U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital has won enough shareholder support to complete its tender offer of Asatsu-DK Inc (ADK) (9747.T), allowing the Japanese advertising agency to end a bitter two-decade partnership with top shareholder WPP (WPP.L).

Bain received 87 percent in the tender offer of Japan’s third-biggest ad agency, at 3,660 yen ($32.55) each, a regulatory filing showed on Thursday. It had been seeking more than half of ADK to take it private in a 152 billion yen ($1.35 billion) deal announced in October.

Britain’s WPP, the world’s biggest advertising group and ADK’s largest shareholder with a 25 percent stake, had initially tried to block Bain’s tender offer, which it said undervalued the company. But it reversed its position last month after agreeing to discuss plans to reinvest in ADK at a later date. Bain’s final offer price was unchanged from the original.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE