The old Kleinmanator is on fire!
This morning Mark "The Kleinmanator" Kleinman of Sky News reveals in is City AM column that WPP, the FTSE 100-listed advertising giant, has been at the centre of takeover rumours, suggesting American private equity firms Blackstone and Silver Lake are the two firms interested in buying the business. Below is the link to his piece:..
The idea of Sir Martin heading stateside for his next deal might have been a curve ball.
In case you don't recall the excellent Alex Lawson noted in the Mail on Sunday's Stockwatch column a few weeks ago that adman dealmaker was over in the US eyeing up deals ahead of Jo Biden becoming president. Below is a link to the Sunday round up piece I wrote on the topic a few weeks ago:..
It's tough to get excited about bid tales in this awful bear market. But today there was a line tucked away in the Alex Brummer's column in the business section of the Daily Mail that might give bulls something to chew over...
Betaville has been inundated with phone calls since the venerable Financial Times ran its interview with the Sage of Omaha, in which the octogenarian billionaire investor suggested he is looking at doing a big UK deal. Below is a link to the interview:
https://www.ft.com/content/32676c5c-667e-11e9-9adc-98bf1d35a056
"What's he going to buy,?" asked one veteran investor...
Once you get past the acres of Brexit coverage there were some decent business jackanories knocking about in the Sunday papers today.
One story that caught Betaville's eye was a tucked away on page 2 of the Mail on Sunday's business section about how Mike Ashley is planning to hire new PR "experts" to look after his "growing retail group". Below is a link to Neil Craven's article:..
There was a rather interesting piece on Bloomberg yesterday about how Sir Martin Sorrell, the former WPP boss, held talks with Warren Buffett six years ago about selling the advertising giant to the Sage of Omaha.
Sir Martin appears to have disclosed the historical talks at an event by Campaign magazine and Bloomberg picked up on it...
It has been brought to Betaville's attention that Investment bankers are all over WPP chairman Roberto Quarta, angling for permanent mandate as the company's financial advisor.
And you can see why corporate financiers are aggresively targeting the marketing services group set up by Sir Martin Sorrell in 1985...
Below is a link to a truly brilliant piece of investigative journalism by the Financial Times.
Farewell, Sir Martin. The round the clock media coverage of the deal junkie ad man appears to have halted now that he has stepped down as chief executive of WPP, the marketing services giant he built over the last thirty years...
There is another cracking column in the The Times on WPP today from former Telegraph colleague Alistair Osborne. Below is a link:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/wpp-is-hit-as-fears-grow-of-break-up-fc2r5psk2
But this is a fast moving story, with the The Times business section splashing on the prospects for a break up for at the advertising juggernaut...