Global investors The Carlyle Group have completed their investment in international agency Dept, taking a majority stake.

At the same time, Dept has signed an agreement to acquire Switzerland-based digital agency Hinderling Volkart. This will power an early expansion of the company the ownership of Carlyle.

Dept employs more than 1,500 across multiple international offices – including London, Manchester, Amsterdam, Berlin, New York, Copenhagen, Argentina and more.

The Carlyle Group has a presence across six continents and has expertise in a wide range of sectors. The investment group has strengthened its footprint in digital services with this investment, supporting one of the world’s leading independent agencies, whose clients include Triumph Motorcycles, Ann Summers, and Formula E. Dept was founded in Amsterdam in 2015 and employs over 160 people in the UK alone.

Michael Wand, Managing Director of the Carlyle Europe Technology Partners (CETP) advisory team, said: “We are delighted to have completed this investment into a next generation digital agency combining technology, creativity, data, and marketing services.

With digital transformation being an issue of key strategic importance for all businesses, we believe Dept is well-positioned to consolidate their position as an award-winning agency and drive greater value for their clients.

“We look forward to working with the excellent ‘Depster’ team to achieve this.”

Dimi Albers (above, left), CEO of Dept, said: “Carlyle’s investment in Dept is a testament to our track record and potential as an agency. Our acquisition of Hinderling Volkart is a great next chapter.

It shows that with the help of Carlyle, we are accelerating our journey towards becoming the best agency in the world. By uniting creativity, technology and data, we know that we are building the agency model of the future and we can’t wait to put this into practice.”

Recently, we announced that Dept would support the realisation of Digital City Festival in Manchester, taking place between March 9th and 13th.

It will be exhibiting at Digital City Expo, sponsoring the central bar, hosting the official afterparty, and putting on two fringe events at its UK HQ in the city.