Aegis Buyer Speculation Rumbles On

Rumours about a possible sale of Synovate parent Aegis continue, with WPP the latest group said to be poised to make a bid. This week, Aegis has admitted that it has met with at least one other potential buyer in addition to Publicis, while Vincent Bolloré, Chairman of Havas, continues to increase his stake.

Yesterday, Aegis announced it had met with 'more than one potential offeror' in recent days. The French Publicis Groupe has already announced that it has been in talks with the company, but Aegis has not revealed the other(s). An official announcement from Aegis said 'there can be no certainty that any offer will be made for the company by any potential offeror'.

Sources quoted on Reuters say that the UK's WPP, which owns the Kantar Group, is considering a joint approach with US private equity firm Hellman & Friedman. There is also reported speculation that WPP is interested mainly in Synovate, and that the rest of the company might be broken up and sold on.

Vincent Bolloré, Chair of the Havas group, has now increased his stake in Aegis to 12.63%, but Havas has made it clear that this move is on behalf of Group Bolloré, the Chairman's own holding company, rather than Havas itself. However, this does not rule out a Havas bid for Aegis: the official Havas announcement said that Bolloré's statements 'should not be taken as having any bearing on the question of whether or not Havas might participate at any time in any offer for Aegis'.

Aegis is online at www.aegisplc.com.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.