Interpublic put NFO up for sale following a disastrous 2002, when it was informally investigated by the US financial watchdog the Securities & Exchange Commission after it revealed that it had $181.3m (£115.3m) in improperly booked revenue.
Since the research firm was put up for sale, it has received interest from companies such as United Business Media, which owns research outfit NOP; WPP Group; and Taylor Nelson Sofres.
NFO WorldGroup is expected to go to Taylor Nelson Sofres for around £320m, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday. However, it is thought that Taylor Nelson is willing to sell the European arm of the business on to a third party.
Aegis is understood to have made clear it would be interested in buying NFO's European arm and UBM is also said to be still interested in the business.
NFO WorldGroup was bought by Interpublic during an acquisition spree in the late 1990s. Since the advertising market nose-dived, many of those acquisitions are valued well below what Interpublic paid for them, and NFO WorldGroup is not likely to be an exception.
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