Ascential plc (“Ascential”) is pleased to announce that the sale of its Digital Commerce business to Omnicom Group Inc. (“Omnicom”) has today completed. Consequently, Duncan Painter has now stepped down from the Board of Ascential plc and the positionof Chief Executive Officer. He will now serve as Chief Executive Officer of Flywheel Digital, a new practice area within Omnicom. In addition, independent non-executive directors Joanne Harris and Charles Song have also stepped down from the Board of Ascential today.Philip Thomas has been appointed as Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Ascential with effect from today’s date.
In addition all required regulatory clearances have been received in respect of the sale of Ascential’s product design business, WGSN, to Wind UK Bidco 3 Limited (a newly formed company established by funds advised by Apax Partners). The sale of WGSN is therefore due to complete at the beginning of February 2024.