Cognizant acquires digital marketing firm Cadient

Nasdaq-listed IT company Cognizant has acquired digital marketing company Cadient Group, that serves a broad spectrum of life sciences companies, for an estimated $30 million.

"In an increasingly competitive industry with many digitally active stakeholders, the acquisition of Cadient Group will complement Cognizant's digital and interactive solutions capability," Cognizant's Vice President and Global Markets Leader, Life Sciences Practice Shankar Narayanan said in a statement.

Cadient clients are spread across pharmaceutical, biotechnology, consumer health and medical device industries.

Cognizant has large presence in India.

Its Healthcare and Life Sciences Practice group will manage the acquired company.

When contacted about the deal size, a Cognizant spokesperson said, "Cadient's revenue is around $20 million and we paid approximately 1.5 times of the revenue."

Cognizant serves 28 of the top 30 global pharmaceutical companies, 16 of the top 20 health plans in the US, four of the top five pharmacy benefit management companies in the US, nine of the top 10 biotech companies, and 12 of the top 15 medical device companies.

The company's has reported $8.843 billion full year revenue for 2013.

Annual revenue of its Healthcare and Life Sciences Practice group is about $2.5 billion.

Congnizant see this acquisition will further strengthens and expands it's digital marketing capabilities.

The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Pennsylvania-based Cadient Group has more than a decade of experience in providing digital strategy, marketing, and technology and analytics solutions to industry leaders and emerging companies in the life sciences industry.

As part of this acquisition, more than 100 digital specialists-with expertise across brand strategy and planning, content development, user-centered design, multi-channel analytics, and digital, social and mobile marketing-will join Cognizant.

This acquisition also brings to Cognizant digital assets and intellectual property of Cadient.

"Becoming a part of Cognizant uniquely positions us to deliver integrated solutions to life sciences marketing and sales teams around the world," Cadient Group President and CEO Stephen Wray said.