• November 11, 2005

The management of Aegis Group now expects French financier Vincent Bollore to raise his stake to 29.9 percent, the maximum amount he can own before making a formal bid to acquire the U.K.-based media services and marketing research company, reports the Friday edition of British paper The Guardian. Citing unnamed sources, the paper said the Aegis team also plans to block any attempt by Bollore, who now controls nearly 25 percent of Aegis' voting stock, to gain a seat on the Aegis board. Bollore, who is now chairman of Aegis rival, Paris-based Havas, won four seats on the Havas board and installed himself as chairman in June after acquiring 22 percent of Havas. Bollore has maintained that its stake in Aegis is purely a "financial holding" and that he has no interest in acquiring or restructuring Aegis.