Bollore has 10 days to apply for seats on the Havas board

PARIS - Corporate raider Vincent Bollore will ask for seats on the board of French advertising group Havas and he has 10 days left to make his representations in time for shareholders to consider his request.

This morning, Havas said that as it stood at present, shareholders were not being asked to consider nominations for its board of directors made by Bollore when it holds its annual general meeting in June.

However, a spokesman for Bollore told newswire AFX that he would ask for representation and Havas said that Bollore had 10 days left to make such a request.

Bollore has been building up a stake in Havas for around seven months, and through his various companies owns a holding of 20% in Havas.

After repeated calls by Havas' chairman and chief executive Alain de Pouzilhac to make his intentions clear, Bollore said last year that he planned to ask for senior representation on the board of Havas.

"Havas has asked Vincent Bollore to confirm, based on his intentions, whether or not he wished to maintain his request to nominate directors to the board and, if so, to submit the names of the persons concerned.

"As the reply received from Bollore Medias Investissements did not answer these questions, the board was unable to consider this possibility or present resolutions to that effect."

Havas said that it planned to renew the directorships of three board members, as well as appointing three new directors, bringing the company in line with best practice recommendations, which state that one third of company directors must be independent.

The three new directors are: Laurence Parisot, president of the Institut Francais de l'Opinion Publique and a member of the EuroDisney supervisory board; Michel Rouger, honorary president of the Paris Commercial Court and President of Institut Presaje; and Pierre Bouchut, a former CEO of Groupe Casino.

Bouchut qualifies as an audit committee financial expert under SEC rules aimed at encouraging companies to include a financial expert in their audit committees who is proficient particularly in accounting standards, preparation of financial statements and in the field of internal control.

The three board members whose directorships will be renewed are Michel Boutinard Rouelle, Thierry Meyer and Jacques Seguela.

If the directorships are approved by Havas shareholders, the company will have 16 board members, six of whom are deemed to be independent.

Last week, Havas revealed it was setting up a joint media buying venture with the WPP Group, so that the companies can work together in a one-off bid to win the Peugeot account.

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