Last week, WPP issued its formal offer document for CIA-owning Tempus. The WPP document gave Tempus shareholders until October 1 to accept WPP's offer. There were, as expected, no last-minute surprises in WPP's offer document for its proposed acquisition of Tempus.
Alain de Pouzilhac, the Havas CEO, has been biding his time since WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell launched his 555p-a-share counter-bid. It had been widely expected that de Pouzilhac would fight back with a higher bid. Analysts have been expecting Havas to come back with an offer possibly as high as 575p.
If this happens, analysts believe that it is unlikely WPP will counter-bid, but will instead take the money and prepare for a possible bid for Tempus's larger rival Aegis, which owns the Carat media-buying group.
WPP already owns approximately 22% of Tempus, bought earlier this year at an average price of 220p a share. Even if Havas comes back with a higher offer, WPP will walk away with a healthy profit. If Havas does not, WPP's average cost per Tempus share will be 450p and its total cost of investment will be approximately £385m.
Last week, WPP said it would combine CIA with its second-string media network The Media Edge. The combination of CIA and The Media Edge would create the world's fourth-largest media-planning and buying network worldwide, with combined annual billings in excess of £10bn.
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