Bollore told an advertising conference in Cannes that he would not call a special general meeting at Aegis to ask shareholders to vote for the sixth time on whether or not two of his Havas associates, Philippe Germond and Roger Hatchuel, should be given a place on the Aegis board.
In May, Aegis, owner of media agencies Carat and Vizeum and market research business Synovate, rejected Bollore's request for the fifth time, with 91% of non-Bollore Groupe shareholders opposed.
Bollore has argued that his 29.9% shareholding gives him the right to representation on the board. However, Aegis says that his position as chairman of rival Havas is a clear conflict of interest.
The Frenchman said yesterday that he was currently focusing on launching an electric car with Italy's , which has taken precedence over his campaign to get representation on the Aegis board.
He said: "It is a problem of timing... My people now are very busy with [the electric car], which is why [we] are not pushing with Aegis. That is why we are not pushing for a special general meeting and why we will not push for one this year."
Bollore also warned that the global advertising market could decline this year if the banking crisis spread into the real economy, but said that, as yet, Havas "has not suffered at all".
He told the Cannes conference that Havas has recorded "very good" figures for the year to date and "are joining the best in the sector in terms of organic growth". The group is aiming for organic sales growth of 5%-6% this year.
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