Reading Room sells off UK business, pushes for growth in APAC

After selling its UK business to software solutions providers Idox, digital agency Reading Room‘s in Australia and Singapore arms have received a major capital injection.This comes after a buy back from external shareholders by the founders, Margaret Manning and Simon Usher. The transaction means that significant additional investment will become available to push forward with the expansion in this region.The current Asia Pacific businesses are headquartered in Singapore and the agency also has four offices in Australia. It also recently launched in Thailand and has clients across the whole region including China, Hong Kong and Malaysia.According to the agency, it will now focus "purely on the parts of the business that it feels has the most potential." It added that while the separation from the UK business will "bring about some changes as it becomes more independent, what it mostly brings is a whole new world of opportunity."Moreover, the agency also has plans to rebrand and launch new services for clients in APAC in the near future. According to Reading Room, over the past  four years, it was able to triple the size of the business in Asia Pacific."We really believe Asia Pacific and ASEAN particularly is one of the most important and exciting regions for growth in the digital market globally,“ said the company in a press statement.In a statement from Idox, the company said:"Idox is pleased to announce its acquisition of Reading Room Ltd, an award winning digital consultancy with major public and private sector clients. The Asia Pacific parts of the Reading Room Group are not included in this acquisition."Recently, Margaret Manning (pictured) , CEO of global digital marketing consultancy Reading Room was also awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to British exports to Singapore and wider Asia Pacific region.