OPINION1 July 2011

Who is Synovate’s unnamed suitor?

The Daily Telegraph has a report this morning that, weeks before news of the Ipsos talks, Aegis was approached by an advisory firm about a potential £600m bid for its research agency Synovate.

According to the report, a letter was sent by Wyvern Partners on behalf of an unnamed client, but the two sides did not engage in talks because the bidder’s name was not provided.

The Telegraph reports that Wyvern is prepared to reveal the name behind the potential offer immediately if Aegis agrees to a meeting, but earlier this week the media services group stressed that it was in “exclusive” talks with Ipsos about selling Synovate.

Brian Tarran

@RESEARCH LIVE

5 Comments

Anon

14 years ago

One would guess this is a classic case of bankers using the press to add pressure on IPSOS to sign a deal at the right price.

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Anon

14 years ago

GFK Peerhaps? Makes sense as Synovate has everything that GFK is missing in terms of solutions and presence in key markets.

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Anon

14 years ago

Can you believe GFK (or WPP) when they rule themself out? How about Nielsen? What are options.... Venture Capital: How can they see 20% more value in a business than a competitor who woudl assume they could maximise profit through economies of scale. Industry Buyer: Most likely, given afore mentioned economies of scale making business more value to them than other buyer? New entrant: Cash rich buyer who wants to enter space, perhaps eyeing vertical integration, Facebook, Google,....

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Brian Tarran

14 years ago

So far, the most believeable explanation I've heard is that this is probably an attempt by city folk to pressure Aegis to push for, and to make Ipsos pay, a little bit more for Synovate.

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Anon

14 years ago

Sounds weak. Aegis themself have said not a credible offer without bidder's name and made a deal out of Exclusivity of talks. Can't see Ipsos responding in any way to unsubstantiated interest. If you are a genuine conspiracist theorist... You'd expect GFK to play down interest if they WEREN'T interested but to play it up they WERE, driving Ipsos costs up or avoiding a bidding war respectively (see WPP sneaking TNS out from under GFK's nose). Only half of that logic would apply to WPP, as driving cost up would just put money in Aegis pockets. Failure of anyone to mention Nielsen also seems strange. Cash rich and possibly the most under represented of the big players in this space.

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