Advertising and communications agency M&C Saatchi announced Monday it has rejected an unsolicited, non-binding proposal from digital marketing firm Brave Bison to acquire its performance marketing division.
The board of M&C Saatchi confirmed it had received the offer, valued at an enterprise value of £50 million (approximately $66 million), but swiftly concluded that the bid “fundamentally undervalues” the division and its future prospects, according to reporting from MarketWatch.
In a statement, M&C Saatchi emphasized that its M&C Saatchi Performance (MCSP) division is considered a “core element” of the company’s overarching growth strategy. The company confirmed that no further discussions with Brave Bison are taking place.
Brave Bison, a London-based marketing and technology firm, had proposed the cash-and-stock acquisition as a transformative move. The company’s stated goal was to combine MCSP with its own existing performance marketing operations. This consolidation, Brave Bison argued, would create a “scaled digital media challenger to the global marketing networks” and establish one of the largest independent performance marketing companies outside of the United States, leveraging strong presences in both the UK and Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets.
M&C Saatchi Performance, headquartered in Singapore, is a global performance marketing business that has been a key driver of growth for its parent company.
Financially, Brave Bison anticipated the deal would be “materially accretive” to its underlying earnings per share. The firm projected that the M&C Saatchi division would contribute a minimum of £8 million in adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA). This addition would have more than doubled Brave Bison’s pro-forma adjusted EBITDA from £4.5 million in 2024 to a projected £17 million.
To finance the ambitious acquisition, Brave Bison stated it had planned to use a new bank facility of up to £25 million, supported by a UK lender, combined with a placing of new ordinary shares to investors.
The rejection is a key move for M&C Saatchi, which has been streamlining its operations and rethinking its strategy after fending off takeover attempts last year.fter fending off takeover bids for the entire company last year.
Market reaction to the news was immediate. Following the announcement, shares in M&C Saatchi rose 4.3% to 141.80 pence in morning trading, signaling investor approval of the board’s decision to hold onto the valuable division. Conversely, shares in Brave Bison fell 0.7% to 80.40 pence.
