French advertising agency Publicis Groupe SA (PUB.FR) is in
advanced talks to acquire a stake in Brazilian counterpart Talent,
the Financial Times reports late Wednesday on its website.
The investment could value Talent, a privately held ad agency,
at about 350 million Brazilian reals ($200 million). People close
to the negotiations said any deal would likely be completed in
early September and would be structured as a joint venture, with
Talent's partners still closely involved in running the
company.
Industry giant WPP PLC (WPP.LN) of the U.K. had considered
investing in Talent but isn't expected to counterbid, the FT
says.
Both Publicis and WPP declined to comment.
Earlier this month, Publicis bought AG2, one of Brazil's biggest
independent digital marketing firms.
Full story at
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ad6cc4a8-b087-11df-8c04-00144feabdc0.html
-Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2900