By Debbie Cai 
 

Accenture PLC (ACN) has agreed to purchase Acquity Group Ltd. (AQ) for about $316 million in cash to expand the consulting company's range of digital marketing services.

Under the terms of the deal, Accenture will pay $13 for each Acquity American depositary share, more than double the company's closing price on Friday. Each ADS represents two ordinary shares.

Acquity's American depositary shares more than doubled to $12.56 after hours. The stock is down 10% over the past six months, through the close. The company had 23.5 million American depositary shares as of March 31.

The acquisition is subject to Acquity Group shareholder approval as well as other closing conditions.

Accenture said Acquity is the second-largest independent digital marketing company in the U.S., with revenue of $141 million last year, an increase of 32% over 2011.

Accenture currently provides digital marketing services under its Interactive unit, which offers chief marketing officers and brand leaders a suite of marketing, technology and analytics solutions to help them improve their marketing performance.

The consulting company, which competes for global enterprise consulting contracts with tech giants like International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) and Hewlett-Packard Co.(HPQ), has mostly posted earnings growth for more than two years now and has seen strong revenue growth in its outsourcing business.

Shares of Accenture were off by 72 cents to $81.51 after hours. The stock is up 41% over the past 12 months.

Write to Debbie Cai at debbie.cai@dowjones.com

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