The acquisition is to be made by the newly formed media-buying group Mediaedge:CIA, created after WPP bought Tempus. Purely Media will retain its own name, but will move into Mediaedge:CIA Manchester's offices.
Purely Media has billings of £15m and clients including Vimto and Carpetworld. However, last year it lost its £2m Health & Safety Executive media-buying account to Universal McCann Manchester.
The agency has had a relationship with Mediaedge:CIA for some time, as CIA has handled TV billings for Purely Media for several years.
A statement from WPP said the acquisition continued its strategy of "strengthening its existing networks in important regional markets".
A survey by Dealogic published last week showed that WPP acquired more companies than any other in 2001. It completed 27 deals with a total value of just £352.8m -- not including the Tempus deal -- double the number of the number two company.
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