M&C Saatchi removes Vin Murria from board after agreeing takeover by Next Fifteen

LONDON (Reuters) – British advertising company M&C Saatchi, which last month agreed to be taken over by consultancy Next Fifteen Communications, has removed Vin Murria, its biggest shareholder, from its board, it said on Monday.

M&C, founded in 1995 by Maurice and Charles Saatchi, has been recovering from a 2019 accounting scandal and in April reported a record annual profit helped by client wins and deeper relationships with the likes of Alphabet’s Google, Uber and TikTok.

M&C rejected an offer from Vin Murria’s AdvancedAdvT investment vehicle in May, which was worth 254 million pounds ($319 million) at the time, but accepted one from Next Fifteen (NFC) worth 310 million pounds, or 247.2 pounds a share.

M&C Saatchi said its independent directors had concluded that it was not appropriate for Vin Murria to be proposed for re-election as a director at the company’s annual shareholders meeting on June 30.

“Therefore, the independent directors have resolved that Vin Murria be removed from the board with immediate effect and no resolution for Vin Murria’s re-election be presented at the AGM,” the company said.

AdvancedAdvT said it had taken note of M&C Saatchi’s statement and asked it to clarify its analysis of the financial terms of the two competing offers.

It said share price movements meant that as of June 1, Next Fifteen’s offer value had declined to 220.1 pence per M&C Saatchi share, while AdvancedAdvT’s all share offer was worth 221.4 pence.

“AdvancedAdvT continues to believe that NFC’s current offer for M&C Saatchi does not fairly reflect the potential to unlock significant synergies for M&C Saatchi shareholders as a whole,” it said.

AdvancedAdvT and Murria, which together own 22.3% of M&C Saatchi’s shares, said they were considering their options.

M&C Saatchi shares were trading at 197 pence at 1204 GMT.

($1 = 0.7968 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by David Clarke)