A deal selling a majority stake in Kantar to an investor is expected to be announced in the middle of 2019 by WPP – the firm that currently owns the controlling stake in Kantar – says WPP Chief Executive Officer, Mark Read.
Last week, Read told analysts that a deal to sell the controlling share, to what he described as a “financial and strategic partner”, was in the best interest of Kantar moving forward. He added that there has already been strong interest from several potential buyers.
Marcomms giant WPP had already begun a formal process of reviewing the ownership of Kantar in late October of 2018 when Read was appointed as CEO after a decrease in revenue of 4.9% for the WPP division that housed the likes of Kantar TNS, Kantar Millward Brown, and Lightspeed. This latest announcement follows a further 1.8% decline in annual revenue for Kantar.
Last month, the Sunday Times newspaper claimed that several private equity firms were already in the running to purchase the majority stake, including TPG, Apax, and Cinven among others.
