WPP is going head to head with Sir Martin Sorrell – the advertising group’s founder and former chief executive – in a €300m (£265m) bidding war for MediaMonks, the Netherlands-based digital production company.
Sorrell’s new company, S4 Capital, which he formed weeks after resigning from WPP following an investigation into allegations of personal misconduct, is aiming to make MediaMonks its first acquisition.
It has emerged that WPP is one of several companies that has also made a bid in the auction, which is being run by London-based Clarity Corporate Finance. A spokesman for WPP declined to comment on the bid, which was first reported by Sky News.
Sorrell has been able to get straight back to business because of the unusual nature of the contract he had at WPP. Instead of the standard notice period of 12 months, he or the company was able to terminate the contract “at will” with no non-compete clause.
Sorrell has said he was not in direct competition with WPP. However, his target businesses in the data, technology and content sectors are also attractive to traditional agency groups such as his former employer.
MediaMonks is one of two or three select businesses that Sorrell has been seeking to acquire.
He has launched S4 Capital with £40m of his own money and “non-binding” support from a range of investors for up to £150m more.
The value of MediaMonks, which employs 750 staff and has 11 offices globally, is unclear but the Financial Times speculates it will cost Sorrell at least €200m (£177m).
“We are flattered to be mentioned in this context,” said a spokeswoman for MediaMonks. “Beyond that, we never comment on speculation.”
A spokesman for Sorrell declined to comment on the MediaMonks talks, and said that S4 Capital disclosed in a financial filing in May that it was closing in on a number of potential targets.
Crispin Odey, the head of Odey Asset Management, is preparing to back Sorrell and said the talks with MediaMonks were ongoing.
The company, run by Wesley ter Haarand Victor Knaap, produces digital campaigns for clients including Audi and Lego.
Sorrell, who has given himself a five-year timeline to build S4 Capital and then look to exit, has said he intends to build a next-generation “multinational communication services business”.
