• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, December 9, 2014

Publicis Groupe said today that it has extended the deadline to Dec. 23 for its tender offer for shares of Sapient Corp., which it agreed to purchase for an estimated $3.7 billion in November.

Separately, the holding company said it had priced a bond offering that it will use to finance the purchase.

Also, the company indicated that the agreement has been cleared by both U.S. and German regulatory authorities. In the U.S. it said the mandatory waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act had expired. The German clearance, it said, was “unconditional.”

As of Dec. 8, tendered shares represented 21.3% of outstanding Sapient shares.  Publicis said a further extension was also possible. Tender offers are often extended until the minimum number of tendered shares required by the deal is reached.  

The company said it was marketing bonds valued at 1.3 billion Euros, or about $1.6 billion at today’s exchange rate. In addition to funding the Sapient transaction, Publicis said it might use some of the proceeds for general corporate purposes.

The company said that if the Sapient deal has not been completed on or prior to June 30, 2015, or if it cancels the deal by that time, it has the option to call the bonds at 101%.