Bain and WPP to break up and sell Kantar amid weak IPO market

Multibillion-dollar market research firm Kantar is set to be split up and sold by its owners, Bain Capital and WPP, as they abandon plans for a stock market listing due to weak IPO conditions, Financial Times has reported. 

Bain Capital acquired a 60% stake in Kantar in 2019, valuing the company at around $4 billion, while WPP retained a minority share. Now, both firms are looking to cash in on their investment, believing a sale will generate quicker and more reliable returns than waiting for a more favorable IPO market.

In January, Kantar sold its media division, which oversees the UK's TV audience measurement system, to private equity firm HIG Capital for $1 billion, representing about 15% of Kantar's revenue. While an IPO was previously under consideration for the remaining business, the owners are now exploring sales of its major divisions.

The global IPO market has struggled to recover from a post-pandemic downturn, leaving investors and buyout firms with a record number of unsold assets. A recent European IPO—hotel room wholesaler HBX Group—performed poorly, reinforcing concerns about the market. Bain and WPP had not yet chosen a venue for Kantar’s potential listing.

One of Kantar’s fastest-growing divisions, Numerator, a Chicago-based consumer and market intelligence firm, may be sold as soon as this year. In January, Kantar merged Numerator with its Worldpanel division, creating a global consumer data company that tracks nearly 5 billion consumers across 50 markets. The combined business, which has 5,800 employees worldwide, now operates under the Numerator brand.

Kantar also manages consumer panels with over 170 million participants, gathering insights on marketing and advertising effectiveness. In a January financial update, the company reported $2.5 billion in adjusted gross revenue for the first nine months of 2024, a 3% increase from the previous year, alongside $509 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA).