In a statement issued today, the company stated that "there is no assurance that this exploration will result in any specific transaction, or as to what the terms or form of any transaction may be".
The statement continues: "The company does not intend to pursue a sale of individual business units in connection with this process."
The group, headed by longtime chairman and chief executive Ed Meyer, had previously refused to comment on any bid.
The news that the company does not want to be broken up would rule out a bid from Publicis Groupe, which earlier this month said that it would not bid for Grey Global in its entirety.
The move would pave the way for Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP Group, which is moving closer to an offer for Grey following the appointment of Merrill Lynch to carry out due diligence and assess the group's assets, which include ad agency Grey Worldwide, media agency MediaCom and the PR company GCI Group.
According to sources, once due diligence has started, executives at WPP will know quickly if it is worth launching a bid, although it could be much longer before a deal is struck. WPP already owns J Walter Thompson, Ogilvy & Mather, Young & Rubicam and Red Cell.
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