LONDON—British advertising group M&C Saatchi has agreed a takeover by consultancy Next Fifteen Communications, which it said on Friday represented a better offer than one made by its biggest shareholder.
M&C, founded in 1995 by brothers Maurice and Charles Saatchi, has been recovering from a 2019 accounting scandal but last month reported a record annual profit helped by client wins and deepened relationships with the likes of Alphabet’s Google, Uber, and TikTok.
It has been fighting a takeover attempt by its largest shareholder Vin Murria and this week rejected a deal worth 254 million pounds.
The Next Fifteen offer was worth 310 million pounds ($387 million), valuing its shares at 247.2 pence apiece, M&C said on Friday, adding that its senior staff fully backed the deal.
M&C and Next Fifteen said in a joint statement that their deal would help establish a much stronger competitor in digital marketing and consulting, bringing together blue-chip clients and an array of services and providing more firepower to invest.
“M&C Saatchi is synonymous with creativity and strategy, whereas Next Fifteen has built a reputation around its technology and data driven offering,” said Tim Dyson, CEO of Next Fifteen. “This makes for a great combination.”
Shares in M&C soared by as much as 38 percent, to levels not seen since 2019, but remained below the offer price.
Murria’s AdvancedadvT investment vehicle said it was considering its options, noting it owned 22.3 percent of M&C’s stock.
($1 = 0.8011 pounds)
