Brave Bison strikes latest deal with £20m move on Centaur Media arm

A London-listed marketing specialist backed by Rupert Murdoch and Lord Ashcroft is extending its acquisition spree with a near-£20m swoop on a division of Centaur Media.

Sky News has learnt that Brave Bison was on Thursday evening finalising a deal to buy MiniMBA, an e-learning and training business serving marketing and technology professionals, founded by Professor Mark Ritson. The deal, which is expected to be funded from a combination of bank debt, cash and a small equity raise backed by existing Brave Bison shareholders, may be announced as early as Friday morning.

It will effectively fire the starting gun on a break-up of Centaur, which also owns The Lawyer and which received an aborted takeover approach last year from Waterland, a private equity firm. Money blog: What interest rate cut means for your money MiniMBA, which counts Amex, Carlsberg, Google, Nestle and Tesco among its clients, has trained more than 50,000 people since its inception in 2016.

The division recorded about £11m in revenue last year, and is profitable. The acquisition of MiniMBA will create a new division for Brave Bison, which also specialises in fan engagement, social media and influencer marketing.

Professor Ritson is expected to inject cash into the deal and will become one of Brave Bison's top-ten shareholders, according to sources. The deal will come just weeks after Mr Murdoch's News Corporation took a stake in Brave Bison by combining their influencer marketing divisions.

Brave Bison, which is run by brothers Oli and Theo Green, has sealed a string of transactions this year, and counts Lord Ashcroft and the prominent entrepreneur Luke Johnson among its leading shareholders. Previous deals included the purchase of Engage Digital, a key digital partner to sporting properties including the Men's T20 Cricket World Cup.

The Green brothers took over the Brave Bison in 2020, and have overseen a sharp strategic realignment and improvement in its performance. Last year, it bought the podcaster and entrepreneur Steven Bartlett's social media and influencer agency, SocialChain.

In total, the company has struck seven takeover deals since the Greens assumed control. At Thursday's stock market close, Brave Bison had a market capitalisation of about £33m.

Both Brave Bison and Centaur Media declined to comment..