WPP To Sell 60% Of Kantar To Bain Capital

WPP, The London-based advertising group, has agreed to sell a 60% stake in its Kantar market-research unit to Bain Capital at $4bn.

WPP plans to reduce debt using some of the proceeds of the sale. It will return an estimated $1.2 billion to shareholders.

Completion of the deal is expected in early 2020 and remains subject to approval from WPP’s shareholders and regulators, as well as to the completion of a Kantar reorganisation, WPP said.

“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,” WPP chief executive Mark Read said.

Christophe Jacobs van Merlen, a managing director at Bain Capital Private Equity, said: ”We believe that we are well-positioned to support Kantar, alongside WPP, in driving forward the business in a rapidly changing industry. Our deep sector knowledge, operational expertise and strong track record of partnering with management teams to accelerate growth gives us confidence that we can help Kantar grow both organically and by acquisition.”

Eric Salama, CEO Kantar, stated Bain would “help us accelerate our growth and impact for clients. We are focused on delivering ‘human understanding at scale and speed’ and the ‘best of Kantar’ more consistently. We will do so by investing more in talent and by becoming a more technology-driven solutions provider.”