Publicis, which owns 75% of the media group, has an option to buy Cordiant's stake for £75m in January 2004. However, when Cordiant announced its plans to break up earlier this year, Levy is understood to have made a deal with chief executive David Hearn to buy the group for around £65m before January.
Levy then approached Sir Martin, who agreed to honour the deal if his bid for Cordiant was successful, on the condition that Publicis did not make a bid for the advertising group.
Because Publicis then went ahead and made an offer for Cordiant, Sir Martin is understood to have made it known that the deal no longer stands.
Levy is understood to be upset about this, because he believes Cordiant's board double-crossed him as it was set to accept his offer and changed its mind at the last minute.
The £85m price tag on ZenithOptimedia includes the £75m price originally agreed between Cordiant and Publicis plus £10m for assets attached to the Zenith name.
At one stage, it was thought that there could have been a change of ownership at Cordiant, brought about by Active Value and Nahed Ojjeh. If a change of ownership had occurred, Publicis would have paid £75m or a quarter of Cordiant's market value, whichever was lower. At present, this would cost Publicis just £4m.
However, this now seems increasingly unlikely as the saga moves to its endgame on Wednesday, when shareholders will vote on both the £266m WPP deal to buy the company and Active Value's proposal to inject cash into the business and keep it independent. However, with its management team, led by former Leo Burnett and Jazz FM boss Richard Wheatly, now gone, the Active Value plan seems unlikely to succeed.
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