) of the Ministry of Justice and the final decision of the Administrative Council for Economic Defence (CADE).
Julia Holtz, competition counsel at Google, said: 'We are pleased that the Brazilian SEAE agrees with the Australian regulatory authority in recommending clearance of our proposed acquisition of Doubleclick. We are confident...that other regulatory authorities will approve this deal.'
Late last month, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it had no competition concerns about the deal.
The transaction is also under review by EU and US regulators.
Regulators at the European Commission here are scheduled to decide on the deal on Nov 13.
Sources have told Thomson Financial News previously that the deal is set to go to the EU's in-depth regulatory review procedure -- a process that can last up to 90 working days. Industry rivals such as Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc are rounding on the transaction as both anti-competitive and flouting data privacy laws.
New York-based DoubleClick offers online ad serving and management technology to advertisers, web publishers and ad agencies. It helps customers place and track online advertising -- including search ads, place their graphical and video ads on websites and allowing advertisers to target ads and improve the productivity and results of their online advertising campaigns.
It has about 2,000 clients, spanning advertising agencies, web publishers and advertisers. The group has been privately held since 2005.
Mountain View, California-based Google commands the bulk of the online advertising search market, but the integration of DoubleClick's technology and client network would further speed up its efforts to diversify beyond its core services.
At 3.1 bln usd, the price is around three times the amount that private equity spent to buy the agency in 2005. The sellers are San Francisco-based private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, along with JMI Equity and DoubleClick management. simon.zekaria@thomson.com sz/ajb COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
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