In spite of Aegis, lead by chief executive Robert Lerwill, playing down the move, its price this morning was up 11.25p, pushing its shares up to 109.75p.
An Aegis spokesman said that was no truth in the reports. "We know nothing of a bid," he said. This morning, Dow Jones was quoting one trader as saying that a Havas bid for Aegis "looks unlikely".
However, Aegis's media planning and buying group Carat is seen within the sector as a prize asset and is certain to make it a desirable target for Havas, which has long been seeking to strengthen its media offering.
Havas has tried to strengthen its position in this area before, but it lost out to the WPP Group in the battle for Tempus, which owned the CIA network.
Carat is much stronger in the US than Havas's Media Planning Group. It has suffered major account losses Stateside, such as the $500m (£265m) Volkswagen and $300m Intel media planning and buying accounts.
A merger with Aegis would create a global media operation better able to compete with WPP's MindShare and Mediaedge:cia and Publicis Groupe's Starcom MediaVest and ZenithOptimedia.
Earlier this year, Havas's then CEO Alain de Pouzilhac put away his dislike of Sir Martin Sorrell and joined with WPP to launch a new media buying agency, focused on Europe, in which Havas' MPG has the majority 51% stake and WPP's Group M 49%.
Named 2MV, the agency will be headed by Yves Del Frate, currently global account director at MPG.
It will be active in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Mark Mendoza, MPG's UK chief executive, is to double as the UK chief executive of 2MV.
As well as the Carat media operation, Aegis has built up its market research and its digital networks, Synovate and Isobar respectively.
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