Private equity firm ECI has paid £45.5 million to acquire a 60 percent stake in interactive media shop i-level and its parent company ILG (SEO: 066570) Digital, the Guardian reported. The remaining 40 percent interest in the company will continue to be held by six senior management members. The company, which has had ties to media buying firm Aegis and San Francisco interactive ad agency AKQA, just posted a year-to-date pre-tax profit of £4.7 million.

The deal is meant to iron out iLG’s complicated shareholder structure. The backing of ECI will also support i-level’s domestic and global expansion plans.  iLG CEO David Pattison: “There is no earn-out or anything like that, this is not an exit deal. Having a complicated shareholder base holding around 45 percent of the business made it difficult to round up [shareholders] and get a commitment to strategically invest going forward.” Digital PR and reputation management are the two areas the company is focusing on building out.

The agreement called for ECI to invest £38 million to consolidate the separate holdings out there - including the shares belonging to investment firm Beringea, which roughly 20 percent of the company, and more than two dozen angel investors, who held another 12 percent. The remaining £7.5 million was put up by Pattison, iLG deputy chairman Andrew Walmsley, group chief financial officer Stephen Rust, group managing director Faith Carthy, i-level finance director Andrew Martin and managing director Mark Creighton.