Herro, who was one of the prime movers behind the ousting of Maurice Saatchi from Saatchi & Saatchi, is reported to be talking to Active Value, the fund management group headed by Julian Treger and Brian Myerson, which has been calling for change.
Herro, a portfolio manage at Harris Associates, is Cordiant's largest shareholder, with a 9.29% stake, while Active Value holds 9.06%. Active Value has been upping its stake in the company over the last two months, and wants to see changes at Cordiant, currently headed by CEO Michael Bungey, and eventually wants it to be taken over by the French advertising group Havas.
According to reports, Treger and Myserson have been in discussion with Cordiant executives over several issues, including replacing long-time Cordiant chairman Bill Scott.
Shares in Cordiant have tumbled to new lows, and were hovering around the 50p mark when the market opened this morning. During the media boom of 2000, Cordiant shares were valued at over 380p.
Despite installing David Hearn as the new head of its Bates advertising network, Bates has continued to lose clients, most recently seeing its $300m (拢197m) Wendy's fast food work in the US move to Interpublic-owned McCann-Erickson.
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