The battle for control of Cordiant Communications has taken a bizarre new twist after it was revealed that a Syrian billionairess is the independent investor who recently purchased a 2% stake in the troubled advertising group (see Active Value And Unknown Investor Buy Cordiant Shares).
Nahed Ojjeh is better known as a patron in the chess world than for wheeler-dealing in media but is understood to have paid £240,000 for over 8 million Cordiant stocks in the two days either side of last weekend.
In the meantime, Active Value has increased its stake in Cordiant to 27.41%. It is thought that the fund management group is trying to extract better terms from WPP which has offered to buy Cordiant in a deal that values the company at just £10 million (see WPP Seals £266m Cordiant Takeover).
Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, has refused to countenance an increased bid (see WPP Stands Firm On Cordiant Deal) but needs at least 75% backing from shareholders if the deal is to go through. We could be heading for stalemate when the vote takes place on July 23.
Shares in Cordiant were unchanged at 3p at 12:30 today.
