In heavy trading yesterday, brokers acting for WPP are understood to have acquired 2.8m shares at 555p a share. The increase in the stake is now likely to kill any speculation that WPP will abandon its bid.
Havas has extended its offer until 3pm on September 24 unless extended further. In a statement, Havas said it now controls or has secured 29.3% of the issued share capital of Tempus. As at 3pm yesterday, the extended closing date of the offer, Havas had received valid acceptances in respect of 19.139m Tempus shares, representing approximately 25.3% of the issued share capital.
Havas has already extended its offer once and that deadline for Tempus to respond expired yesterday. Havas had been expected to come back with a higher offer, but so far it has resisted.
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.
Havas's original July 541p-a-share bid for Tempus valued the company at £425m. WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell trumped this with a 555p-a-share counter-bid, valuing Tempus at £437m.
Alain de Pouzilhac, the Havas CEO, has been biding his time since the WPP bid. Analysts have been expecting Havas to come back with a bid which could be as high as 575p a share.
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.
It would like the Tempus directors to walk away with millions in profit. In WPP's case, this cash could form part of a war chest to buy Aegis, which is valued at around £1bn.
Havas, if successful, plans to combine CIA with its own media-planning and buying unit, the Media Planning Group.
In WPP's case, it has said it would combine CIA with its second-string media network, The Media Edge.
In both cases, the mergers would create the world's fourth-largest media-planning and buying network.
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