Bollore stake in Aegis nears 20% with board seats set to become issue

LONDON - French corporate raider Vincent Bollore has upped his stake in Aegis again, taking his holding in the media buying and research group to close to 20%.

This morning it was revealed that Bollore, who is chairman of Havas, had raised his stake from 17.38% to 19.1%.

As he continues to buy up shares in the British group, speculation is that he will demand seats on the Aegis board shortly, mirroring his campaign to take control of French advertising and media group Havas earlier this year.

Bollore demanded four seats on the Havas board at the end of April when his holding in the French firm hit 20%. Similar demands from Aegis can not be far behind.

Yesterday, the size of Bollore's stake in Aegis was cited as one of the reasons behind Publicis Groupe withdrawing from the race and ending its pursuit of the company, possibly leaving the way open for Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP Group and its private equity partner Hellmann & Friedman.

Maurice Levy, chief executive of Publicis, was said to be concerned that his £1.56bn bid would increase the French ad group's debt and hinder moves to secure an investment grade debt rating from credit agencies.

The strong position of French corporate raider Bollore was believed to be another factor.

Bollore now has enough shares to block any efforts to delist Aegis from the stock exchange and break it up.

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