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Aegis Faces Possible Sale or Spin-off of Non-core Businesses

Published on January 05, 2009 | Email this article

Aegis Group is said to be on the brink of a restructuring that could see it spin off some of its non-core research ops such as Synovate. An outright sale of the company could even be in the cards.

The company is lining up advisors to carry out a review of the business, according to The Guardian.

A recent shakeup among Aegis executives saw Robert Lerwill ousted as CEO and John Napier, chairman of the group, replacing him on an interim basis. The group retained a new investment banking firm, JP Morgan Cazenove, to broker a potential deal.

A review could result in closer ties with Havas, the advertising group whose chairman, Vincent Bollore, is Aegis’s largest shareholder. Lerwill repeatedly thwarted numerous attempts by Bollore to seat his own directors on the Aegis board.

Interest in market research firm Synovate is expected to be high, with buyers likely to include GfK, the German group that lost out on TNS to WPP, writes Brand Republic.

Since Lerwill’s ouster in November, Aegis shares have risen significantly.

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