Battle for Aegis gets ugly as WPP announces intentions |
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Thu, 06 Oct 2005 00:35
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PARIS - French advertiser Havas released a statement saying that the comments made by Chairman Vincent Bolloré were his personal views and in no way reflected on its intentions to bid for British media buying group Aegis.
"These statements were made by Mr. Bolloré in his capacity as chief executive of Groupe Bolloré in relation to its investments in Havas and Aegis respectively. Havas confirms that these statements were not made in Mr. Bollore's capacity as Chairman of Havas," the statement said. It further stated that his comments should not be taken to have a bearing on "whether or not Havas might participate at any time in any offer for Aegis in any capacity."
Bolloré has been showing an active interest in Aegis and currently holds 12.6 percent of Aegis. Analysts say that Bollore's intentions could possibly be to block out any potential bid from Publicis.
Meanwhile, Publicis met with stiffer opposition as Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP joined the fray in the battle to control the owner of Europe's most powerful media buying network. WPP is partnering Hellman & Friedman, a US private equity in this bid. WPP is reportedly interested in Synovate, Aegis' market research wing. Apparently the media-buying wing is not so attractive to WPP.
Meanwhile Aegis confirmed that it had met with "more than one potential offeror to share non-public information on the company." Analysts feel that Sir Martin would benefit if he talks to Publicis before opening an offer, "WPP gets to see one of its key competitor's books from the inside before it possibly goes to Publicis. From the Aegis standpoint, it gees up Publicis to do something. But if all WPP wants is Synovate, it should have a word with Maurice Levy because he probably won't want it for himself," said Anthony de Larrinaga, analyst at SG Securities.
Aegis shares were up 0.5 pence at 144.25 pence in early trading on the markets.
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