TNS Hits Out At WPP
TNS has accused Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP Group of making “misleading statements” in connection with the advertising giant’s attempted takeover of the company.
It was revealed yesterday that TNS had rejected a third bid from WPP (see WPP Makes Fourth TNS Bid) which valued the company at around £1.1 billion.
Following the rejection, WPP said that it had been denied access to information TNS had given to merger partner GfK, which meant that it had “not been able to operate on equal terms to the potential detriment of TNS share owners”.
In a merger update released today, TNS said: “WPP continues to demand that TNS open its books and treat it fairly in terms of information disclosure. WPP has all the financial information on TNS that has been shared with GfK. This is more than is required to value a public company.
“TNS met for over four hours with WPP management and has answered numerous questions raised by WPP pertinent to the information provided. WPP is a competitor of TNS and TNS does not intend to share information with WPP that it has not shared with GfK.”
Today has also seen GfK announce that its administrative board has voted in favour of the merger of GfK and TNS. GfK’s shareholders will vote on the merger on July 21, three days after the TNS vote.
TNS added that GfK-TNS will provide a new sector led approach for clients, unlike the proposed WPP bid which it said “may offer scale but it does not fundamentally change the client offering”.
In a strongly worded statement, the market research firm went on to say: “WPP has stated that if TNS moved in line with the media sector, its share price would be significantly lower. TNS is the only UK quoted, independent market information company, operating in an industry that is demonstrating significant growth. Comparing TNS with a wider media index is misleading.
“In contrast, the board also notes that WPP’s own recent share price performance has been poor, having fallen by 28% at market close on 3 July 2008 since WPP’s proposal for TNS on 13 May 2008.”
Donald Brydon, chairman of TNS said: “The board considers that it is important for all shareholders to have proper information on which to make judgments.
“Given the significant value of the new business model of GfK-TNS, the board of TNS continues to unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favour of the merger at the TNS general meeting being held on 18 July 2008.”
TNS: www.tnsglobal.com WPP: 020 7408 2204 www.wpp.com