If the deal goes ahead, Keith Impey, currently joint managing director of SML, will become chief executive of M&C Saatchi Sponsorship, a role that has been vacant since June last year. He will report to the M&C Saatchi chairman Nick Hurrell.
Impey has previously worked at a number of advertising agencies in London, including Saatchi & Saatchi and Lowe Howard-Spink, where he was broadcast director. He left in late 1996 for the International Sports Group and later founded SML.
The move will also see Sports Media's other joint managing director, Marcus Wight, take the same role at M&C Saatchi Sponsorship, joining Tanya Hughes and David Marren.
Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed, but it is thought that it will include SML's joint-venture companies in India and ESP Marketing solutions, the promotions company.
M&C Saatchi would retain control of the merged operation, and the newly merged company would be based at M&C Saatchi's Golden Square headquarters in Soho. M&C Saatchi's sponsorship clients include Benson & Hedges' sponsorship of the Jordan Formula 1 team and Travelex, which sponsors World Cup Cricket. SML's clients include All Sports, Cheltenham & Gloucester and Powergen.
"I have been talking to Keith for some time about taking the CEO role at M&C Saatchi Sponsorship. Keith is a talented sponsorship person and has a blue-chip background in the agency. It is a bonus that he will be joined by Marcus and the rest of the SML team as a result of this deal," Hurrell said.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .