An ongoing saga: M&C Saatchi bats away Next Fifteen’s final offer but continues to snub Vin Murria

The saga continues for M&C Saatchi this week after the advertising powerhouse batted away Next Fifteen’s final offer.

Wildly changing its tune from last week, M&C directors are now calling for shareholders to reject the supposedly “superior” offer price due to the decline in value.

Indeed because of M&C’s dwindling share price, Next Fifteen’s initial offer of 247.2p per M&C share has now dropped to around 189p a share.

Meanwhile, M&C continues to reject Vin Murria’s AdvancedAdvT offer of 209p a share, and suggests Next Fifteen’s offer remains superior out of the two in terms of strategic, commercial, employee and cultural merits.

The British entrepreneur was booted from the board last week, with M&C stating it was “not appropriate” to keep her as deputy chairwoman.

The deadline to vote for AdvancedAdvT’s bid is 13 August, while the vote for Next Fifteen’s must be conducted by 17 August.

Next Fifteen have already said that its offer was final, thereby suggesting a hiked offer is unlikely to come any time soon.

However, at this stage, with two bidders backed into a corner, a third acquirer emerging is possible: although there is no clear indication of who or what they may look like.

M&C shares continued to plunge yesterday, as shareholders scratch their heads for what the clear path is for the company’s future.

As pointed out by analysts at Peel Hunt, the largest problem for shareholders if they reject both offers is that it will create a “overhang” thanks to Vin Murria and AdvancedAdvT’s combined stake of 22 per cent of M&C.

Peel Hunt gave the share a ‘Hold’ recommendation, but said: “We continue to believe M&C Saatchi is a good asset with strong reputation in the creative world, a position that would be strengthened by the right investment into adding digital capabilities”.