The management team of Haygarth has finally confirmed it has completed a management buyout to acquire a majority stake back from Omnicom, nearly five months after professional services firm Moore Kingston Smith posted the deal in an update on LinkedIn.
The MBO was led by the four-strong leadership team of chief executive Marcus Sandwith, managing director Charlotte Amos, chief strategy officer Anthony Donaldson and chief financial officer Charlotte Broughton.
Under the newly structured agreement, the management team controls the majority shareholding of the business, while Omnicom retains a strategic minority stake to ensure continued global collaboration.
Moore Kingston Smith originally disclosed the finalisation of the transaction in early June 2026 as part of its regular mergers and acquisitions reporting for the second quarter.
Omnicom originally acquired Haygarth in 2014 through agency Rapp, integrating the agency into its Diversified Agency Services division and aligned with Rapp to bolster its shopper and retail capabilities.
At the time, the then Haygarth chief executive Sophie Daranyi said: “The partnership is an ideal strategic and cultural match for Haygarth. Rapp’s prowess and the reach, coupled with the depth of the DAS Group of Companies and Omnicom network, will add immense value to our offering.”
While Sandwith became CEO, Daranyi moved to chair of Haygarth until 2017 when she was promoted to global CEO of Omnicom Commerce Group. She left Omnicom in 2023 to take on a number of non-executive and advisory roles.
While the trigger for the MBO has not been revealed, Rapp’s future is far from certain after Omnicom moved the London agency in with sister shop Critical Mass.
Operating from its HQ at Battersea Studios in London, Haygarth will continue to service its client roster, which includes global giants such as Adidas, Disney, and Vodafone.
The leadership has confirmed that the move back to independence will lead to no staff redundancies or day-to-day operational changes, allowing the agency’s 100-plus employees to maintain continuity for their clients.
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