The talks with its bankers have meant that some Cordiant units, including its main Bates UK advertising business, have not had their accounts audited.
The advertising group is hoping to have a new deal in place before its year-end results are announced in March. The results are expected to bring more bad news for the company, which issued a number of profit warnings last year.
Last week, speculation was reignited about Cordiant's future as Publicis Groupe, with which Cordiant owns Zenith Media, went to the markets to raise some £372m through a bond issue. Publicis said the money was to reduce debt and cut financing costs, but the figure is not far off Cordiant's current market valuation of around £450m.
Cordiant again denied that it had been in recent talks with Publicis, but few industry watchers believe that Cordiant has an independent future.
Last week, Cordiant saw its shares rally, rising 3.8% after the takeover speculation to 109.5p before finishing the week at 110.5p.
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