Page, who has worked for agencies including Yellowhammer and Harari Page, is said to be putting together a team to mount a bid for Cordiant and will use his AIM-listed company NWD to make the bid.
The Observer reports that Page is assembling a team of senior figures from the advertising and marketing industries, as well as financial experts, and is considering a break-up of Cordiant.
The report says that Page team would sell off acquisitions made during the reign of CEO Michael Bungey, who announced he was retiring in March 2003 on Friday. The business would then focus around the Bates Advertising network.
Other assets owned by Cordiant include Financial Dynamics, the City PR specialist, and the German ad network Scholz & Friends. Both have been mooted as possible assets for Cordiant to sell, but the company says it has no divestment plans.
Shares in Cordiant rose by 3% when the market opened this morning, to trade at 51p.
On Friday, the group announced that pre-tax profits for the first half of the year had collapsed by 48% to 拢11.5m. It said that Bungey was leaving to be replaced by David Hearn, currently CEO of Bates Advertising, and that it was reorganising its agencies into a single group, called Bates Group, to cut costs and offer clients an integrated service.
It made the changes in response from major shareholders the Harris Group and Active Value, after concerns at the dramatic fall in Cordiant's share price.
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