Activist investor pushes for M&C Saatchi break-up in ‘next year’
The investment firm pushing to break up M&C Saatchi has predicted that the advertising agency will not exist in its current structure within a year, in a move that would see one of Britain’s most well-known advertising agencies depart from the stock exchange.
Christopher Mills, the founder of notorious activist investment shop Harwood Capital, said that while a near-term deal remained unlikely, a piecemeal sale of the Aim-listed media giant “has got to be on the cards” given the firm’s difficulty reviving a pattern of stuttering performance since it emerged from the pandemic.
“I would be very surprised if Saatchi was an independent company this time next year,” he told Morning Wire in an interview, adding that two recent additions to M&C Saatchi’s board suggest its top brass are angling for a “corporate solution” to its struggles.
Any break-up would mark the culmination of a period of immense turbulence at the eponymous media firm founded by Charles and Maurice Saatchi in 1995. The London-headquartered group – which boasts events, creative and advertising agencies across six continents – announced last year it was targeting annual cost savings of £12m to shore up its bottom line and boost shareholder returns.
M&C Saatchi leadership shake-up
But the turnaround was plunged into turmoil in March when chief executive Zaid al Qassab abruptly left after less than two years in post. The firm’s board is yet to appoint a successor.
Harwood, which also oversaw the break-up of publisher Centaur Media in 2025, has been steadily building up a stake in M&C Saatchi over the past half-decade. It now owns more than eight per cent of the Aim constituent, making it one of the company’s largest shareholders.
The group’s other top investors include Advanced Computer Software founder Vin Murria, who launched a failed takeover attempt of the ad agency in 2022 and was re-appointed as a non-executive director earlier this year.
Murria’s return coincided with a parallel decision to install Nicholas Shott as a director. The veteran investment banker worked on the blockbuster deal to take Lord Rothermere’s Daily Mail and General Trust private in 2022, and his appointment is said to have been orchestrated by Harwood.
Mills, whose boutique investment firm is also one of the largest shareholders in takeover target Spire Healthcare, said the two new directors were a “clear indication” the company was angling to offload part or all of the business.
“It would only make sense for them to be on that board if they were looking for a corporate solution,” he added. “There’s a clear sign that that’s the direction of travel.”
A piecemeal sale of the group’s businesses, which include an events management function, a PR agency and a market-leading sports and entertainment division, would likely mark the end of the group’s 20-year spell on London’s junior Aim stock exchange. Britain is also poised to lose one of its most recognisable advertising brands, which Maurice and Charles established after an historic boardroom spat prompted them to quit their original agency, Saatchi & Saatchi.
M&C Saatchi declined to comment.