• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, December 6, 2018

Due diligence apparently takes a while. But after two years on the sales block, MDC Partners appears to have some solid offers — top among them Accenture Interactive, according to Adweek, which reported the news earlier today.

Finally, this holding company has a chance to get back on track in some way, shape or form.

The agency assets are impressive — and among them are Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, 72andSunny and Anomaly.

What has not been impressive is the leadership at the top.

Disgraced founder Miles Nadal was forced out after the SEC began investigating his accounting shenanigans back in 2015. He tried to expense jewelry and cosmetic surgery, among other obvious violations of accounting rules, and ended up paying back $20 million or so to the company in related transgressions.

And the firm paid additional fines to the government for Nadal’s bad behavior. Seems he forgot that when the company went public, he couldn’t use it at his own personal piggy bank.

In the months leading up to Nadal’s departure, the company’s stock was trading at close to $28 a share. For the last six months, it has been at about $4 or lower. It never really recovered from the Nadal-era scandal.

Nadal was replaced by Scott Kauffman, who has not been able to drive growth at the holding company. In September, the firm announced Kauffman would depart the CEO perch by the end of the year. MDC has launched a search for his replacement while pursuing strategic options, including a possible sale.

Well, the CEO search may be moot if the firm succeeds in selling itself to Accenture or one of the other bidders. Clearly, investors see that as the best option, having bid the company’s stock up by 30% in today’s trading.