Sorrell hits back over claims of S4 legal battle with MediaMonks

Josh McDonnell
By Josh McDonnell | 24 April 2019
 

Sir Martin Sorrell and his new business S4 have hit back over claims of a legal dispute regarding the acquisition of advertising agency MediaMonks.

Sorrell, through S4 Capital, acquired the business for €300 million (A$472 million) in July last year, beating interest from rival, and former business, WPP.

Claims have now been leveled at S4, stating that former Media Monks investor, Rogier Schalken, was entitled to a portion of the proceeds following the sale.

Schalken states that he had been part of the business during the time of its sale and argues that Media Monks was aware of a takeover at the time in which he sold his share.

S4 responded to the claims and argued that the claims made originally in an article by The Sunday Times were false.

"This is not true. The matter is a dispute between former shareholders of MediaMonks. Any involvement of S4Capital will only be as a witness in any action," a statement read.

"The complainant was not a founder of MediaMonks and was a 0.029% (or 29/1000ths of 1%) shareholder in MediaMonks up until November 2017, when he sold his shareholding. Discussions between S4Capital and MediaMonks did not commence until well into 2018."

S4 also took aim at The Sunday Times for publishing an "erroneous" description of the agency, while also claiming that the publication was made "fully aware" of the facts but instead chose to ignore them.

MediaMonks, founded in the Netherlands, has 650 staff in 10 countries across Europe, the Americas and Asia.

Late last year Sorrell and S4 continued their acquisition run, adding programmatic advertising group, Mighty Hive, to its ranks for US$150 million.

Sorrell launched S4 Capital early last year after a public exit from WPP amid claims of personal misconduct and misuse of company assets.

Despite Sorrell denying the allegations, he ended his 33-year tenure as boss and founder of the world’s largest advertising and PR group in April 2018.

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