MEDIA RELEASE: 12 July 2019: WPP announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell 60% of Kantar, its global data, research, consulting and analytics business, to Bain Capital. The Proposed Transaction creates a strong partnership for the development and growth of Kantar and values the whole of Kantar at a headline enterprise value of c.$4.0bn (c.£3.2bn).
Mark Read, Chief Executive Officer, WPP, said, “Kantar is a great business and we look forward to working with Bain Capital to unlock its full potential. As a strategic partner and shareholder in Kantar, WPP will continue to benefit from its future growth while our clients continue to benefit from its services and capabilities. I would like to thank Eric Salama, his team and everyone at Kantar for their tremendous contribution to WPP – a contribution that will continue as we develop the business together.
“This transaction creates value for WPP shareholders and further simplifies our company. With a much stronger balance sheet and a return of approximately 8% of our current market value to shareholders planned, we are making good progress with our transformation.”
For full details on the proposed sale go to the WPP site.