Bollore adds to Aegis stake to become second largest shareholder

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 28-Sep-05, 09:00

LONDON – Havas chairman Vincent Bollore has raised his stake in Aegis from 6% to 8%, with the acquisition of an estimated £25m worth of shares on Monday and Tuesday.

The purchase, made through his holding company Financiere du Loch, makes Bollore the second-largest shareholder in the media buying, digital and market research group.

The largest shareholder is US investment fund Harris Associates, which retains the 10.12% stake it had a week ago. Fidelity, the third largest, appears to have reduced its stake from 7.74% to 6.46%, which means it may have sold to Bollore.

A spokesman for Bollore said: "The group continues its investment policy in the media sector and in a very performing company."

Bollore's interest in Aegis first became public on August 5 when it transpired that he had built up a 6% stake.

This triggered a reaction from French advertising group Publicis, which like Havas would benefit from absorbing the power of Aegis media buying networks Carat and Vizeum.

The interest from Publicis pushed shares in Aegis as high as 145p, but the price has drifted since and this morning was standing at 138.5p.

Publicis chief executive Maurice Levy started preliminary talks with Aegis, but the UK company was obliged to declare the approach to the stock market, to Levy's chagrin.

Publicis has greater financial clout than Havas, which makes it more likely to meet the approximate £1.5bn valuation analysts are placing on the British firm.

However, with his stake Bollore could at least put obstacles in the way, because takeover law specifies that buyers need the support of holders of 90% of the shares to take outright control of a publicly traded company.

Another possibility is that he could sell his shipping business, valued at $600m (£339m) to raise extra money to acquire more of Aegis.

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