Buyout firm Epiris plots £230m swoop on Next 15 divisions

The backstage equity steadfast which owns the Las Iguanas and Cafe Rouge edifice chains is successful talks to bargain a sizeable chunk of Next 15 Group, the London-listed selling services group.

Sky News has learnt that Epiris, which owns the Big Table casual eating radical and besides counted auctioneer Bonhams among its caller investments, has approached Next 15 Group astir a deal.

City sources said connected Monday that Epiris's connection included Next 15 subsidiaries MHP Communications, a starring fiscal nationalist relations firm.

M Booth, a user selling operation; Outcast, different PR agency; and Activate, a business-to-business request procreation specialist, are besides said to signifier portion of the woody perimeter.

Ares Management, the backstage recognition giant, is understood to person been approached by Epiris to assistance concern its offer.

Discussions betwixt Epiris and Next 15 are said to beryllium ongoing, though insiders cautioned that a transaction was not definite to materialise.

Sky News reported the attack to Next 15 earlier this year, though the individuality of the bidder was unclear astatine that stage.

Next 15 is simply a selling services conglomerate which is efficaciously a smaller replica of manufacture giants specified arsenic Publicis and WPP, the second of which is engulfed successful strategical uncertainty.

Sir Martin Sorrell, the WPP laminitis who present runs S4 Capital, has besides been successful talks astir taking the concern private.

A merchantability of its Marker part would permission Next 15 focused connected its remaining exertion and data-driven lawsuit businesses.
Next 15 issued a nett informing and changed its enactment earlier this twelvemonth arsenic it disclosed "potential superior misconduct" related to Mach49, a Silicon Valley advisory concern it owns.

Tim Dyson, its main enforcement for implicit 3 decades, has retired and been replaced by Sam Knights, the brag of Shopper Media Group, 1 of its subsidiaries.

The radical has already been engaged successful selling a fig of units.

Next 15 has a marketplace worth of astir £420m aft seeing its banal rally successful caller months.

The shares, which were trading astatine astir 404.5p connected Monday afternoon, are broadly level implicit the past year.

Epiris, Ares and Next 15 each declined to comment.