Uncertainty on Wall Street, Big Deals on Madison Avenue

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/business/media/uncertainty-on-wall-street-big-deals-on-madison-avenue.html?_r=1

This summer, for instance, holding companies like Havas, the Publicis Groupe and WPP have announced deals for agencies like Big Fuel, DPZ, Host and Lunchbox.

And on Thursday, Publicis said that it would buy Schwartz Communications, a public relations agency with offices in Boston, London, San Francisco and Stockholm. It was the sixth acquisition of a public relations agency by Publicis in 18 months, according to The Holmes Report, a trade publication.

Another example of the trend will come on Friday, when MDC Partners, which owns agencies like Crispin Porter & Bogusky and Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners, is to announce the acquisition of majority stakes in two specialty agencies.

One agency, Concentric Pharma Advertising, creates campaigns for pharmaceutical marketers like Bayer, Novartis, Pfizer and Roche. Concentric has 75 employees who work at a headquarters in New York and an office in London.
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The other agency, Laird & Partners, is based in New York and also has about 75 employees. It specializes in ads for beauty, fashion and luxury-goods marketers like DKNY, Gap, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein.
MDC is estimated to be paying $20 million for the majority ownership stakes in both agencies, with additional considerations based on future performance.

The acquisitions are the second and third this year for MDC, which is based in Toronto and owns all or part of about 50 agencies. The previous deal in 2011 involved a New York agency named Anomaly. MDC made 13 acquisitions last year and two in 2009.