WPP’s former dealmaker is joining investment bank Canaccord Genuity — a sign advertising M&A could heat up

• Canaccord Genuity is hiring the former WPP dealmaker Lance Maerov to work on ad and media M&A.
• Maerov’s hiring suggests a rise in deals on Madison Avenue could be coming.
• The ad industry is undergoing big changes amid new technologies and varying fortunes among firms.

The Canadian investment bank Canaccord Genuity is hiring a former top dealmaker at the advertising giant WPP for its advertising and media mergers-and-acquisitions practice, Business Insider can exclusively reveal.

Lance Maerov, who left WPP in December, is set to join Canaccord Genuity’s technology, media, marketing, and information M&A practice, two people familiar with the matter told BI. The company informed staff earlier this week, one of the people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to maintain business relationships. Their identities are known to BI.

Canaccord Genuity didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The move to expand the bank’s media and advertising practice by hiring a prolific Madison Avenue dealmaker is a strong signal that acquisitions in the agency space could heat up. Recent Canaccord Genuity deals in the ad and media space include the sale of Mars United Commerce to Publicis Groupe, Verve Group’s acquisition of Jun Group, and AdTheorent‘s sale to the Novacap-owned Cadent.

The advertising industry is undergoing radical change that’s fueling deal activity

The advertising-agency landscape has transformed in recent years amid the evolution of digital marketing and the emergence of new technology and practices, from artificial intelligence to retail media. Agencies have responded by adapting their services to suit a broader array of client needs rather than simply creating and buying their ads, as in decades past.

It’s been marked by a wave of high-profile acquisitions, such as Publicis Groupe’s $4.4 billion purchase of the data business Epsilon in 2019 and, more recently, Omnicom acquiring the e-commerce specialist Flywheel Digital for $835 million last year.

The varying fortunes of different ad holding companies, as well as the arrival of new entrants — and a growing interest in the space from private equity — have also fueled speculation that agency groups, too, could be merged or acquired.

Rumors continue to swirl in the industry about what might be next for WPP, once the leader of the pack, whose market value has dropped well below that of its archrivals, Publicis and Omnicom. (On Wednesday, WPP reported a return to revenue growth in its third quarter, which analysts generally hadn’t expected.)

The Wall Street Journal reported this summer that IPG was in talks to sell R/GA, its digital agency famed for its work on Nike, to Tata Consultancy Services. S4Capital, led by the former WPP chief Martin Sorrell, turned down an acquisition offer from its rival firm Stagwell earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal first reported.

Maerov, who worked under Sorrell at WPP as its executive vice president of corporate development, was responsible for the company’s M&A and venture-capital investments. He also worked closely with CEO Mark Read and its chief operating officer, Andrew Scott.

Maerov worked for WPP for more than 20 years, during which time it made transformative acquisitions, such as the 2007 purchase of the digital-marketing company 24/7 Real Media and the 2015 acquisition of the British media agency Essence.

Through WPP’s investments, Maerov sat on the boards of companies including the Weinstein Co., Vice Media, the IT firm Globant, and the lifestyle website Refinery29. He later testified against Harvey Weinstein in the trial that sent the movie mogul to prison.

This year, Maerov branched out on his own, launching Dinmont Ridge, a strategic-advice and investment-capital consulting firm.