India's Affle 3i has agreed to buy Israeli advertising technology company Perion Network for about $420 million in cash, a deal that would give one of India's few home-grown adtech champions a substantial foothold in the United States and Europe and take a two-decade-old Nasdaq listing off the market.
Affle, through its Israel-based step-down subsidiary Affle 3iL Ltd, will pay $11.70 per Perion share, a 34.5% premium to Perion's closing price on Friday, October 30, the last full trading day before the announcement. The definitive merger agreement was signed on Sunday, November 1, and announced publicly by both companies over November 1 and 2. The boards of both companies have approved the transaction, which is expected to close in early 2027, subject to Perion shareholder approval and regulatory clearances, including US antitrust approval.
Perion shares rose 31% to about $11.42 on Monday, November 2, according to Adweek, trading just below the offer price. Affle's shares had closed down 2.7% at ₹1,345 on the BSE before the announcement, according to CNBC-TV18.
The terms
The deal is structured as a reverse triangular merger. Perion will survive as a wholly owned subsidiary of Affle and will continue to operate under the Perion brand, but it will be delisted from both Nasdaq and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Perion has been listed on Nasdaq since 2006.
Affle plans to fund the purchase with committed bank financing from Citibank and existing cash. The agreement includes a "go-shop" period, which allows Perion to seek competing offers for a limited time. Adweek reported that the go-shop period runs for 40 days.
LUMA Partners acted as Affle's financial adviser, and Barnea Jaffa Lande & Co. as its legal adviser, according to CNBC-TV18.
A cheap price for a cash-rich target
The headline price understates how little Affle is paying for Perion's operating business. Perion had no debt and about $228 million in cash and investments as of September 30, 2026. Excluding that cash, Affle is effectively paying about $192 million for the business itself, roughly 3.7 times Perion's projected 2026 adjusted EBITDA of $51 million to $53 million, according to Adweek's calculations.
Terence Kawaja, founder and chief executive of LUMA Partners, told Adweek the low price was "icing on the cake" rather than the reason for the deal. "It just makes it that much easier and better if you don't have to bet the ranch and pay a huge multiple," he said. Affle, he added, "looked at a number of different potential targets, and they're all trading fairly cheaply."
Why Affle wants Perion
Affle, founded by Anuj Khanna Sohum, specialises in mobile performance marketing, an approach in which advertisers pay for results. Its signature model is "cost per converted user" (CPCU), under which advertisers pay only when a consumer completes a defined action such as installing an app or making a purchase. Its strength has been in emerging markets, including India and Southeast Asia.
Perion, headquartered in Tel Aviv, offers AI-powered omnichannel advertising across retail media, connected TV (CTV) and digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising, such as digital billboards and screens in shops and transport hubs. Its strength is in brand advertising budgets in developed markets.
The companies argue that the two businesses are complementary. Perion operates at the "upper funnel," where brands build awareness, while Affle operates at the "lower funnel," where consumers convert into customers. Combining them, the companies say, can support what they call "CTV-to-cart" and "DOOH-to-cart" outcomes, linking a television or billboard advertisement to a purchase.
"This is an important step in strengthening our CPCU business across Developed Markets," said Sohum, Affle's chairperson, managing director and chief executive, according to Globes. "We are excited to welcome the Perion family on board."
Tal Jacobson, Perion's chief executive, said: "Our agreement with Affle marks an important milestone for Perion." He told Adweek the combination would "create new opportunities for brands, agencies, and media owners worldwide."
Affle's ambitions
Affle has set out ambitious targets for the combined business. It expects a revenue run rate of more than $700 million in the financial year 2028, and expects the deal to add to its earnings per share by the end of the first year after closing, according to CNBC-TV18. It also expects to remain net debt-free immediately after the acquisition.
The company cites a track record of more than 20% annual organic revenue growth and EBITDA growth above 20%. Sohum told Adweek the deal would support Affle's goal of growing tenfold in a decade, and could "unlock greater ROI for advertisers and publishers alike." After the acquisition, Affle expects to serve thousands of advertisers in more than 100 countries.
Perion's long decline
For Perion, the deal ends a difficult period as a public company. Before the announcement, its shares were down about 79% from their five-year high of nearly $42 in April 2023, according to Adweek, despite roughly $193 million spent on share buybacks. Globes reported that Perion's market value had fallen from NIS 7 billion in April 2023 to about NIS 1.05 billion, roughly $360 million.
Much of the damage came from Perion's dependence on search advertising through a long-standing partnership with Microsoft's Bing. In February, Microsoft changed how it prices Bing advertisements for searches coming from its distribution partners, reducing Perion's activity and revenue. In June, Perion cut its guidance again after Microsoft removed several publishers from its network, according to Globes. Perion said Bing would account for less than 5% of its revenue in the second half of the year.
Perion tried to diversify through acquisitions, buying video adtech company Vidazoo in 2021 for $93.5 million, DOOH platform Hivestack in 2023 for $100 million, AI media-buying company Greenbids in 2025 for up to $65 million, and Premier Retail Networks, an in-store retail media business, in August 2026 for up to $12 million, according to Adweek.
An industry under pressure
The deal is part of a wave of consolidation in advertising technology, as independent companies struggle to compete with the giant platforms. Research firm WARC estimates that Alphabet, Amazon and Meta will capture almost 60% of global advertising spending outside China this year, according to Adweek.
Publicis Groupe completed its roughly $2.2 billion acquisition of data company LiveRamp on November 2. Nielsen agreed in August to take ad verification firm DoubleVerify private for $2.15 billion, and Stagwell recently acquired publisher platform Freestar. Smaller independent companies, squeezed between the walled gardens and the declining open web, are increasingly becoming targets.
A milestone for Indian outbound M&A
For India, the deal is a notable example of a home-grown technology company acquiring an established Western-listed business. Indian technology companies have historically been more often acquisition targets than acquirers in global markets, but a growing number of listed Indian technology businesses, with strong balance sheets and access to financing, are buying overseas capabilities to accelerate their international growth.
The deal also deepens India-Israel business ties. Israel has one of the world's most advanced adtech ecosystems, and Affle already has an Israeli operating entity, which will be the acquiring vehicle.
The risks
Integrating an acquisition of this size is a significant undertaking. Affle will need to retain Perion's talent and clients, combine technology platforms and deliver the promised cross-selling benefits. Perion's exposure to the struggling open-web advertising market remains a risk, and the competition from the major platforms is intense.
The go-shop period also leaves open the possibility, though generally small, of a rival bid.
What comes next
Perion will seek shareholder approval, and the companies will pursue regulatory clearances in the coming months. If completed as planned in early 2027, the deal will mark one of the most significant overseas acquisitions by an Indian adtech company and test whether Affle's performance-marketing model can scale in the world's largest advertising markets.
