Publicis Groupé has begun the New Year with an indication of the aggression that it intends to approach the year with. Speculations are rife that Publicis Groupé SA is considering a bid for a controlling stake in Samsung Group’s advertising agency, Cheil Worldwide.
The news had a near immediate impact at the stock exchange, where Cheil’s shares rose over 9 percent in Seoul Trading on January 14, 2016. Bloomberg Business reports that Publicis is considering a tender offer for about a 30 percent stake in Cheil Worldwide, which would make it the single largest shareholder. People familiar with the development also said that any deal is likely to see Samsung Group keep a significant holding in Cheil Worldwide, which is estimated at a market value of USD 1.9 billion.
In the last year, Publicis Groupé had salvaged the failure of the Omnicom merger conversation with the acquisition of Sapient to create Publicis.Sapient. The conversation with Cheil Worldwide will be another move from the French holding company to gather strength in the holding company wars.
The year 2015, by the admission of Publicis Groupé’s Chief, Maurice Lévy himself, was a “tough one” for the company – a situation that may not be completely true for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, where Publicis agencies are among the better performing. A significant number of Publicis businesses were up for reviews, and its agencies also lost sizeable key accounts in various markets.
In what appeared to be Publicis’ first move to arrest the situation, the holding company had restructured its operations to what it calls a silo-free, growth and client centric structure. The impact of this on region and country levels is still taking shape. The company however appears to be considering other options too, to regain its momentum and recover from the losses of a bad year.
