Industry sources dismiss ‘uncooked’ rumour about potential Publicis bid for IPG

Sources close to Publicis Groupe and Interpublic have dismissed a report on a financial blog that suggested the French agency group is preparing a potential bid for its US rival.

Betaville, a UK-based financial blog, described the supposed takeover move by Publicis for IPG as an “uncooked” piece of information.

A spokesperson for Publicis Groupe declined to comment but a source close to the company denied very strongly that it was looking at IPG.

A source close to IPG also dismissed the suggestion that it was looking to sell to Publicis.

A spokesperson for IPG told Campaign: “We never comment on rumour or innuendo.”

That was the same line that IPG gave in March when Betaville previously reported that IPG had attracted takeover interest — without mentioning any specific suitor.

IPG’s share price briefly rose in after-hours trading on Wednesday (27 November) following Betaville’s latest report, but fell back soon afterwards. The US stock market was closed for the Thanksiving holiday on Thursday.

Publicis Groupe and IPG: deal rumours also circulated in April

Sources close to Publicis Groupe and Interpublic have dismissed a report on a financial blog that suggested the French agency group is preparing a potential bid for its US rival.

Betaville, a UK-based financial blog, described the supposed takeover move by Publicis for IPG as an “uncooked” piece of information.

A spokesperson for Publicis Groupe declined to comment but a source close to the company denied very strongly that it was looking at IPG.

A source close to IPG also dismissed the suggestion that it was looking to sell to Publicis.

A spokesperson for IPG told Campaign: “We never comment on rumour or innuendo.”

That was the same line that IPG gave in March when Betaville previously reported that IPG had attracted takeover interest — without mentioning any specific suitor.

IPG’s share price briefly rose in after-hours trading on Wednesday (27 November) following Betaville’s latest report, but fell back soon afterwards. The US stock market was closed for the Thanksiving holiday on Thursday.

Campaign reported in April about how the “M&A rumour mill is buzzing” about a potential large-scale agency deal, including talk about a “potential tie-up” between Publicis and IPG but sources on both sides of the Atlantic “rubbished the suggestion” at the time.

Since then, it has emerged that IPG has been looking at some asset sales and plans to sell R/GA and Huge, which it treated separately at its recent Q3 results, because the two agencies are being “held for sale”.

Campaign also reported in June that IPG turned down an investor who made an unsolicited approach to buy another of its agencies, MullenLowe.

Publicis Groupe is the world’s most valuable agency group with a €26.2bn ($27.7bn) valuation, ahead of Omnicom and WPP, with IPG ranked fourth with an $11bn stock market capitalisation.

Havas, the sixth largest group, is planning to separate from French parent company Vivendi and list on the Dutch stock market in December. It told investors at a capital markets day in London last week that it plans to use its stock to drive M&A.