Time Out Group has announced the acquisition of London-based events and ticket booking company YPlan, cityam.com reports. DigitalLook.com reports that the acquisition will be payable with 1.16M shares with a value of £1.6M based on a share price of £1.393.

YPlan has invested in the development of an e-commerce platform and associated software for the events industry as well as in customer acquisition marketing, which resulted in the company generating, in the year to 31 December 2015, a pre-tax loss of £6.2m, with subsequent cost base reductions which have materially reduced losses in the current year.

In combination with Time Out's curated content, the app will let allow the company's 137m monthly global audience discover, book and share what the world's cities have to offer.

"Developing e-commerce and monetising our audience is an important element of our ambitious growth strategy," Julio Bruno, chief executive of Time Out Group.

"We acquired YPlan because its advanced technology will significantly accelerate this strategy. It will enable us to offer our large audience more online booking opportunities, whilst improving the user experience,” he added.

Meanwhile, YPlan's founders and former City workers Rytis Vitkauskas and Viktoras Jucikas said: "Today is an exciting day for YPlan as we become part of Time Out, a global media and entertainment company. Both companies are an excellent fit.

"For us as founders, the acquisition is a natural continuation of our vision for YPlan: to enable people to discover and do amazing things, whether in their beloved home cities or while traveling. We're both very proud to join with our team such an iconic brand and to be part of Time Out's next chapter."