Bollore currently owns a 29.12% share of the Aegis network and had made a formal request to appoint the pair in June this year when, according to Aegis, 94.1% of non-Group Bollore shareholders voted against the proposal.
At the end of last month, he had written to Lord Sharman, chairman of Aegis, calling for a shareholder meeting to attain the seats on the Aegis board.
In a letter sent to shareholders today, Lord Sharman is urging Aegis shareholders to vote against the appointments, stating that "any nominee put forward by Groupe Bollore has an overriding conflict of interest that makes them inappropriate to act as a director of Aegis", because of the conflict of interest arising from Bollore's position at Havas, and that the any appointments of his representatives to the board could create a conflict of interest when discussing "commercially sensitive matters, setting forward looking strategy, and taking investment decisions, including acquisitions".
The letter also states that "the [Aegis] board is strongly opposed to adding directors who may favour one particular shareholder group over and above the interests of shareholders as a whole", and that the Aegis network will "always resist the efforts of any particular shareholder who seeks to exercise any form of undue influence or creeping control over Aegis without offering a full and fair price to all shareholders for that privilege".
Lord Sharman said: "It is not in shareholders' interests for the Aegis board to include directors who face a fundamental conflict of interest. We continue to resist any party having undue influence over Aegis without paying full value to all shareholders for the privilege. We do not want to allow a competitor's representatives potentially to compromise our ability to deliver value for all Aegis shareholders. We urge our shareholders to vote with the board on these fundamental points of principle."
Last week, it was reported that one of Aegis Group's largest shareholders, Fidelity, was considering blocking Bollore's bid.
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