Mark Penn
Mark Penn

MDC Partners today adjourned its June 22 special meeting of shareholders to vote on its combination with Mark Penn’s Stagwell Media LP until July 19.

Shareholders now have until July 15 to weigh in on the deal that is opposed by Indaba Capital Management, MDC’s largest independent stockholder, which criticized the transaction as a “conflict-riddled and poorly structured merger.”

The San Francisco hedge fund owns about 15 percent of MDC’s shares.

Penn, who also helms MDC, claims the merger will create a “transformative global marketing network” blessed with “best-in-class capabilities.”

He says the Stagwell/MDC mash-up will be “the first platform in 50 years ready to take on the ‘big four’ that dominate the industry.”

MDC is the home of PR firms Allison+Partners, Hunter and KWT Global, while Stagwell owns Sloane & Co and SKDKnickerbocker.