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Sard Verbinnen & Co. and Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher work the fallout from the collapse of China-based Ant Financial Services Group’s $1.2B bid for MoneyGram, money transfer operation.
The partners pulled the plug on the deal yesterday, citing inability to get the blessing of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US.
That rejection comes as tensions rise between China and the US, and the Trump Administration’s growing concern about the theft of American intellectual property.
In announcing the deal’s death, MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes noted the “geopolitical environment has changed considerably” since the merger was announced Jan. 26, 2017.
The potential for China’s investment in the US appeared to be bright following the US election. Jack Ma, the Chinese Internet baron who controls Ant Financial, appeared with president-elect Trump at a Trump Tower photo-op and promised to create one million jobs in the US.
SV&C’s Paul Kranhold, Reze Wong and Andrew Duberstein represent Ant Financial in the US, while Rick Carew and Yin Ai handle China.
JFWBK’s Michael Freitag, Joseph Sala and Viveca Tress work the MoneyGram account.
Public Policy Holding Company grew 27.5 percent to $50.1M during Q1, powered by the accelerating contribution from recent acquisitions and a 5.1 percent hike in organic revenues across its three operating segments.
Institutional Shareholder Services advises investors to vote "no" on a compensation package for WPP chief Cindy Rose at the May 8 annual meeting.
FTI Consulting chalked up a 9.5 percent rise in Q1 revenues to $983.3M, powered by gains in its PR, corporate finance and technology segments.
Stagwell reports 4 percent growth in Q1 net revenues to $585M and a record $141M in net new business wins.
WPP reported a 6.7 percent drop to $3.1B in Q1 like-like revenues less pass-through costs. CEO Cindy Rose says 'it will take time to outpace historical losses."
