Advertising and marketing company MDC Partners Inc. (NASDAQ: MDCA) shares more than doubled on Friday after the company announced that it may be looking intently at a merger with Stagwell Media. However, the company was quick to say that there were no assurances about the likelihood of this transaction.
In terms of the specifics, the board of directors has formed a special committee of independent directors to review the preliminary, nonbinding proposal made by Stagwell in regards to a potential business combination between the firm and Stagwell.
It’s worth pointing out here that MDC Partner’s chair and chief executive, Mark Penn, is also a managing partner at Stagwell.
The special committee intends to retain legal counsel and an independent financial advisor to assist in its review and evaluation of the potential transaction. The special committee has the full power and authority of the board to take any action in regards to this deal.
Some quick background: MDC Partners provides marketing, advertising, activation, communications, and strategic consulting solutions worldwide. In simpler terms, it’s a marketing agency.
Irwin Simon, lead independent director of MDC, commented:
The special committee will act in the best interests of the Company and our shareholders and will evaluate the proposed transaction in partnership with our independent advisors. We are committed to maximizing shareholder value and, if it makes sense to proceed, we will do so in a thoughtful and diligent manner.
Excluding Friday’s move, MDC Partners had underperformed the broad markets with a retreat of about 59% year to date. The stock was down closer to 54% in the past 52 weeks.
MDC Partners stock traded up about 120% on Friday to $2.56, in a 52-week range of $1.01 to $3.43.
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