China’s Cheetah Mobile acquires France-based mobile ad company MobPartner for $58 million

Chinese mobile Internet company Cheetah Mobile, a recent spin-off from Kingsoft Corporation, has acquired France-based mobile advertising company MobPartner, in a deal worth $58 million.

Kingsoft Corporation, formerly known as Kingsoft Network, was founded in 2009 and went on to become one of the biggest Internet security software firms in China. The company announced last year that it was spinning out a unit specifically for Internet security and related services — that spin-off, Cheetah Mobile, filed for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to raise $300 million shortly after. Cheetah Mobile is known for a number of products, including Duba Anti-virus, Battery Doctor, and Clean Master.

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Founded in 2009 out of Paris, France, MobPartner is a global mobile-focused advertising company that offers a range of marketing products, including cost-per-impression (CPI) and cost-per-click (CPC) services, designed to help marketers drive traffic and installations. Today it has offices in San Francisco, London, and Beijing too.

The result of the deal, which is still subject to the usual “customary closing conditions,” means that MobPartner will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Cheetah Mobile, with MobPartner CEO Djamel Agaoua continuing in his current role, in addition to serving as senior vice president at Cheetah Mobile.

Cheetah Mobile is striving to create a giant global mobile advertising platform. “We are only getting started,” said Sheng Fu, CEO of Cheetah Mobile, in a press release. “The acquisition of MobPartner will further enhance Cheetah Mobile’s expertise in mobile advertising and together we will be building one of the world’s leading mobile advertising platforms.”

This deal also follows a growing trend of Chinese investment in Europe; the continent has now surpassed the U.S. as China’s biggest trading partner. Just last week, for example, China-based Internet behemoth Alibaba turned to two British startups to help provide financing for U.K. firms looking to trade with Chinese companies.