Marketing and comms group Aegis’ digital agency Isobar is buying Russia’s 76-employee AdWatch, which does online ad buying, planning and digital PR for clients like Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Canon. FT says the buy gives Isboar 23 percent of a Russian market that will see $351 million digital ad spent next year. We’ve recently seen how the Russian internet scene is hotting up, with big IPOs expected from portals Mail.ru and Yandex. Isobar CEO Nigel Morris: “We could have done easier acquisitions that gave us a presence there but we wanted to be a leader in the market.” The asking price wasn’t disclosed.

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