Stagwell and MDC Reach Non-binding Merger Agreement

The Stagwell Group, owner of the Harris and Harris Poll brands, has reached a non-binding agreement to merge with marcoms group MDC Partners.

Formed in 2015 by Mark Penn (pictured), co-founder of custom research and analytics consultancy Penn Schoen Berland, holding company Stagwell has a portfolio of marketing services companies which includes Harris Insights & Analytics; Nielsen's Mobile Insights Survey and Total Communications Survey, now known as HarrisX; and Nielsen's former entertainment research subsidiary NRG. Penn is also Chairman and CEO of MDC Partners - which comprises more than 50 partner companies including a number of market research, shopper marketing and data and analytics specialists. Last year he invested $100m in MDC via Stagwell.

Stagwell Group proposed a merger with marcoms group MDC Partners back in June, to create a single entity which it says would have generated more than $2 billion in net revenue last year. Stagwell and a special committee of the Board of Directors of MDC have now discussed the possible transaction, and have reached a preliminary, non-binding agreement in principle, which includes that the pre-transaction holders of MDC's common shares would own 26% of the combined company.

Penn comments: 'I am glad that Stagwell and the special committee have reached an agreement in principle. I remain enthusiastic about the potential combination of MDC Partners and Stagwell, and look forward to undertaking the next steps to complete this process.'

Web sites: www.stagwellgroup.com and www.mdc-partners.com .

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