No Certainty Of GfK Offer For TNS

Market research company GfK has announced that there is no certainty it will be making an offer for TNS.

The clarification follows yesterday’s £1.082 billion bid for TNS from Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP Group (see TNS Rejects WPP Bid).

TNS rejected the takeover bid, saying it “substantially undervalues TNS, even on a standalone basis”.

It then agreed with GfK to terminate a proposed merger between the two companies, permitting the German firm to advance talks with its third party investor and make an alternative offer.

However, today GfK has made clear that an offer for the British market research group is not certain.

A report in today’s Financial Times looks at possible financial backers of a GfK offer, speculating that the Herz family, which sold its stake in Puma last year, and the Quandt family, part owner of BMW, could be interested.

The FT also reports a Frankfurt-based analyst as saying that GfK would need to raise debt of more than €1.6 billion to match WPP’s offer in cash, assuming it took a 51% stake.

Sir Martin Sorrell, meanwhile, is “incensed” at the thought of a GfK offer, according to the Guardian, describing the unnamed financial backer as “a fairy godmother”, adding: “If you were writing a book it would be funny, but what the workers within GfK think of all this I just shudder to think.”

TNS: www.tnsglobal.com GfK: www.gfk.com WPP: 020 7408 2204 www.wpp.com