French entrepreneur Vincent Bollore has again increased his stake in media communications business, Aegis, raising his share in the company to 11.4% over the weekend to make him the firm’s largest stakeholder.
The move adds fuel to industry speculation that Bollore is planning a take-over bid for Aegis, after he began increasing his share in August and raised it to almost 9% before the weekend.
According to the Financial Times, under UK take-over rules, an investor holding more than 10% of a company’s shares can refuse to tender the shares in case of any take-over offer.
This would mean that if rival company Publicis, which is also reported to be interested in Aegis, proceeded with a bid, Bollore would be able to force a higher offer for the company.
Other companies interested in Aegis include, British market research specialist Taylor Nelson Sofres, American-owned Omnicom and French firm Ipsos.
In its trading statement published last month, Aegis, reported a 14% increase in revenue for the six months to 30 June, reaching £389 million, up from £338 million the same time a year ago.
Half-year profit for the group rose to £35.6 million from £35.4 million a year earlier, helped by strong growth in its market research business, Synovate which increased revenues by nearly 18%. Aegis’ digital network, Isobar, also enjoyed a healthy first half to the year, seeing revenues rise by 20%.
Aegis Group: 020 7070 7700 www.aegisplc.com
