Shares in WPP AUNZ jumped by a quarter after its UK-based parent WPP plc upped the offer to acquire the shares its doesn't own in the ASX-listed advertising group.
A short time ago the shares were trading at $0.71, just above the offer price of $0.70.
Independent directors have backed the latest offer, a considerable lift from the first run $0.55 a share.
And WPP plc has also agreed to WPP AUNZ declaring and paying total ordinary and special dividends of up to $0.15 a share.
The UK-based holding company currently has 61.5% of the ASX-listed WPP AUNZ.
One of the beneficiaries of any sale will be the CEO, Jens Monsees, who in May went on market to buy 420,000 shares in the company he runs.
He paid an average 23.5 cents a share, for a total cost of $98,700 (now worth $294,000 under the WPP bid), taking his direct interest in WPP AUNZ to 600,000 shares.
Monsees, who left BWM in Europe to take up the role at WPP AUNZ in October last year, also holds and indirect interest in 2,769,572 shares under the WPP AUNZ share ownership plan.
The WPP bid values those two parcels shares at more than $2.2 million.
Monsees is paid a base salary of $1.5 million.
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