Dentsu has, in effect, put a for sale sign on its international business, hiring Mitsubishi UFJ, Morgan Stanley and Nomura Securities to sound out potential buyers.
Dentsu appears to have turned the corner in Japan, where it dominates in creative, media and production but struggled elsewhere. At one time it seemed to be thriving through the purchase of Aegis, owner of media agency Carat, and performance marketing agency Merkle but its attempts to grow in creative outside Japan foundered. Its most recent big buy was global production business Tag.
With WPP now under the leadership of Cindy Rose and Omnicom and IPG close to completing their merger adland’s tectonic plates, which once seemed well and truly frozen, are finally shifting. Dentsu is currently ranked the fifth-biggest ad holding company.
The whole of Dentsu is currently valued at about $5 billion, the international business only a smallish portion of this. So some Dentsu assets may prove attractive to buyers. Would-be market challengers, including the likes of Stagwell and S4 Capital have struggled to scale the media elements of their businesses. Carat would be a rare opportunity to do so. Accenture may also be interested.
