Sir Martin Sorrell, the advertising mogul who has built his business empire through shell companies, says blank-cheque vehicles are too expensive to take off in the UK.

Sorrell, who transformed Wire and Plastic Products (WPP), from a cash shell to the world’s biggest advertising agency more than three decades ago, claims the structure is better suited to the UK market than the new investment craze of so-called special purpose acquisition companies, or Spacs. The ad titan also used the well-established cash-shell route to launch his venture S4 Capital in 2018, just six weeks after his acrimonious split from WPP.