New York agency, Shepardson Stern & Kaminsky, or SS&K, says that it’s “born to lead brands through moments of change.” It is about to have a change of its own.

M&C Saatchi has bought 33% of the agency for US$8 million.

Moray MacLennan, worldwide chief executive officer at M&C Saatchi, stated, “A strong agency in New York is a cornerstone for any network. We have taken some time to find the right solution – an agency which is intelligent, ambitious and creative to its core. I am eager to start our future together with SS&K.”

Creative Artists Agency was a minority owner of SS&K from 1999 until earlier this year.

This is M&C’s third attempt to make it in New York.

More than a dozen strong agencies have opened New York offices in recent years – 72andSunny, Leo Burnett, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Sid Lee; Lowe Campbell Ewald, McKinney, Arnold Worldwide, Bartle Bogle Hegarty, Laughlin Constable, Hill Holliday, Mother and Wieden & Kennedy.

Not all have thrived. Cummins & Partners has just opened an office there.

Meanwhile, M&C’s own New York office is winding down. Its chief executive officer, Jeff Brooks, moved to Assembly at the end of July. M&C first launched in New York in 1995 but closed its office in 2007, two years after it lost the British Airways account to Bartle Bogle Hegarty. It reopened there in 2012.

“With hindsight, I don’t think we ever invested, if we’re honest with ourselves, the time or money to create a flagship office in Manhattan, the toughest of all markets,” MacLennan admitted. “It’s a brutal old town you have.”

There are M&C Saatchi offices in Los Angeles, Berlin, Madrid, Paris, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.

SS&K founders, Rob Shepardson, Lenny Stern and Mark Kaminsky will continue to own 66% of their company that has 60 employees. Shepardson, Stern and Kaminsky will be able to sell 50% of their remaining stake in 2016 and the balance from 2018.

SS&K was interested “in a partnership that would let us compete against larger agencies and maintain our culture, which is really important,” Larry Stern stated, and “a chance to enhance our capabilities by offering clients international reach without losing our identity in some kind of bureaucratic flytrap.”

The agency has had a good run lately, winning E*Trade Financial, FreshDirect, HBO, The New Yorker, Starbucks and Wells Fargo.