Cision has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Brandwatch, a global leader in digital consumer intelligence and social media listening, for $450 million. Together, they aim to provide brands and organizations with consumer and media intelligence to devise more effective customer engagement strategies from PR and marketing to research and product development.

“The continued digital shift and widespread adoption of social media is rapidly and fundamentally changing how brands and organizations engage with their customers,” said Abel Clark, CEO of Cision. “This is driving the imperative that PR, marketing, social and customer care teams fully incorporate the unique insights now available into consumer-led strategies. Together, Cision and Brandwatch will help our clients to more deeply understand, connect and engage with their customers at scale across every channel.”

“We have always built Brandwatch with ambition. That was recognized by Forrester, who recently named us as a leader in our space,” said Giles Palmer, founder and CEO of Brandwatch. “Now is the time to take the next step – joining a company of significant scale to create a business and a suite of products that can have an important global impact. We are excited to join Abel and the Cision team to supercharge our work and bring even more value to our customers.”

Macquarie Capital acted as an exclusive financial adviser to Brandwatch on this transaction. Cooley LLP acted as legal counsel to Brandwatch. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP acted as M&A legal counsel, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP acted as financing legal counsel and Latham & Watkins LLP acted as regulatory counsel to Cision.