Laying its cards on the table earlier this month, AdvancedAdvT said an enlarged group would create “significant value for shareholders” by forging a data, analytics and digitally focused marketing business with “complementary” deals. 

The arguments have only been emboldened by deal-hungry rivals. Last September, Sir Martin Sorrell’s digital agency S4 Capital bolstered its tech armoury by merging with Zemoga, which provides design and engineering services. 

And in November, WPP, the world’s biggest advertising agency, inked a deal for the e-commerce services firm Cloud Commerce Group.  

With a valuation of £220m, M&C is significantly smaller than some ad-tech rivals. Next15 and Kin + Carta, for instance, are worth £1.1bn and £449m respectively. 

But despite a storied history, it is no digital slouch. M&C dates back to 1994 when founders Lord Saatchi and his brother Charles split from the Saatchi & Saatchi agency – best known for Margaret Thatcher’s “Labour Isn’t Working” advert that helped propel the Tories to power in 1979.

It has recently secured contracts with TikTok, Uber and Tinder, and last year launched data consultancy Fluency.

A deal with AdvancedAdvT could remove a millstone from around its neck. It has vowed to settle dividends M&C must pay to senior managers who own minority shares in its smaller companies, known as “put options”. The promise would create £100m in cash for investment and takeovers.

David Kershaw, former chief executive of M&C Saatchi, is unconvinced. He co-founded the company with Jeremy Sinclair and Bill Muirhead, known as adland’s “three amigos” who collectively own an 8.25pc stake.

The trio exited in a boardroom shake-up three years ago when M&C was revealed to have overstated its accounts by £14m. On Friday the company announced the FCA had closed a year-long investigation into the accounting scandal and is not taking any enforcement action. It also upgraded its profit forecasts for the financial year through December 2021.