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Portada Quick Hits: Accenture’s digital play, Abry to buy Confie Seguros?, Twitter Glory

Some stories the Latin Advertising and Media World is talking about this week.

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Some stories the Latin Advertising and Media World is talking about this week.

» Accenture buys Avventa
Accenture has acquired avVenta Worldwide, a provider of digital production services to leading brands and agencies across multiple industries. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. avVenta provides interactive marketing production services to more than 130 Fortune 500 companies in industries such as pharmaceutical, financial services, consumer packaged goods, retail, energy, technology and travel. With more than 600 employees, avVenta has headquarters in New York, a digital production fulfillment center in San Jose, Costa Rica, and an office in Charleston, S.C.  The acquisition of avVenta strengthens the broad range of marketing services Accenture provides to chief marketing officers (CMOs), adding avVenta's digital production support capabilities to the full range of Accenture Interactive's marketing service offerings, assets, and capabilities, which includes marketing strategy, marketing planning and analytics, customer experience management, technology platform and marketing operational services, and new product design and launch services. Investment Petsky Prunier advised Avventa on the deal.

» NYT, Financial Times and El Pais seek Latin Glory
As we reported earlier this week the
New York Times is planning to launch an online Portuguese-language edition for Brazil in 2013. The announcement comes only two weeks after the Financial Times unveiled it was set to expand its presence in Brasil with the launch of a digital newspaper print site in São Paulo, a Latin America homepage and a new mobile app for the region. The Next Web reports that another newspaper is also placing a strong bet on Latin America. This newspaper is Spain’s El Pais (Grupo Prisa), which already boasts that 31% of its digital readers come from Latin America. According to Juan Luis Cebrián, CEO of its parent company Prisa, El País’ ongoing restructuring process implies an even stronger bet on the Latin American market. Yet, according to TheNextWeb,  it remains to be seen whether Cebrian’s team will be able to execute this strategy. Grupo Prisa recently announced plans to lay off 30% of the newspaper’s staff.

» Twitter Clout: Articles from BBC, Mashable and the NYT have the longest life span
Who has more clout in spreading the news: the New York Times, the Guardian or Wired?.
According to a new study by University of Arizona scholars,  articles from BBC, Mashable and the NYT have the longest life span, while the BBC, Mashable and Wired were most likely to publish popular articles — stories on Twitter that exceeded the average article half-life of 5.5 hours (“half-life” is based on a bitly definition that says it’s the amount of time at which a link receives half of the clicks it will ever receive after it’s reached its peak).

» Abry Partners to buy Confie Seguros
Confie Seguros, a New York-based insurance distributor focused on Hispanic consumers, has completed 13 acquisitions in 2012. Now it's the one being bought, Fortune reports. Private equity firm ABRY Partners is planning to purchase Confie Seguros from Genstar Capital, according to an FTC filing. Genstar helped form Confie Seguros in 2008, via a $75 million equity commitment. Today the company reports nearly $200 million in revenue and over 300 locations. Abry Partners also invested in the HYP Network, a Hispanic Yellow pages network that ultimately went bankrupt.

» Vertis sold to Quad Graphics
Vertis, Inc, a provider of targeted advertising, media and marketings solutions, will be acquired by Quad/Graphics for $258.5 million, Printweek reports. To facilitate the sale to Quad Graphics,Vertis and its subsidiaries have filed for Chapter 11. It is unclear how the company’s financial troubles will impact the sale, but, according to a release, Vertis has also filed documents seeking the Bankruptcy Court’s approval of the proposed sale, and has the support of its lenders. “Quad/Graphics believes in the power of print in today’s multichannel media world and this acquisition further strengthens our ability to help retailers and direct marketers drive meaningful business results,” Joel Quadracci, chairman, president and CEO of Quad/Graphics, says in a prepared statement.

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