After months of back and forth, Next 15 may just be on the home straight for a deal to takeover M&C Saatchi.
It comes after rival contender AdvancedAdvt announced that its offer for the advertising giant had lapsed on Friday.
Excluding Vin Murria and her investment vehicle AdvancedAdvt’s hefty 22 per cent stake in the ad firm, only 13.2 per cent of M&C shareholders voted for the offer, leaving only Next 15 in the running.
In order for Next 15’s offer to succeed, it will require both Murria and the vehicle to change their stance and support the bid.
The deal is structured as a “scheme”, which requires 75 per cent of the voting shareholders to vote for the offer.
They had previously stated that the offer does not “reflect the full potential of the synergies of the combined group”
Analysts at Peel Hunt backed this as a possibility, despite the fact that Next 15’s bid price for M&C has fallen around 40 per cent since the first announcement.
The valuation at the time of the announcement was 247p per share, or £310m for the group, which has since tumbled to 167.7p, valuing the group at £205m.
M&C management have already said it wouldn’t back the offer as it currently stands, but brokers at Peel Hunt see opportunity in the market volatility.
“Versus its peer set, we believe Next 15 will be the best to weather the storm if the macro worsens in the
near term. Its proportion of tech-based clients, US revenues and also focus on marketing services outside of advertising provides good resilience in challenging times,” they wrote, emphasising the media firm’s growth.
Next 15 is waiting on CFIUS approval, which means shareholder meetings are likely to happen in the fourth quarter.
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