WPP Completes Cordiant Acquisition
After months of twists and turns the saga of WPP’s £266 million takeover of Cordiant Communications finally closed today, as the deal was formally completed this morning.
The takeover was approved by shareholders earlier this month, although rebel stakeholder, Active Value, succeeded in removing Cordiant’s chief executive, chairman and finance director from the board (see WPP Triumphs In Cordiant Battle).
WPP will assume Cordiant’s £256 million debt burden, leaving shareholders in the group with a meagre £10 million between them.
Before the loss of the Allied Domecq account, which precipitated Cordiant’s decline earlier this year, the company was valued at around 30p per share, or £112 million (see Potential Buyers Circle Crisis-Ridden Cordiant). WPP’s offer valued the group’s shares at just 2.3p.
Shares in WPP were trading down by 1.7% at 542.75p this morning.
