Maurice Levy admits interest but said he would not be drawn into bidding war for 'highly priced' UK media buying company
Maurice Levy has admitted that Publicis Groupe would "certainly" be interested in buying parts of Aegis Media, but said he would not be drawn into a bidding war for the "highly priced" UK media buying company.
It is the first time the French marketing services group has admitted it would be a player for snapping up parts of Aegis Group, if the planned sale of research arm Synovate prompts a sell-off of its other assets as many analysts expect.
"There are pieces which are interesting and if the move to breaking Aegis Media into pieces [happens] we would certainly be interested in some pieces," said Levy, chairman and chief executive of Publicis, speaking to MediaGuardian.co.uk at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on Friday.
"We are obviously looking at what is going on. We are just cautiously watching what happens. There is no question there are some very interesting pieces," he added.
He reiterated that Publicis had no interest in buying Synovate. Aegis is currently in talks to sell the research arm to French research company Ipsos.
Levy hinted at what parts of Aegis Media he would be interested in when he underlined the key areas of focus for growth for Publicis.
"What we currently focus on is emerging markets and digital, and we don't want to deviate," he said. "So obviously we will look at what will happen and see if our interests are in balance."
Aegis Media owns international media buying networks including Vizeum and Carat, digital agency group Isobar and an 18% share in Chinese media group Charm.
However, Levy also said his view was that Aegis as a whole is over-priced. "Aegis is currently highly, highly priced," he added. "If there is tomorrow a bidding war I don't know who would be interested and we are certainly not part of it."
To avoid any doubt he said there were currently "no discussions, no negotiations and that nothing is underway".
On Thursday Sir Martin Sorrell, the WPP chief executive, indicated he might be interested in "bits" of Aegis Media.
Sorrell said he thought Vincent Bollor�, the largest shareholder in Aegis Group with a 26.5% stake, was the most likely to end up taking over the media assets and merging them with his French marketing services group, Havas.
Aegis Group declined to comment.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jun/24/publicis-boss-interested-buying-aegis
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