Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP has abandoned its attempt to pull out of a
deal to buy Tempus and will go ahead with the £432 million
takeover of the media specialist.
WPP notified the Stock Exchange on Tuesday afternoon that it would not
be appealing against the Takeover Panel's ruling that the agreement must
be honoured.
The failure of the communications giant to convince the panel to allow
it to walk away means it must stand by its original agreement to pay
555p for each Tempus share.
It means that WPP will now press ahead with the merger of its media
agency, The Media Edge, with the Tempus-owned CIA media network.
Chris Ingram, Tempus' chairman, said he intended to remain at the merged
group for at least as long as it took for the integration to be
completed.
Sorrell had indicated that he would be appealing against the Takeover
Panel's ruling against him. He had argued that Tempus' business had
suffered a "material adverse change" following the 11 September attacks
in the US.
WPP said in a statement that it had "notified the Takeover Panel that it
does not intend to appeal to the appeal committee against the decision
of the Takeover Panel (announced on 1 November 2001)".
It added: "Throughout the bid process, the board of WPP has remained
convinced of the long-term strategic benefits of combining WPP with
Tempus, particularly in connection with the merger of CIA and TME and
the combination of the Tempus strategic marketing businesses with WPP's
strategic marketing consultancies."
