Mission Group mulls over higher takeover approach from rival Brave Bison
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Digital marketing firm Mission Group has said it is considering a higher £32.3 million takeover approach from rival Brave Bison but revealed its initial view is that the proposal is still unlikely to get its backing.
Brave Bison, which owns the Social Chain agency founded by Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett, said on Monday that it had put forward an increased possible bid worth around 35.1p per Mission share on May 25 after its first approach was rejected.
The new proposal suggests giving Mission shareholders about a 50% holding in the newly formed company and would offer a partial cash alternative of up to 50% of the offer price.
The board's preliminary view is the revised possible offer does not reflect Mission's contribution to the proposed combined group
Mission Group
It is an increase on the initial potential all-stock offer put forward by Brave Bison, which was worth around 29p a share, valuing fellow Aim-listed rival Mission Group at about £27 million.
But Mission Group said the latest takeover tilt may still be inadequate.
Mission Group said: “The board’s preliminary view is the revised possible offer does not reflect Mission’s contribution to the proposed combined group.”
It added that the group and its advisers are “evaluating the revised possible offer and a further announcement will be made in due course”.
Mission’s board unanimously rebuffed the first approach, which it said was “opportunistic and significantly undervalues the group and its prospects”.
Brave Bison – which last year bought Social Chain – has until June 9 to make a firm offer for Mission Group or walk away under City Takeover Panel rules.
But Brave Bison said on Monday that unless the deadline is extended, it “does not believe the possible offer can be progressed further and is seeking an extension to the offer deadline to facilitate a constructive discussion between the parties”.
Brave Bison is backed by billionaire and former Conservative Party deputy chairman Lord Michael Ashcroft, who has a stake of more than 20% in the group.
Mission employs more than 1,100 staff and creates digital marketing materials for firms including Google, Porsche, Kinder and Speedo.
Brave Bison said on revealing its initial bid plans last month that a tie-up between the pair would create one of the UK’s largest independent digital marketing agencies on Aim, a combined group with sales of around £120 million and underlying earnings of about £14 million.
It said the enlarged group would be headed by brothers Oliver and Theo Green, executive chairman and chief growth officer of Brave Bison, who took over the company in 2020.
Brave Bison, which operates across nine countries, has previously said that a takeover would strengthen Mission’s balance sheet, claiming that Mission has loans and “certain overdue creditors” totalling around £30 million, which it said were repayable within two years.