Mobile game and app publisher Cheetah Mobile (NYSE:CMCM)  has announced it will buy French outfit MobPartner in a $58 million acquisition.

It’s a strategic move to carve a foothold for China-based Cheetah Mobile in ad tech, since MobPartner specialises in mobile marketing services like performance-based advertising.

Paris-based MobPartner claims to be active in 200 countries with more than 10,000 publishers, and reaches over 200 million mobile users creating over 18 billion impressions each month.

Shaking hands

The deal will be paid in cash and stock, making MobPartner a subsidiary of Cheetah later in 2015.

MobPartner CEO Djamel Agaoua will remain head of the company, but will also become SVP of Cheetah Mobile.

“While we have… made significant progress in building a global mobile advertising platform, we are only getting started,” said Sheng Fu, Cheetah Mobile's CEO, in a statement.

“The acquisition of MobPartner will further enhance Cheetah Mobile’s expertise in mobile advertising and together we will be building one of the world’s leading mobile advertising platforms.”