• by Joe Mandese , November 28, 2005

After emerging as the only apparent suitor for the U.K. media services and marketing research company, French financier Vincent Bollore acquired another block of shares, raising his stake in Aegis Group to more than 25 percent of the voting stock. The move, announced early Monday morning, puts Bollore in the catbird's seat, giving him the power to veto an offer from another suitor.

The move comes as a consortium of WPP Group, private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, and potentially Bollore, failed to meet a deadline of Friday to make an acceptable bid to acquire Aegis. Aegis' board disclosed that WPP and H&F made an offer on Nov. 16 that was "materially below" the approximately $2.40 per share offer previously made by Publicis, which subsequently pulled out of the bidding for Aegis.

WPP and H&F said they were attempting to form a new company that also would have involved a third stakeholder, presumably Bollore, that would have resulted in "an enhanced offer being made in excess" of Publicis' offer.

Under the terms of the Takeover Panel's rules, WPP and H&F are prohibited from bidding for Aegis for six months, but the Aegis board said Bollore would not be bound by that rule.

Bollore, whose most recent acquisition gives him 25.05 percent of Aegis' shares, has maintained that his investments are merely a "financial holding" and that he has no intention of acquiring Aegis, the parent of Carat, or of changing its independence. But Bollore, who also controls Paris-based rival Havas, has been seizing creeping control via a succession of incremental share purchases. According to Takeover Panel rules, Bollore can raise his stake to 29.9 percent of Aegis before being required to make a bid and take seats on its board.

Europe's financial press speculated over the weekend that if Bollore were going to make an imminent bid to seize control of Aegis, he would likely do it before Dec. 15, when he is scheduled to unveil his new long-term plan for Havas.