Canadian-based media auditing company Forde and Semple Mediaworks has been acquired by Ebiquity, the London-based media investment analysis company, to accelerate Ebiquity’s presence in Canada and expand its client portfolio.

The acquisition will serve as the foundation of the launch of Ebiquity Canada, which will be led by Patricia McGregor, who will develop offerings in Canada and will join the company’s North America leadership team.

Ebiquity sought to expand its presence in Canada because it’s the eleventh-largest ad spend market in the world, as well as the seventh-ranked market in terms of digital’s percentage of share of total spend, according to Paul Williamson, managing director for Ebiquity North America.

Sherland Forde, the founder and managing partner of Forde and Semple said the acquisition is a “major milestone” for the Canadian media market, as it better positions the company to offer clients “support across an expanded range of services,” including media cost tracking and its primary cost benchmarking product, the Television SMART Report.