Global advertising group, WPP, has pulled out of the bidding war to land France Telecom SA’s marketing brand management account.
According to industry speculation, one of the reasons behind WPP’s decision to step down from the £200 million contract could be France Telecom’s definition of what it considered to be a client conflict.
If WPP had won the business it may have been required to stop working for rival telecoms companies, as well as other possible competitors, such as BSkyB.
The France Telecom contract is highly coveted, with Omnicom’s TBWA\Worldwide and DDB, as well as Mother, all vying for the planned re-brand of its mobile and broadband businesses in France, Britain, Spain and the Netherlands as Orange.
Elsewhere, this week has seen Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, saying he is still interested in buying Aegis’s research division, Synovate and taking a small stake in the remaining media business (see WPP Withdraws From France Telecom Pitch).
WPP originally withdrew from the Aegis bidding war in November, claiming that Aegis had rebuffed its offer (see WPP Sees Revenue Rise By 26% In Q3 2005).
In October, the global advertising agency was given a four week deadline to table a bid for Aegis by the UK’s Takeover Panel, with Sorrell saying that he was still considering a bid for Aegis, following the company’s third quarter results, which reported a 5% rise in organic growth (see Bollore Pushes Aegis Stake To 25.47%).
Meanwhile, French entrepreneur Vincent Bollore has steadily been increasing his share in the UK media and communications company, recently purchasing a further 2.9 million shares, pushing his stake to 25.47% (see Sorrell Still Interested In Aegis).
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