After losing out in the Grey Global bidding battle to WPP, shareholders of advertising group, Havas, are saying that the French-based company is looking increasingly vunerable and may be next to be put under the hammer, says the Financial Times.
According to the
FT, the Havas shareprice rallied yesterday when it pulled out of the Grey race because many believe Havas will be the next advertising giant to be put on the take-over block.
After WPP outbid Havas with a â‚Ź1.52 billion offer, the share price of the sixth-largest advertising group, rose 10% to â‚Ź4.28.
A statement released yesterday from Havas chairman, Alain de Pouzilhac said: “At the end of the offer process, we concluded that the price required by Grey would not allow us to generate sufficient added value for our shareholders.
He added: “As a result, we did not increase our offer, so as to remain totally focused on the objectives I set our teams over a year ago: to relaunch our Group to rapidly reach the same growth and operating margin levels as the market leaders. This is our goal. During this process, I have witnessed the drive and talent of our in-house teams working on the project. It is these qualities that will help us succeed tomorrow”.
It is believed that de Pouzilhac had thought that the Grey bid was the last chance for the group to become a heavyweight in the advertising field and able to compete against giants such as; WPP, Publicis and Omnicom.
As Havas prepares to announce its half-year interim results on Thursday, de Pouzilhac is expected to up against calls to step down from his current post, said the FT.
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