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Aegis has scooped around £150 million in new business this week by snatching Peugeot-Citroën’s UK business and the pan-European Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessey accounts from Initiative Media.

The wins will be a major boost for Carat – which picks up the LVMH and Citroën tasks – and BBJ Media Services, which gains Peugeot. The PSA task is worth around £75 million while the pan-European LVMH account is thought to be worth up to £60 million.

Carat Group UK chief executive Ray Kelly said the PSA win was a credit to the motor expertise at the two agencies. “What I believe gave us the edge is that we have fantastic experience in the motor car market both at BBJ and Carat,” he said.

Both Aegis shops have lost significant car accounts during the past year. BBJ lost the £80 million Volkswagen account to MediaCom TMB last summer, while the £25 million Nissan UK account is set to move from Carat to TBWA/OMD.

However, the PSA win creates a question mark over the future of the £15 million BMW account, which was set to go to Carat (Media Week, May 19). A spokeswoman for the motor company confirmed that negotiations over the move were continuing and that the presence of another car client at the agency would be an issue for discussion. BMW is currently handled by Zenith Media.

Carat has picked up the pan-European task for French luxury goods giant LVMH in UK France and Germany. The UK spend on brands such as Parfum Givenchy, TAG Heuer, Ebel, Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton is believed to be around £15 million in the UK.

Incumbents on the UK account are Initiative Media, which handles the bulk of the business, and MediaCom TMB, which handles TAG Heuer and Ebel.

The losses will be a severe blow to Initiative Media, representing around 20% of its billings. However, with both accounts on six-month notice periods, the agency will have time to launch a new business drive.

The loss will trigger speculation that once the PSA account leaves Initiative at the end of the year it could merge with sister agency Western International Media. The only remaining conflicts between the two shops would be Initiative’s Unilever task and Western’s Tesco business.