Rivals reject £100m Saatchis

ADVERTISING gurus Maurice and Charles Saatchi have been spurned by competitors over attempts to sell their business.

The brothers failed to find buyers willing to pay their price, believed to be close to £100 million, and instead have embarked on plans to float their M&C Saatchi agency on the junior Alternative Investment Market later this year.

They are believed to be looking to cash in a major part of their stake. Industry executives say the Saatchis want to sell up to 40% - much higher than previously thought.

It has been suggested that the company could be valued at about £75 million, with up to 30% of its shares being offered for sale.

The company is said to be aiming to raise about £10 million to finance start-up or joint ventures in France, Germany and Spain. But it has emerged that earlier this year the brothers approached rival groups and offered to sell their business for close to £100 million.

One industry source said yesterday: 'Their valuation was too high. We thought the business was worth about £50 million.'

The brothers shot to fame in the Eighties when they built up one of the world's biggest advertising agencies, Saatchi & Saatchi, and launched M&C Saatchi in 1995.

Maurice, 57, is a life peer, a leading member of the Conservative Party and extremely focused on his political career. Charles, 60, who is married to TV chef Nigella Lawson and is famed for his patronage of young British artists, has little day-to-day involvement in the business.

A spokeswoman for M&C Saatchi said the flotation plans were at an early stage, but in any float the company's existing investors planned to sell some shares.

M&C Saatchi, which has offices in the UK, Far East and America and employs 600, has a list of blue-chip clients, including British Airways, Dixons and GlaxoSmithKline.

The latest accounts, for 2002, show a £43 million profit on £63.2 million turnover and a dividend of £4.4 million. M&C Saatchi has hired Lehman Brothers as banker for the float.