WPP sells stake in PR big FGS to KKR

After every week or so of hypothesis WPP has confirmed it has offered a stake in big PR agency FGS International (the one-time Finsbury Metropolis PR agency based by Roland Rudd) to US-based international investor KKR.

WPP says it would stay the bulk shareholder. KKR is shopping for the stake held by Golden Gate Capital plus some from different share3holders.

FGS, a mixture of Finsbury, The Glover Park Group, Hering Schuppener and Sard Verbinnen & Co, has round 1300 workers all over the world and a blue-chip consumer listing. The transaction values FGS International at $1.425bn.

WPP CEO Mark Learn says: “FGS International has established itself as a world chief in strategic advisory and communications, offering board-level counsel to the world’s main corporations and organisations. We’re delighted to welcome KKR as a brand new strategic companion in FGS International, in a transaction that recognises the great worth of the enterprise and its potential for continued robust progress.”

KKR companion Philipp Freise says: “WPP and FGS International have constructed an distinctive communications advisory agency. Stakeholder engagement is a boardroom difficulty and we’re at this time establishing a robust strategic partnership between WPP and KKR to assist FGS International as they proceed on their path to constructing an industry-defining international enterprise.”