• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, January 9, 2015

Publicis Groupe said Thursday that it has extended the deadline to Jan. 22 for its tender offer for shares of Sapient Corp., which it agreed to purchase for an estimated $3.7 billion in November.

It is the third extension for the offering. Last month, the offer was extended twice.

According to the latest tally by Computershare Trust Co. 78.9% of Sapient common shares had been “validly tendered and not withdrawn pursuant to the offer.”

That percentage figure is slightly less than the last reported tally (as of December 23) when Computershare reported that 79.6% of common shares had been validly tendered. Why a small percentage of shares were apparently withdrawn was not immediately clear.

The new deadline for tendering shares is Jan. 22.

Earlier, the holding company said it had priced a bond offering that it will use to finance the purchase. The company said it was marketing bonds valued at 1.3 billion Euros, or about $1.6 billion. 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%.