Next Fifteen ends M&C Saatchi bid after shareholder opposition

(Reuters) - Consultancy Next Fifteen Communications has terminated its takeover offer of M&C Saatchi after the required majority of the British advertising group's shareholders did not vote in favour of the proposal at a court meeting on Monday.

Amid a bidding war that also previously involved its biggest shareholder, M&C withdrew support for Next Fifteen's offer of $381 million in June and later warned it might not gain investor support but agreed to reconvene meetings on Oct. 31.

M&C also scrapped a general meeting scheduled to vote on Next Fifteen's proposal after the offer lapsed, and declared it was no longer in an offer period under British takeover rules after a bid from its top investor, Vin Murria's AdvancedadvT (ADV) investment vehicle, also lapsed last month.

"Following the lapse of both the Next 15 Offer and the ADV Offer, the M&C Saatchi Directors look forward to continuing the implementation of M&C Saatchi's strategy as an independent business," the company said in a statement.

In a separate statement, Next Fifteen also expressed confidence in its own future prospects.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka and Muhammed Husain in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)