GfK 'Misleading the Market' Says Sorrell

WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell says GfK is misleading the market about being able to pull together the resources to buy British rival TNS, and about having access to an 'unidentified but substantial source of capital'.

In an interview, Sorrell told Reuters that if his bid for TNS fails there are other potential acquisition opportunities in the industry including Nielsen, IMS Health and Synovate, owned by rival Aegis. However, he did not specify if WPP is in talks with any of these organisations.

Last week, Sorrell posted TNS shareholders a formal offer for the company, valuing it at $2.28bn, but TNS has said publicly that it would prefer to partner with GfK even though the German firm cannot guarantee that it will make a formal bid.

GfK is reportedly in talks with potential investors including private equity house Apax Partners and coffee billionaire siblings Günter and Daniela Herz about funding a cash bid for TNS.

So far, WPP is the only official bidder and Sorrell is waiting for the closing date of 29 August when TNS shareholders will vote on the offer. In addition, The European Commission has set a deadline of 9 September for its inquiry into WPP's bid to investigate whether it complies with EU merger regulations.

Web sites: www.wpp.com , www.gfk.com and www.tnsglobal.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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